for the good of the public. The candidate’s achievement and distinction in activity should be consonant with the mission of the University of Southern California: advancement and enrichment, while possessing the five attributes (pictured) of an ideal Trojan: faithfulness, scholarliness, skillfulness, courage, and ambition. One of the most deserving people for this award is Carly Fiorina.At the age of twenty-three, Carly Fiorina was a law school drop-out without a clue as to what her future held. Twenty-two years later, Fortune magazine named her “The Most Powerful Woman in Business” for the sixth consecutive year. Fiorina, or simply “Carly,” as many liked to call her when she was head of Hewlett-Packard (HP)—an 88 year-old $94 billion high-tech company and one of the most admired corporations in the world—was blazing new trails for business professionals everywhere. Then, the unthinkable happened: she lost her job in a very public board battle. Her five-year tenure was marked with bold, sweeping initiatives, including
the acquisition of Compaq Computer that nearly doubled the company’s size. There is no doubt she is a strong-willed person, and she believed strongly in her vision for the company. Although this takeover appeared to hinder HP at first, Carly’s vision turned out to be rewarding, especially in the eyes of Wall Street. Today, HP (logo pictured) is on a roll, and has not veered from Carly’s original position that “bigger is better.” Now that the company has finally “digested” the mammoth Compaq acquisition, its financial performance has righted itself and the company has regained its momentum. A strong case can be made that Carly was prematurely ousted; and, in fact, she laid the groundwork for one of the most remarkable corporate makeovers in the history of business.Today, Carly Fiorina has assumed a role as a controversial but world-class leader, writing books and giving speeches about her leadership. In a bit of vindication, HP recently endured a board scandal that raised new questions about how fairly Carly may have been treated. Her story provides rich discussion for women and men everywhere trying to break through a glass ceiling. She was chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005, becoming the first woman to serve as CEO of a company included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. As chairman, Carly had a mandate to “shake things up” with HP, and that is exactly what she did. Carly used her incredible skill-set to reinvent HP, and today the company is stronger than ever.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in medieval history and philosophy from Stanford University; Carly continued her schooling and earned her MBA from Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and a Master of Science degree from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Carly once mentioned that the job market for “knowledge of Copernicus or 12th Century European monks” was not very strong; hence, her sudden change towards business rather than her original philosophy plan.
Prior to joining HP, Carly spent nearly twenty years at AT&T and Lucent Technologies, where she held a number of senior leadership positions and directed Lucent’s initial public offering and subsequent spin-off from AT&T. She was named an Honorary Fellow of the London Business School in July 2001; she was also honored with the 2002 Appeal of Conscience Award and the 2003 Concern Worldwide “Seeds of Hope” Award in recognition of her worldwide efforts to make “global citizenship” a priority for business. Moreover, the Private Sector Council honored Carly with its 2004 Leadership Award for her contributions to improving the business of government. And if those awards were not enough, the White House appointed her to the U.S. Space Commission to assist in advising in the nation’s space science agenda and helping contribute a broad range of high-tech expertise.
Since leaving HP in 2005, Carly continues to make her mark on American business issues. She currently sits on the New York Stock Exchange’s executive board and serves on the board of the World Economic Foundation, which is committed to building partnerships to promote sustainable economic and social development.
Carly Fiorina’s story opens a door of possibility for people everywhere: people do not need to be limited by stereotypes.
Instead, they should feel emboldened to be driven by their own sense of possibility and accomplishment. Carly (pictured) once stated in the North Carolina A&T commencement address that people everywhere “should be motivated by what they believe they can become.” The people who focus on possibilities achieve much more in life than the people who focus on limitations and restraints. If asked about her job loss at HP, Carly will respond that she has no regrets; she learned an exuberant amount of knowledge from her mistakes. If she had to do it all over again, she would not change a thing.In short, Carly has character. She embodies a set of principles based on courage, determination, and vision. These qualities are most illustrated in the advice she offered to the graduating class of 2005 of the North Carolina A&T students: “When people have stereotypes of what you cannot do, show them what you can do. When they have stereotypes of what you will not do, show them what you will do. Every time you pass these tests, you learn more about yourself. Every time you resist someone else’s smaller notion of who you really are, you test your courage and your endurance. Each time you endure, and stay true to yourself, you become stronger and better.” Carly Fiorina has taught Americans that the glass ceiling still exists; but, it is people like Carly have raised it considerably, and, someday, it will be broken once and for all. Anyone can do whatever they set their mind to, and in a nutshell, that is what Carly Fiorina represents, and why she is so deserving of the University of Southern California’s honorary degree for a doctoral in science. She possesses all qualities inscribed on the University of Southern California’s forsaken “Tommy Trojan” and her achievements possess an ongoing and significant importance today. She is an inspiration to aspiring leaders, both male and female, interested in either business or art history. Her impact pervades across all fields and delves into the minds of everyone with the desire to succeed.
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