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Fiorina: You Love Her Or You Hate Her

If you want to know how our readers feel about something, you just have to ask. You're not a shy lot. I like that about you. Last week, I asked readers to tell me what questions they wanted me to ask former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. I was flooded with responses. Many of the questions were well-thought out and insightful. And I asked them of her. If I'd asked some of the other questions readers suggested, though, I'm sure I would've heard the click of a disconnected line, if not a few choice words about my lineage first. Let's just say more than a few people have some anger issues when it comes to the former head of HP.

Despite what she said in our interview, Fiorina is a polarizing personality. That was abundantly clear in the e-mails and blog responses that I received. The former HP leader inflames strong reactions--both admiration and outright hatred.

This love-hate thing Fiorina has going on with people today isn't anything new to her. For the six years that she led HP, through the controversial and embattled merger, the major layoffs, and the market repositioning, she drew a firestorm of attention. Some applauded her charisma and take-charge ways, while others vilified her for changing a much-beloved corporate style, axing thousands of workers and creating what some called a "diamond-studded" rock-star image.

That over-the-top glossy image hasn't dimmed for some people. One reader wanted to know how much she had enjoyed the new HP corporate jet, while another sarcastically asked how she liked having professional makeup people travel with her. (In her book, Fiorina vehemently denies that accusation and adds that she didn't have a pink bathroom built for her office, either.)

But not everyone will be taking in what Fiorina has to say in her book. Several readers wrote in to say that she made out well enough in her severance package that he didn't feel any need to throw even one extra dollar into her pocket by buying her book. He said he'd rather leaf through it at Barnes & Noble. (I'm actually picturing him leaning against a book shelf, muttering and cursing.) Yet another reader called Fiorina's Tough Choices a "woe-is-me book" and added, "How can she be so whiny when she walked away with such a huge severance package? ... People like her are a major reason women still encounter issues in reaching the top."

But I have to say a lot of women have gotten behind Fiorina. She's become a symbol of powerful women in the business place--being the first woman to lead HP, a giant in a testosterone-heavy industry. Some supporters said she was fired as part of a conspiracy against women. Wellll, that's a little hard to swallow, even for a longtime feminist like myself. I'm thinking that low stock prices, missed numbers, and a lack of confidence from Wall Street had more to do with it. Even boardroom subterfuge is more plausible than an anti-female conspiracy.

Here are some other reader-submitted questions and comments that came rolling in. Some are direct quotes from their e-mails, and others have been, um, cleaned up a bit or simply whittled down.

• "Can you tell Carly how we miss her at Lucent Technologies?"
• "For what she was paid, there aren't any excuses! Her performance has always been poor to terrible. She had no credibility with Wall Street or other investment institutions. She destroyed HP and should have been fired years before they did."
• "I would ask Ms. Fiorina to give back all the money she got when she was fired from HP and then she would have every right to blast HP. Otherwise, if she is going to keep the money, she should keep the negative comments to herself."
• "She lacked the experience and depth to make a difference."
• "What were you thinking? Taking that seat, you made women proud the world over--until you trashed the company... What a disappointment to women world-wide. She had not been in office 18 months before we, the product buyers/users, saw the writing on the wall. Whatever took the HP Board so long to get rid of her?"
• "Do you ever have the urge to open the window and shout, 'Neener, neener'?"
• "I applaud Carly Fiorina and what she did for HP and for the industry as a whole."
• "How does she sleep at night? What happened to the tens of thousands who were laid off because of her 'reinvention'? Explain the death of a culture that was almost like family and led to the acronym of HP meaning Happy People."
• "I would ask Carly Fiorina if it is expected that women in high places in the corporate world have to be tough as nails in order to survive?"
• "I would ask Carly Fiorina why she chose to destroy a great company? The company needed tweaking, not a radical overhaul."
• "If she's interested in running a start-up, would you tell her about my company?"
• "Would you please ask Ms. Fiorina what the current rate is to move a yacht from the east coast to the west coast? I want to make sure I do not overpay."
• "Does she know how really good she is in spite of this ambush?"
• "I am a huge fan of yours, and have incredible respect for what you accomplished and the guts you had to push the merger through at HP."
• "I'd like to ask her when and if she ever plans to run for political office. If she does, I'd vote for her. I like her style..."
• "Oddly, I thought she took a hit because she looks like Hillary Clinton."
• "What would I ask of Carly? This: Please go away now. You've written your hit book. Now slink away in silence."

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