Tuesday, November 8, 2016

From Secretary To CEO: Fiorina talks values at JMU

April 16, 2014 Daily News-Record
HARRISONBURG - "What you are is God's gift to you; what you make of yourself is your gift to God."

With those words given to her by her mother when she was a teen, Carly Fiorina moved forward in life, a life that has seen her go from being a secretary to CEO of Hewlett-Packard, one of the largest technology companies in the world.

Fiorina, 60, who has been a member of James Madison University's board of visitors since 2012, spoke to a large audience last week at James Madison University's Wilson Hall.

Fiorina gave advice on the topic of "Foundations of Ethical Reasoning."

"No success story is without its setbacks," said the breast cancer survivor who ran for U.S. Senate in California in 2010 and lost. "I've had triumphs and tragedies."

Fiorina graduated from Stanford with a bachelor's degree in medieval history and philosophy and dropped out of law school after one semester because she hated it.

"It was the most difficult decision of my young life," she said. "I had no idea what I was going to do with my life." But she knew one thing: "If I didn't love it, I couldn't be good at it."

She started work in the middle of a recession in the 1970s. Her first full-time job was as a Kelly Girl working as a receptionist for a small commercial real estate company.

In that low-level job, she learned a lesson she never forgot: Anyone can make a difference. Just six months on the job, two men told Fiorina that they decided to hire the company because of how she did her job. She was surprised. "They saw possibilities in me that I hadn't imagined before," she said.

She then taught English in Italy for a year and later got a master's degree in business administration.

That led to a sales job with the Bell telephone system in Washington, D.C., in 1979. She worked as part of a two-person team. Her partner was a male co-worker who scheduled their first meeting with a client at a strip club. She didn't miss a beat, though, going to the meeting and holding her own, winning the respect of her co-worker in the process, she said.

At another meeting, she was introduced as the company's "token bimbo." In spite of that, she succeeded.

Times have changed and conditions are much improved for women in the workplace, she said, but along the way she learned she could work with anyone as long as they both focused on a common goal. Fiorina also learned that she liked challenges.

"I kept taking jobs people told me not to take," she said. "I learned how to overcome my own fear ... and there were people I could collaborate with who could help me figure it out."

In 1999, Fiorina became the first woman to lead a Fortune 100 company. She did that until 2005.

Overcoming fear is like exercise, Fiorina said.

"The more you do it, the more you want to do it," she explained.

Fiorina said she learned that everyone has potential.

"Find your gifts," she said. "Have the courage the use your potential. Find what work brings you joy because you will use all of your gifts. Define yourself. Don't let others do it."

She encourages leaders to seek diversity of opinion and collaboration.

"It is worth your time to understand others," she said. "Ask questions. Successful collaboration requires respectful questions. If you go into a setting and everyone thinks alike, you'll probably get the wrong answers. If you ask the right questions of the right people, you come up with the right answer.

"Leadership has nothing to do with title or position. Leadership is about unlocking potential in others."

She related a question she asked an executive about why women were not using his company's smartphones. They weren't buying the early models because their fingers didn't generate enough heat on the touch screen as men's fingers, Fiorina said.

She asked him if any women were on the company's design team. There weren't. She suggested he add some. He added women to the team and sales improved, Fiorina said.

She defines judgment as "knowing the difference between what's important and what's not." Challenges, she explained, are not black and white.

"The tough times will come," she said. "Remember that in those tough times are the greatest blessings. It's often the tough times that make us what we are. We control nothing but our own choices."

Responding to a question about how she balances her work and personal time, Fiorina said it's hard because no matter what one chooses, someone is going to be unhappy.

"You have to own your choices. How you spend your time becomes your life," she said.

Values must trump results, she said. "The real test of ethics and values is: what do you do when no one is looking and you don't think anyone will ever find out?"

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