Another HP Exec Bites the Dust Shortly After Turnaround Plan was Announced
posted Friday Nov 4, 2011 by Nicholas DiMeo
Sure, as of last week, HP might be looking a little brighter than a few months ago. Their destructive leader, Leo Apotheker, has been thrown out and replaced by former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. After a few weeks of uncertainty, she was able to regain some control and she may even bring HP back from the brink of total disaster.
However, for about a month now, top level execs have been fleeing the company. First, HP's CTO Shane Robison took off, shortly followed by his understudy, VP of Worldwide Developer Relations, Richard Kerris. These departures happened before Whitman announced her plan to spin around 180 degrees and take HP back to what they know.
Unfortunately, whether this exec got that memo or if he's tired of all the crazy decisions as of late, another one bites the dust. More details on who and why are after the break.
HP's CTO for their Personal Systems Group (PSG), Phil McKinney, is gone. To put it in perspective, McKinney and his PSG crew were responsible for the long-term marketing, research, planning and deployment for all HP tech, including their laptops, desktops and business machines.
McKinney posted on his blog (source link below) about his decision.
My definition of retirement is the freedom to write, speak, mentor, advise and teach without the restrictions of the traditional employee/corporate structure.
My passion is to help innovators get better at innovating and I've spent the better part of the last dozen years fulfilling that mission. My time at HP started out as an advisor on innovation that turned into a request to join for a year or so to "help grow the innovation culture at HP." That was 9 years ago. I can honestly say they I've done everything that is within my power to fulfill that objective.
On December 31st, McKinney will officially be calling it quits, so by announcing this now, he's given HP more than their 2 weeks notice. What will he do now? Unlike Kerris, who wound up at Nokia in what seems like less time it took than to write his resignation letter, McKinney will be looking to publish a book and also start doing appearances on podcasts. Good thing for him is that there's a show right here that's willing to have him on anytime. He also said he can't wait to help out other companies who need some advice moving forward.
I'm also excited that once again, I will be able to take on board seats, advisory roles and mentoring opportunities since I will no longer have to worry about conflict of interest and other corporate restrictions.
It should be noted that neither he nor CEO Meg Whitman have made mention to if this decision relates to the current situation the entire company is in. I really, really want HP to succeed with their turnaround, but it's just not looking too great for them with all of their important players moving to other teams.