‑ │ i sonat e a randt h enewlya r r i v e d Hurd i s being h a i l e d as a t u r n ‑ aroundm a e s t r o .Thanksmostlyt o c o s t ‑ c u t ti ng and o p e r a t i o n a l improvements, t h e businesses t u r n e di na50%i n c r e a s ei no p e r a t ‑ i n ge a r n i n g si nf i s c a l2005. I nmanyways, Livermorei sa p e r f e c tmetaphorf o rHP.The46‑ y e a r ‑ o l di scompetent,r e s p e c t e d , b u tn o tr e a l l yf e a r e d byr i v a l s .A standoutt e n n i sp l a y e randv a l e ‑ d i c t o r i a no f her h i g h school i n Greensboro, N . C . ,sheearneda coveted Morehead S c h o l a r s h i pt o t h eU n i v e r s i t yo fN o r t hC a r o l i n aa t Chapel H i l l . She wents t r a i g h tt o b u s i n e s ss c h o o la tS t a n f o r dU n i v e r ‑ s i t y .T h e r e ,shewont h ea n n u a lcom‑ p e t i t i o nf o rb e s tbusinessp l a nf o r r u n n i n gt h edoughnutc o n c e s s i o n . Hers e c r e t ?Shes o l i c i t e dcom‑ paniest h a twerecomingt oi n t e r ‑ views t u d e n t st obuyh e rsweetsby t h e dozen.When shej o i n e d HP , s t r a i g h to u to fS t a n f o r d ,shenever expectedt omakeac a r e e ro fi t .She hadwatchedh e rf a t h e rs t a ya tt h e samei n s u r a n c ecompanyf o ryears andvowedn o tt og e tboggeddown. B u tshef e l li nl o v ew i t hHP'su n i q u e c u l t u r e .E s p e c i a l l ya p p e a l i n gwas HP'sw i l l i n g n e s st oaccommodate working m o t h e r s ,throughf l e x i b l e workinghoursando t h e ra r r a n g e ‑ m e n t s .L i v e r m o r ec o u l dd o t eonh e r d a u g h t e r , even as she r o a r e d t h r o u g ht h er a n k s .By1996shewas r u n n i n gt h es e r v i c e sarm.I n1 9 9 9 , shemadeav e r yp u b l i cr u na tt h e CEOjob‑even h i r i n gani n t e r n a l pressr e l a t i o n spersont or a i s eh e r p r o f i l e .Shel o s to u tt oF i o r i n aand t h e nbecameas t a u n c ha l l y . InauspiciousStart Fora l lh e rsuccess,Livermores t i l l has something t o prove. W a l l Street~rs a r ewaryo fh e ra b i l i t yt o d e l i v e rc o n s i s t e n tf i n a n c i a lr e s u l t s . EvensomeHPi n s i d e r sa s c r i b eh e r r i s et oas e l f l e s sw i l l i n g n e s st of o l ‑ lowo r d e r s .They'req u i c kt op o i n t o u tt h a ts h e ' sas o l i dg e n e r a lman‑ agerandu n i v e r s a l l yw e l l ‑ l i k e d ,b u t q u e s t i o nwhethershecanr a l l yt h e t r o o p st oc h a l l e n g eaf i e r c ef o el i k e I B M ."She' se x t r e m e l yc o m p e t e n t , " saysonei n s i d e r ," b u tId o n ' tsee h e rasa keyl e a d e rf o rt h el o n g ‑ t e r m . "Completingt h eturnaround i nt h ec o r p o r a t e business could h e l p Livermore win over t h e n a y s a y e r s . Livermorehadani n a u s p i c i o u s s t a r ti nherc u r r e n tj o b .Shetook overt h ec o r p o r a t ecomputingb u s i ‑ ness i ne a r l y 2004. J u s tt h r e e monthsl a t e r ,i nA u g u s t ,t ir e p o r t e d ad i s a s t r o u sq u a r t e rpushingt h e company'sstockdown15%.Out o f t h a t c r i s i s , Livermor e has helpedf o r g eacomeback.Withi n days, she i n s t r u c t e d HPveteran S c o t tS t a l l a r dt os e tupawarroom t o begin addressing t h eu n i t ' s manyo p e r a t i o n a lproblems.Over t h e months t h a tf o l l o w e d , she worked c l o s e l yw i t h a seven‑ person team t o i d e n t i f y and improve 15 key weaknesses‑ e v e r y t h i n gfrom how HPworked w i t hd i s t r i b u t o r st o how t ip u l l e d t o g e t