What's in a CEO? A soul man is good

Fast as you can, name four technology company chief executive officers. I say four, because if I say 'name one' you’ll all say 'Steve Jobs'.

He is, after all, the famous one. A little bit of thought later and most people will then chime in with Bill Gates, thus illustrating the deep and abiding problem Steve . . . whatsisname . . . Ballmer has with recognition. Third, you’ll name the CEO of the company for which you work (which may well be you).

And then . . . nothing. Maybe you’ll know Mark Zuckerberg if you saw the movie, and you’ll probably snap your fingers in the air for a sec while the name of Google’s CEO barely eludes the tip of your tongue. (Larry Page, by the way.)

Remember IBM? Used to be huge in the tech industry. Actually still is, believe it or not, but its CEO, Sam Palmisano, manages somehow to keep a low profile about these things. Likewise Oracle continues to chug away but Larry Ellison seems more interested in what he does on the weekends than his day job.

Why am I name-dropping all these CEOs? Because there’s one you need to keep an ear out for. HP’s new boss Léo Apotheker has perhaps the most perfect name for a CEO that I have ever heard. I think he’ll do well.

The ancient Greek word “apotitheme” meant “to put away” and from it was derived “apotheke” meaning “storehouse”. A place for putting stuff. In modern languages it’s reflected in the English “apothecary” and French “boutique” and Portuguese “bodega” – all of which are words for “shop”. If you’ve got a company that needs to start selling stuff, and fast, you could do worse than hiring an apotheker to run it.

Asked about his plans for restoring HP’s fortunes, Apotheker has stressed a need to regain “the HP Way” – he’s been relatively light on details and product strategies, but he’s waxed lyrical about the need for HP employees to feel proud again of working for HP. It may sound a little airy-fairy and Kumbaya, but here’s the thing: he’s absolutely right.

Once upon a time HP was the foundation of Silicon Valley, innovative not just in its products but in corporate culture and the way it did business. It’s been a long time since that was true of HP. It became a big company that behaved like a big company, satisfying shareholders by cutting costs and growing by acquisition rather than invention.

Apotheker saying he wants to find the HP’s “soul” is not just about executive retreats and team-building like it may be at many companies. HP’s soul is worth rediscovering, if it’s still in there somewhere.

When Steve Jobs was asked how he was going to reverse the slide in Apple’s revenues, he famously replied “we’re not – we’re just going to make the best computers in the world”. At that moment Apple’s employees knew they finally had a CEO who was interested in what the company actually did, not just its balance sheet. History has shown he was right.

I can imagine HP’s workforce feeling similarly about Apotheker’s prescription. Time will tell.

Matthew JC. Powell lives near HP and wouldn’t mind seeing some happier faces sometimes. Send a smile to mjcp@me.com