That was a fast one !!

Mark Hurd of NCR gets the HP head honcho job ! Congrats Russell Reynolds ! That was a fast close for one of the toughest tech head jobs. And one that did not finish with the usual list of suspects like Mike Cappellas (did I hear sighs of relief?)

"Mark came to our attention because of his strong execution skills, his
proven ability to lead top performing teams and his track record in driving
shareholder value. He demonstrated these skills by turning around NCR, which,
while smaller than HP, is a complex organization with multiple business
segments," said Patricia Dunn

"Hurd has been part of a culture that builds and not dismantles. This
should be a signal that HP is not going to head into a garage sale," Stahlman
said.

And this is what Hurd said

"You talk about problems but there are a bunch of opportunities at the same time," Hurd said in response to one question about strategy. "I want to get underneath every piece of the business and will be focused on doing my best to optimize each part." Hurd made several comments that were similar to the ones that Fiorina often made to defend the Compaq deal -- namely that it made strategic sense to have a diverse portfolio of tech businesses ranging from PCs and servers to printing, software and services.

Rob at Businesspundit wonders if HP played too safe by opting for a polar opposite of Carly while Juli at Tom Peters blog asks what would Hurd be judged on.