h e rb i d sf o rc u s t o m e r s . Livermorerecognizest h a tb o t h sheandHPhavet h e i rd o u b t e r s . Butsheb e l i e v e st i m ef sont h e i r s i d e ."Thef a c ti s,t h e r e ' snoone b e t t e ri nt h eworlda th e l p i n gc u s ‑ tomersdesi g n ,b u i l d ,andmanage datac e n t e r s, "shes a y s ." Wehave n o tp r o u d l yo rl o u d l yenoughp u t t h a tstakei nt h eground.Butwe w i l l . "Thecompany'sfuture‑and h e rown‑maydependoni t . Questionsfor Discussion 1 . Whati sAnnL i v e r m o r e' s approacht omanaging? 2 . Whatk i n d so fs k i l l sdoyou t h i n ksheneedst h emostt o p e r f o r mh e rj o be f f e c t i v e l y ? Source:P e t e rBurrows,"HP'sU l t i m a t eTeam P l a y e r ."R e p r i n t e dfromt h eJanuary30, 2006,i s s u eo fBusinessWeekbys p e c i a l p e r m i s s i o n .C o p y r i g h tc 2006byt h e McGraw‑HillCompanies,I n c I B u s i n e s s W e e kCaseintheNews ゜ ^ TheHardestJob i nSiliconValley r a c I ec o r p . ' ss e n i o rV I C e r e s i d e n ti nchargeo fa p p l i ‑ c a t i o n s ,JohnWookeyhasoneo f t h e toughest jobs i ns o f t w a r e . Over t h e past two y e a r s , Chief E x e c u t i v eLawrenceJ .E l l i s o nhas spent$19b i l l i o nbuying14r i v a l s i nt h ecorporatesoftwarem a r k e t . H i sbuyingbingei n c l u d e dpaying 40 $10b i l l i o nf o rPeopleS o f tI n c .and $5.8b i l l i o nf o rS i e b e lSystemsI n c . Thatwast h eeasyp a r t .P u t t i n gi t a l ltogetheri sWookey' sj o b ."My headi st h eoneont h echopping blocki ft h i sdoesn'tw o r k , "dead‑ pansWookey.He'smostlyj o k i n g , b u ti nt h epastE l l i s o n hasbeen q u i c kt of i r eexecutiveswhod o n ' t perform. Thep l a ni st omeldt h eb e s to f whatOraclehasboughti n t oanew s u i t eo fs o f t w a r ecode‑named" P r o ‑ j e c tFusion. "Thei n t e g r a t e dp a c k ‑ age w i l l h e l p c o r p o r a t i o n s r u n e v e r y t h i n g from a c c o u n t i n g and s a l e st ocustomerr e l a t i o n sands u p ‑ p l y ‑ c h a i n management. E l l i s o n' s hopei st h a tFusion‑togetherw i t h a l lt h e newcustomers he landed w i t hh i sa c q u i s i t i o n s ‑ w i l lf i n a l l y g i v ehimt h eedgeheneedst oo v e r ‑ t a k et h et o pc o r p o r a t ea p p l i c a t i o n s company ,Germany'sSAP. S t i f fCompetition Tog e tO r a c l e ' smarketsharegrow‑ i n g,Wookeymustb u i l danews u i t e o fsof twarea p p l i c a t i o n s‑ u s i n g t h el a t e s ttechnologyanddrawing t h eb e s tfromeacho ft h ea c q u i r e d compani e s . He has t o persuade customerst ow a i tf o rhimt of i n i s h h i st a s kandtheng r a d u a l l ys w i t c h moreo ft h e i rcomputingj o b st or u n onOracles o f t w a r e .Andhehast o f e n do f fSAP , whichi sa t t e m p t i n gt o t a k e advantage o f c u s tomers ' u n c e r t a i n t yandp i c kthemo f f. Thegrandv i s i o nt ot a k eonSAP byf u s i n gt h eb e s to ft h er e sti sa l l E l l i s o n' s.B u tw h i l ehe' st h emas t er ‑ mind,Wookey i st h e foreman. Wookeyhasworkeda tO r a c l ef o ra decade,earningh i ss t r i p e sasan e x e c u t i v ei nt h ecustomerr e l a t i o n s anda c c o u n t i n ggroups.H i sc a r e e r t o o ko f fa f t e rher a nap e tp r o j e c to f E l l i s o n' s:b u i l di nga p p l i c a t i o n sf o r t h eh e a l t h ‑ c a r ei n d u s t r y.Hewas promoted a yearagot or u nt h e e n t i r ea p p l i c a t i o n sbusi ness. Thetwomens t a n di ns t a r kcon‑ t r a s tt oeacho t h e r.Wookeyonce quippedd