I’ve been only 5 months here at HPE (just graduated from College this past summer), and I’m already regretting my decision. I have two peers teasing me all the time saying that I should have read an old satirical post/article mocking the final demise of HPE that they refer to as “The Goliath’s Prophecy”. Anyone has the link? Thanks!
25 replies (most recent on top)
I wasn't aware of the Goliath's prophecy. Good stuff! I'm a believer!
HAHAHA Just read the article. Very well written. Thanks for sharing!
Now I FINALLY know how the Goliath’s thing originated. Cool! I’ve heard about it a zillion times, but didn’t know how it originated. :-)
I have been told that "The Google" knows EVERYTHING! The Google is getting so smart, soon it will be our Master (maybe it is already!).
The Google may already know about "Hardlips Peckhard", and if The Google does NOT know about it... If you will climb the mountain, and visit The Google in The Google's Cave, and ask very politely... The Google MIGHT even write that fiction for you!
I would love to read something starred by “Hardlips Peckhard"... Lol!
"...he doesn't even mention either HP or HPE a single time."
That's a good defensive move, when writing fiction! I wonder if there's any fiction out there about "Hardlips Peckinghard", "Hardlips Peckhard", or other totally fictional corporate entities?
There's another post saying that HPE HR Global Communications was instructed to chase the author and take action against him if he was still an active employee.
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First, he hasn't been an employee since February, 2015 (as per his LinkedIn profile, it looks like they kicked him out by then).
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Second, he doesn't even mention either HP or HPE a single time.
HPE top management (and their HR mercenaries) are so full of crap. Kudos to the article author, for kicking them on their b---- in such an amazing way. Goliath, the flower seller...
Pretty cool.
Had a good laugh with the article this morning. He just hit the nail in everything, and I definitely loved his creative writing style.
@3yeo, that was awesome! Thanks for sharing. I bookmarked the article.
I had a nice conversation with the author via LinkedIn InMail, and he was extremely surprised and humbled that there are still people talking about that article. I bet no one knows why he chose to use flowers and tires on it...
Just before writing the article, he went to an art & wine festival, and saw a vendor selling painted recycled tires used as flowers bases. He found interesting how those two disparate things could work well together, and used that as a symbol to describe the HP/Agilent split (flowers/tires). Then he said that "the flower seller" was in reference to a painting of artist Diego Rivera, in which there is a woman hugging a set of tied giant flowers. He visualized the woman as the employees and customers that loved HP, and how the past and current "leaders" of the company broke that harmony of tied flowers, and separated the employees and customers of the HP they knew and loved.
Very nice guy... "Talking" to him felt like being in an art gallery exhibition. Now you know why he used flowers and tires... :-)
So this is where that term came from! I've been hearing about the prophecy of Goliath for a long time now. Awesome!
Great article! That was an elegant way of slapping management faces. Unfortunately, the prophecy is becoming a reality way too fast...
Lol! A good friend of my wife works in HR Global Communications and was asked to “track down this guy” (referring to the article author). After quickly checking, I told my wife... For what? To fire him? Lol! It looks like they already did that in 2015 and he is doing way much better now!! I found it SO hilarious... Who do these people think they are? What I found even more hilarious was that the guy didn’t even mention HP or HPE once on what he wrote and still crushed the Company management team! But really... What was the intention? Give him a warning? Firing him? Lol! The lack of control really kills them!! :-D They DO monitor sites like this, in case anyone had any doubt...
@lwl, the one to blame for killing the HP Way was Carly Fiorina when she “rebranded” it as “The Rules Of The Garage” - of course, to her convenience. Meg might have been the black-masked executioner, but Carly is the one to blame for the destruction of the legacy from Hewlett and Packard.
I’ve heard the phrase “The Goliath’s Prophecy” often around my building, but had no clue where the term came from. Now it makes much more sense. Thanks for sharing!
The easiest way to build equity is acquisition, merger, selling off. There's the answer to what happened to HPE. Of course, being big and bloated is a sympton. It comes down to stock holders...large ones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUz9lbOVHSo
What Dell thinks of the whole thing. It's pretty good
First time I’ve read this article (didn’t even know it existed). All I can say is... Wow... I had to laugh a few times, but but then became really sad and nostalgic at the end. HP was once “THE” place to be. Look at what they have done to it (so far, not even counting all the disastrous acquisitions)... Agilent, Compaq, HPE, DXC, Micro Focus, etc... It’s so sad... I would frame this article and mount it next to the “HP Way” principles poster in the HP Garage...
whatever happened to basic human kindness and decency for simple question. don't bee such snobs
This is a timeless classic. All of us know already how the goliath’s prophecy ends...
Quoting... “‘The Flowerchine’ (whatever that meant, as nobody really understood what it was)”... lol Simply brilliant. Evidently, he referred to HPE’s “The Machine”. Nothing else to say there... If you were part of the old Compaq/HP, you’ll find this article priceless (especially if it’s the first time you read it). New generations of employees might not figure it out unless they do some research. Forget about Nostradamus... This guy really got it!
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/goliath-flower-seller-ivan-del-valle-cmbb/
She/he won’t find it like that. Search for “Goliath, the flower seller” instead in Google. That’s the right name of the article. I haven’t read it in a while, so it was fun to take a look at it again. There’s a whole cult about it here in Palo Alto. It stays pretty relevant (and accurate). Enjoy the mess in which you got in.....
Have you tried using something called “Google”? Millenials... Sigh...