I left HP Services earlier this year, partly because I was tired of watching them toss money away on pointless projects while good people were losing their jobs. There was one group in Services that reserved penthouse suites at all partner trade shows and used them for "executive business centers", in other words, places for the higher ups to get free food and cocktails and watch big screen TVs. They held lavish dinners, cocktail parties, went on yacht cruises, played golf at private courses -- all on HP's dime. And all for HP Services execs and their pals. I doubt these activities led to many if any sales. But I'm sure HP spent at least $100,000 a pop on these activities, and there were several a year. If HP would cut out these executive perks, they could probably save the jobs of five or six people who would actually contribute to the company.
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Come on, I really enjoyed being reminded by Meg personally how she and her buddies were partying in Barcelona, Spain for the last 3 months of 2014 in almost daily e-mails (apparently entertaining our "customers" in Europe? The ones we ended up bribing and getting caught at?). It was like they were rubbing employees' noses in the fact that they were spending millions of HP's money for their own lifestyle.
Executives at HP do not understand the concept of "leadership" and couldn't run a lemonade stand without firing everybody who makes the lemonade, before bailing out on golden parachutes.