u r i n ganOracleeventas hewast a k i n gt h es t a g ea f t e rE l l i s o n t h a tt h eArmanip a r to ft h eprogram wasendingandt h eMen' sWear‑ housep a r twass t a r t i n g.WhileE l l i ‑ son enjoysf a s tcars,f a s tboats, and fancy s u i t s, Wookey i sa devotedf a m i l yman.Heg e t supa t 4:15a.m.everydayf o raj o gand dogwalk,worksf o rs e v e r a lhours, thentakest h ek i d st os c h o o l .At work,w h i l eE l l i s o ni s brash and content i ous,Wookeyi sas o f t‑ s p o ‑ kendi p l o m a t . He' sknownf o rh i s s t r a i g h tt a l kandd r yw i t . Thatdisarmings t y l ehasmade him t h ep e r f e c tg o o d w i l l ambas‑ sado r t o t h e c u s t o m e r s O raclehas , swallowedupthrougha c q u i s i t i o n s d u r i n gt h ep a s ty e a r .Sincehet o o k commando ft h eF u s i o np r o j e c t,he hascr i s s cr ossedt h ew o r l dmaking per s o n a lappeal st ocustomers.To makes u rehe' sont h er i g h tt r a c k w i t hF u s i o n ,hev e t sh i sp l a n sw i t h ana d v i s o r ycou n c i lo fcustomers. W i t h i nOrac l e,Wookey' sg r e a t e s t s t r e n g t hi sasaconsensusb u i l d e r. EveryMondaya tmidday,hep r e ‑ sentsp rogressr e p o r t st oE l l i s o n and Co‑Presidents Charles E . .C a t z .A f t e r Phi l l i p sJ r .andS a f r aA t h a t,hemeetsw i t hh i s14s e n i o r s t a f f memberst o hash o u tn i t t y ‑ g r i t t yp r o d u c td e t a i l s. T h e r e ' sv i g o r ‑ ous debate over how t h e a p p l i c a t i o n s should be b u i l t and whatf e a t u r e sa r emosti m p o r t a n t . TheOr a c l eo fo l dm i g h thavebeen paralyzed, b u t Wookey keeps t h i n g sm o v i n g . reminding t h em what customers hadaskedf o r . Oneo fWookey' smo s tn o t a b l e v i c t o r i e swash o l d i n gont ot h es o f t ‑ warew r i t e r swhocamet oO r a c l e froma c q u i r e dr i v a l s.Sof a r,n e a r l y a l lo ft h ed e v e l o p e r st owhomO r a c l e o f f e r e dj o b sa r es t i l lw i t ht h ecom‑ p a n y ." Ihadanimaget h a teveryone [ a tO r a c l e ]hadbeeng r o w i n gh o r n s, " saysJohnS c h i f f,aformerP e o p l e ‑ S o f tmanager." B u tJohnexpressed t h ei m p o r t a n c eo ff a m i l yv a l u e s,and youseet ii nh i sownb e h a v i o r .I t ' s j u s tv e r yc o m f o r t a b l e. " I fWookeycanmeeth i sdead‑ l i n e s and take f u l l advantage o f Oracle software f r a n c h i s e s , he' l haveaf i g h t i n gchanceast h eb a t ‑ t i ebetweent h et e c ht i t a n sheats u p .I fn o t ,hemi g h tf i n dh i m s e l fon another v a c a t i o n.Only t h en e x t onec o u l dbepermanent. Mr.NiceGuy T y p i c a lo fWookey' ss t y l e was a r e c e n tf o u r ‑ h o u rmeeti ngw i t hh i s t o ps t a f f .Lookingaroundt h econ‑ ference room,i twas hardt ot e l l whowasi nc h a r g e .Wookeyd i d n' t s i ta tt h eheado ft h et a b l e,andhe l e to t h e r sdomosto ft h et a l k i n g .As developers argued over arcane t e c h n i c a lm a t t e r s,Wookeyweighed i nt or e s o l v e debates‑often by 2 . I nwhatwayw i l ltheses k i l l s Questi onsfor Discussion 1 . Whatdoyout h i n ka r eJohn Wookey' sg r e a t e s ts k i l l sasa manager? h e lphimt op e r f o r mh i st a s ka t Oracle? 3 . WhydoheandL a r r yE l l i s o n complementeacho t h e ras managers? Sou r ce:Sar a hLa c y ," TheHa r des tJobi n S i l iconVa l l ey . "Rep r i n tedf r om t heJanuar y 23,2006,i ssueofBu s i nessWee kbyspeci al per m issi on.Copy ri gh tc 2006byt he McGraw‑H i l lCompani e s,I nc 41