Carly Fiorina Remarks at Tsinghua University

Beijing, China

March 12, 2007

Xie, xie. Xia wu hao. Those are the only two words of Chinese I know. That's no true, I know a third–Ni hao. I want to thank all of you for taking time out of your what I know that is a very busy study schedule to be here today. I know this is valuable time for you that you could be using to work, or study, or maybe to play Sword on line. Thank you for having me here today.

Coming from a company that has“invent”as part of our brand, as part of our signature, I sometimes begin speeches by saying that invention and innovation have been part the DNA¹ of HP’s for more than sixty years. Our scientists and engineers today generate more than 11 patents every day. We spend more than 4 billion dollars a year on R&D. So invention is part of our future as well as part of our past.

That all sounds pretty impressive until you think about China’s history, and you realize that“invent”has been part of China’s DNA for more than 5,000 years. Every schoolchild in America learns about China’s many gifts to this world—from the invention of paper, to gunpowder², the wheelbarrow, the compass, acupuncture—right up to the first blast furnace and the first use of iron casting, back in the sixth century.

As a company, we actually at HP are especially indebted to a man named Bi Sheng, who had the vision in 1045 A.D. to invent the world’s first movable type, which led to its first printer—a full 300 years before Gutenberg's invention of movable type changed the Western world. So today, I want to issue a belated thank you to Bi Sheng for having the foresight³ to set in motion a process that would eventually lead to a 20 billion business for HP.

That great tradition of invention and innovation has certainly been carried on here at Tsinghua, where some of the finest instructors⁴ in the world today are working to train some of the finest scientists and engineers. It’s a bit ironic⁵ that this school was originally established nearly 100 years ago as a place where young Chinese could go to America and other western nations to learn from us. Today, the rest of the world, I think, has much to learn from China.

It’s always struck me that the process of invention is a little bit like the process of being a college student. After all, as an inventor, you go into a lab and you have a strong but perhaps vague idea of what you want to achieve. By working hard, experimenting, learning along the way, and using as a guide the work of those who went before you–you advance down the road towards discovery. You may not end up where you started–or even where you expected, but if you are successful, then begins another difficult process of trying to make your invention work in the world around you.

Like inventors, many of you have traveled the same road over the last four years here in university. The person you are today–the goals you have today, the dreams you have today–may be different from the ones you had when you first came here. And now, you are becoming prepared to take all that you’ve learned here and make it work in the world around you.

I believe that young people are graduating today into a world filled with more hope and more promise than in any other time in our history. I know sometimes that might sound strange, because we think always of the dangers and challenges in the world around us. But I have studied history in my life. I do believe this is an era of great promise and great opportunity.

For those of you who have seen our ads, you know that they end with the phrase,“everything is possible.”A cynic might say that just a marketing⁶ slogan–but I actually believe that. I don’t think every is easy, I don't think things happens right away. But I do think that everything is possible.

For all the remarkable⁷ advancements⁸ we have seen in recent years, nothing has matched the power of information technology to change our world for the better. And in the next decade, it will take us to places we can only imagine today.

China is the world’s fastest-growing economy; the world’s leader in direct foreign investment; one of the world’s largest trading nations -- a leader on both the production and consumption of information technology. China is poised⁹ to play a huge part in that future–and the students who graduate from Tsinghua University are poised to shape the future of technology like never before. Now like any university students, I know for you the road ahead has much uncertainty¹⁰. But if there is one thing I have learned in the past 20 years in this industry, it is that the principle that you have learned inside the walls of Tsinghua, the principle is more true outside the university than inside. The principle I am speaking of is this: that great leaders–like great organizations, great companies, and great nations–great leaders are defined not simply by their capabilities¹¹, but by their character. Not just by the company they are, but by the company they keep. Not by success alone–but as Tsinghua teaches, with self-discipline and social concern in equal balance.

To be honest, I wish I could say that the road to learning that lesson for me was easy. I wish I could tell you that the day I graduated from university I knew exactly how all the pieces would fit together, that I knew exactly what I wanted to do from day one and my life as been a nice strait line and careful plan ever since. The truth is, I didn’t begin my career as a technologist. I took to heart the wisdom of Confucius–who taught us that one should“study the past if you would define the future”–and I majored in medieval history and philosophy at Stanford University. As perhaps you can appreciate, that of degree was not in great demand when I graduated from University.

