Review of “HP Phenomenon – Innovation and Business Transformation”

philmckinney | December 12, 2009

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hp_phenomenon

The long anticipated release of Chuck House’s book on HP (HP Phenomenon - Innovation and Business Transformation) has finally arrived and Chuck was so kind as to send me a copy.   At 638 pages, it is the most complete look at the story behind what became HP.   Chuck doesn’t just tell what worked, but also describes in details what didn’t work and how challenges were solved.  As with any highly successful organization there were struggles, conflicts and disagreements coming from a team of passionate visionaries.   The result is a company that went through six major transformations while most companies don’t survive one.  Chuck, in his own unvarnished way, shares it all.

This is not just a history lesson on HP.  Chuck shares the philosophies, organizational principals and practices that any company can learn from.  This book is about what it takes to create/enable an organization to innovate and transform.  One premise of what made HP successful is the fundamental belief in “bottoms-up innovation” and the flexibility to try new ideas in the marketplace without getting caught up in the need for absolute proof of market success before green lighting an idea.  A trait sorely missing from many organizations today where corporate anti-bodies seem to be the norm.

In the spirit of  full disclosure, Chuck and I are friends and I recently, I interviewed Chuck for the podcast.   Every time I get with Chuck, I learn something.   He has forgotten more about innovation, team building and the management of invention than most of us will every know.

Read the book ….

To purchase his book:  HP Phenomenon

To hear the interview and/or read the transcript …

Disclosure:  Stanford Press provided me with a free copy of Chuck’s book …

Tags: business transformation, chuck house, creativity, HP, innovation, invention, leadership, management

  • Glenn Hall

    This should be the lateDecember read. The Podcast gives a good flavour of the edge that can be enhanced and the way to do good stuff and not set off the Corporate Immune System! As an ex HP Labbie and being strongly enthused by innovating with others this is welcome. As one who enjoyed the Carly Fiorina years I look forward to seeing Chucks analysis Go buy folks.

  • http://bitwacker.blogspot.com/ John Erickson

    Regarding the statement, “One premise of what made HP successful is the fundamental belief in “bottoms-up innovation” and the flexibility to try new ideas in the marketplace without getting caught up in the need for absolute proof of market success before green lighting an idea…”

    “Made” is the operative word. This *may* have been what fueled HP’s success in the past, but having just left HP Labs after a decade of service I challenge whether this remains the practice. For nearly two years the standard for projects getting the “green light” has been *precisely* the likelihood they will lead to a large market success; the much-ballyhooed “big bets” may be big in staff and investment, but they focus on a narrow range of accepted ideas and are *small* on true risk to the company.

    I think HP needs to stop living in the past; it needs to stop telling old stories to maintain an aura of current innovative practice. HP is not Bill & Dave’s company any more. Indeed, the small, “risky” projects of the past that eventually turned into huge successes for HP would get absolutely no support today; today, HP Labs management not only says “no!” to researchers but wraps that message in a layoff notice! Ref: http://tinyurl.com/lhxmqu

    Great interview of Chuck House, but it represents a different reality…

    • chuck house

      John, I couldn’t agree more, and the book says so, “in so many words”. What’s worse, Corporate America has taken the same Kool-Aid, and the country’s innovation has by and large died as a result. The ultimate hypocrisy is not found (just) at HP, but is worse at venerable places like Merck, Motorola, DuPont, IBM, and Boeing almost as badly as GM. We’ve built a “little diagram” about how HP “made” it, vs. how most try today. It is incredibly revealing. That, not a wish for nostalgia, is why we wrote the book, as Phil says “in Chuck’s unvarnished style”

      • James King

        I’m super late to this thread but I think you can sum up the stagnation of American innovation with two words…

        Bad management.

        Today, execs are more than likely to be gate-keeping bean counters rather than risk-takers looking to make an impact. It’s about CYA nowadays, innovation be damned. Can’t risk losing those fat paychecks, right?