I worked for HP in the late 90s / early 2000s. Right around the time Agilent was split off.
It was a remarkable place to work. "Bill and Dave" were household names: I was really struck by how much of their vision and values had been embedded in the firm's DNA. Quite amazing for a multi-national.
I remember the UK general manager coming to visit our site. He wasn't immune to the usual entourage of hangers-on, but always insisted on going walkabout on his own for an hour or so. Precisely so he knew what was actually happening at the coal face, not the filtered and abstracted artefacts of managerial reports. He stopped to speak to one of my colleagues - a recent graduate. The grad had no idea who the manager was, and asked him politely to give him 10 minutes as he was waiting for a build to finish (1990s remember). Those of us who knew the manager were aghast and assumed the grad would be in for a bit of a tough time. But the GM just smiled and said "of course, hope it compiles OK", went away, and came back later.
That moment has stuck with me throughout my career. I've sought to emulate that level of humility and respect. Can't say I've always been successful, but it remains inspirational.
Your experience sounds like from some sci-fi book written by Isaac Asimov. My reality looks way different: there was Vice President from USA checking the German branch couple weeks ago. 3 days of management presentations full of inaccurate information to show how excellent are we managing our projects. The Vice President had absolutely no interest in the real projects in the labs. Nobody does, project checklist and weekly hours reporting are only 2 interesting things. I am still dreaming experiencing management HP Way, but itβs not happening. Current leaders are accountants and not technical leaders anymore.
HP now is incredibly different from HP then. My dad was there for 38 years before retiring, my mom as well before choosing to stay at home and support the family once I hit 1st grade. Growing up most of our family friends were HP employees and engineers (they were the 2nd largest employer in town). I remember summer picnics meeting high up managers from all over the country. From maybe 2004 to 2010 the culture and management style changed a lot especially under Fiorina. Honestly, from everything I've seen and heard she was the death knell of OG HP simply by crushing the free form engineering spirit of R&D by streamlining and significantly cutting back research. She made HP a lean machine that couldn't innovate and so the dream died.
It was a remarkable place to work. "Bill and Dave" were household names: I was really struck by how much of their vision and values had been embedded in the firm's DNA. Quite amazing for a multi-national.
I remember the UK general manager coming to visit our site. He wasn't immune to the usual entourage of hangers-on, but always insisted on going walkabout on his own for an hour or so. Precisely so he knew what was actually happening at the coal face, not the filtered and abstracted artefacts of managerial reports. He stopped to speak to one of my colleagues - a recent graduate. The grad had no idea who the manager was, and asked him politely to give him 10 minutes as he was waiting for a build to finish (1990s remember). Those of us who knew the manager were aghast and assumed the grad would be in for a bit of a tough time. But the GM just smiled and said "of course, hope it compiles OK", went away, and came back later.
That moment has stuck with me throughout my career. I've sought to emulate that level of humility and respect. Can't say I've always been successful, but it remains inspirational.