So I wasn’t sure what to do after collage¹², so I went to law school because that’s what my father wanted me to do. But found I didn't like law school; I didn't have any passion for it. I quit after one semester quit after a semester, and wandered off into the world to find myself. I did some strange things. I joined a commercial brokerage company and there I typed, I answered the phones–I was what we call a secretary. Then I went off to Italy to teach English to Italian businessmen. Then, finally, I decided¹³ to apply to business school. And there I learned about marketing and operations and statistics and other skills necessary for business–but perhaps more importantly, I had professors–like the students here do -- who challenged me, who taught me a different notion of what was possible, who forced me to see my life in new ways. And I think, in a very great measure -- that is what leadership is about, that is what education is about, that is what character is all about.

You see, I think one of most important qualities a leader can bring is the ability, the energy, the desire to unlock potential in others. I think leadership is ultimately about helping¹⁴ other people achieve more than they think is possible; it is about helping people see a different set of possibilities for themselves.

I’ve been asked a lot since if there are any lessons I’ve learned about character and leadership. There are three lessons, I think that I have learned, that continue to instruct me to this day, that continue to guide me in both business and in life.

The first lesson is that values matter and character counts and that. The first lesson is that values matter and character counts, and that no matter how much things change, fundamental values shouldn't. For those of you who are just starting out your career, you will find that in leadership—as perhaps in life—the most important decisions you make, and the toughest decisions you make are often the decisions you make alone. And when you make those decisions, there is an opportunity to be buffeted¹⁵ about by and confused by all kinds of things: conventional wisdom, and popular emotion…and maybe by cynicism and doubt as well.

I think leadership takes what I would call a strong internal compass. And I use the term compass because what does a compass do? When the winds are howling, and the storms raging, and the sky is so cloudy that you have nothing to navigate¹⁶ by, a compass tells you where true North is. And I think when a person is in a difficult situation, a lonely situation; you have to rely on that compass. Who am I? What do I believe? Do I believe I am doing the right things for the right reasons in the best way I can? Sometimes that’s all you have.

The second lesson I’ve learned about character and leadership is that leadership, just like success, is not a journey, it is a destination. It is perhaps a clichéto say that leadership is a journey not a destination but it is a clichébecause it is true, leadership is a journey. The only constant in any of our lives, whether you're running a company or running a family, or perhaps running a country, is change. But change has never been as constant and as fast as it is today.

To me, the dividing line between will increasingly separate the winners from the losers in the marketplace those individuals, the dividing line between those individuals who truly make a difference and a contribution in the 21st century from those who do not—is the line between those who embrace change and those who run away from it. It will be between those who seek to lead change, and those who find refuge in the status quo or in their comfort zones.

And the third lesson I’ve learned about leadership and success is that real power comes in the connections between all kinds of things; but most importantly real power comes from the connections between people. Power comes not from those who stand alone, .but from those who can work best with others, and reach out to others to achieve a desired outcome. And finding those connections and recognizing those connections is part of what leadership is all about.

As leaders, you can never forget that people want to do a good job. They want to be treated with consideration and respect. They want to feel a real sense of accomplishment¹⁷ in their work, to have their ideas considered, and their achievements recognized. People want to feel like they’re part of something larger than themselves–to be a part of the larger vision, direction, to be part of worthy¹⁸ goals.

Personally, I think anyone can lead from anywhere at any time. I think leadership has nothing to do with how many people work for you or how large your organization is, or what your title is, or how large your budget is. Anyone can lead from anywhere at any time, which is to say that I believe that character and leadership is a choice, and are about making a positive impact. And anyone can make a positive impact. Some acts of leadership are very large, and happen on a grand scale, and some acts of leadership are quite small. But like a stone you drop in a pond it ripples¹⁹. Sometimes even very small acts of leadership can have a big consequences. And of course, it follows that if anyone can choose to lead at anywhere from anytime, then it is the role of leaders to find leaders other leaders and to unlock for them the possibility that they can make a positive impact.

So those things are what I think character is all about–but what about capability²⁰? For the profession that many of you have chosen–for the profession of communication and information technology, as scientists or engineers–the heart of capability, the true potential of this field also lies in finding the potential unlocked inside things, whether they are organizations, or societies, machines–or people.

I think the technology landscape today is changing in three fundamental ways. The first big shift we see going on in technology is that all processes, and that all content are being transformed from physical and analog²¹ to digital and mobile, and virtual. There are so many examples. Just think about the simple example of what is happening in photography. Photography is going from physical to digital and now from digital to mobile and all the content is about to become virtual and available, and accessible to anyone, anywhere in any form they want. And that transformation²² from physical to digital, virtual, mobile will happen to every process, every industry, and every kind of content.

