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‘This is not a history of the Hewlett-Packard Company, or a book of business theory, or a definitive biography of William Hewlett and David Packard. I have chosen to write this book this way because of the desperate need the business world has right now for an archetype of enlightened management, enduring quality, and perpetual innovation. It is not enough to simply tell the story of Hewlett, Packard and their company. What are needed are the why? and the how?’
The most momentous first meeting in modern business history took place in the unlikely setting of a bench beside a football field, between two Stanford University students in pads and helmets. A few years later, in 1938, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard were working in a small garage in Palo Alto, California, building their first product, an audio oscillator. It was the start not only of a legendary company but also of an entire way of life in Silicon Valley—and, ultimately, of our modern digital age.
Acclaimed journalist Michael S. Malone is the first to get the full story, based on unlimited and exclusive access to corporate and private archives, along with hundreds of employee interviews. He draws on new material to show how some of the most influential products of our time were invented and how a culture of innovation led HP to unparalleled success for decades. Malone also shows what was really behind the groundbreaking management philosophy—“the HP way”—that put people ahead of products or profits.
Bill and Dave, at its heart, is a character study of two amazing men who revealed their character in how they structured their business, in the men and women they hired, and, most of all, in the power they entrusted to even the lowliest HP employee. Their story is something of a miracle—one from which we can never stop learning.
ISBN: 0143102397
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Pages : 448
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