The second big shift we see in technology is that the demand for simplicity²³, for manageability, for adaptability²⁴. While it is true that while technology is core to everything, it is also true that technology is also still too complex, too hard to manage, and often that complexity²⁵ is a barrier.

The third big shift is that it’s becoming a horizontal, heterogeneous²⁶, connected world. Whether you’re a CEO trying to become more efficient, more effective and more agile²⁷; or a small and medium business trying to mobilize your workforce²⁸; or you're a consumer who wants a whole bunch of separate things that you have bought in your home to work better together, it is now about horizontal connections. It’s about making a heterogeneous world work together and speak a common language–and I am speaking not of just devices, but networking and connecting businesses and companies, employees and suppliers to customers.

As technology moves from the fringe to the core of people’s lives and businesses, the need for technology to deliver more becomes increasingly important. I think today our consumers are no longer willing to compromise. Now, all of our customers actually want everything from technology. They want affordability²⁹ and innovation and reliability³⁰ and security and simplicity and manageability and connection.

Now if I were giving you a speech today on HP, I would tell you that that this is a future that we are trying to create. That we see our role to accelerate the transformation from physical to digital. That as the number one consumer IT company in the world; the number one technology company for small and medium-sized businesses, and one of the leading enterprise technology companies, we are a company, we believe, unlike any other, with market-leading positions in virtually every category in which we compete. Today we are a almost 84 billion company with 140,000 employees in 176 countries around the world. We are working hard to create the growth industries of the future and to find the connections between things.

This school has prepared all of you for that same journey. As you work to take what you have learned here and apply it to the world around you, I hope that you will also strive to use your capabilities to create communities that are not just richer, but better; to judge success not just by the number of networks you connect, but by the number of people you connect; that you won’t just help make better companies, but better communities, and a better world.

It’s that same kind of thinking that brought us to China in the first place. It was 22 years ago that HP opened our first office here in China, in an old municipal factory located in Beijing. A day before the opening, there was still sawdust on the floor, and two of our engineers worked so hard to get our systems ready that they slept overnight in the building on folding cots. When we opened that building , it was the first partnership³¹ of its kind to be sponsored by the government of the People’s Republic of China in conjunction with a foreign company.

In 1985 our first joint³² venture agreement was signed between our then chairman, Dave Packard, and the then Minister of Information Technologies, Jiang Ze Min.

One newspaper recalled that the day there was“much hand-shaking and drinking of green tea.”At the ceremonial dedication³³, our representative at the time (Bill Doolittle) said that“it was our hope that by exchanging experiences, not only would we contribute to the progress of our industries and the growth of our economies, but to the friendship of our countries and the humanity of the world.”

That’s the same wish I leave you with here today. This University, I believe, has prepared you well and taught you the lessons of character and capability. The leaders of tomorrow will be the people of your age with the drive and commitment to fulfill³⁴ their own potential and to help others reach their potential.

This is a world that in fact has always been driven by the young. Galileo published his first book on gravity at age 22. The founders³⁵ of HP, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, were in their 20's when they began the company. Bill Gates after all started Microsoft when he was 22. Or think about a lesson of one of this school’s great founders -- Zhao Yuanren, one of Tsinghua’s Great Four Tutors, who knew 10 European languages and dozens of Chinese dialects, who accompanied British philosopher Bertrand Russell around China and translated his English into the local dialect at each of their destinations. He was only 28 at the time.

And let us not forget that the world’s very first computer programmer was a woman in her 20s named Ada Byron Lovelace. She lived more than 150 years ago. She greatly expanded on the work of her mentor³⁶, the renowned³⁷ mathematician³⁸ Charles Babbage, whose work on the analytical³⁹ engine preceded the modern computer. Today, the computer language Ada is named for her.

Your job, your great opportunity, is to harness the forces of change swirling⁴⁰ all around you, in whatever field you decide to enter, and to take full advantage of the possibilities at your fingertips. Leadership can take place in acts large and small, it can come not just from CEOs and Prime Ministers, but can come as well from ordinary citizens who believe in the potential of others. I hope that whatever you do, you will remember your own power and dedicate yourself to the cause Tsinghua has prepared you so well for: to dedicate yourself to unlock the potential in others; to believe in the potential of yourself; to make this era the most exciting in all of human history–and to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that everything is possible.

Thank you.