I have written here before about Chuck House, who is a legend in HP history for, among other things, being awarded a medal for "Exceptional Contempt and Defiance Beyond the Usual Call of Engineering Duty" by David Packard. I just got an email from Chuck about an event that he is putting on with fellow HP veterans. I wish I could make it; these guys lived through one of the most amazing periods at what was then — at least arguably — the best company in U.S. history. I say that, because under Bill and Dave, I believe that no company before or since has done such an impressive job of balancing the trio of making money, treating employees well, and being a great corporate citizen over such a long stretch of time. HP wasn’t perfect, but they were as close to it as any human organization I know.
Here is what Chuck wrote. I just checked out their blog — it looks fascinating:
You all know that I have been
working for some time with Ray Price on an interpretive history of
Hewlett-Packard. Our working title at the moment is the HP Phenomenon,
scheduled for publication with Stanford University Press in February 2009.
Next Wednesday evening, April
9th at 7:00pm, in the Los Altos High School Eagle Theatre, there will
be a panel discussion of some of the early Hewlett-Packard days with Dave
Packard’s leadership as the main topic. Panelists will include Al Bagley, Cort
Van Rensselaer, Art Fong, Jack Petrak, and Dave Kirby. I will emcee the event.
I think it will be great fun, especially with a number of HP folk in the
audience who have promised to heckle and cajole the
panel.
Tickets are a modest $10 each, see
http://www.losaltoshistory.org/packard.htm
I also have constructed a BLOG of
sorts, to complement both some of the topics in the book and for the evening.
This is “front-end loaded” with about 12 small items, found at http://hpphenom.blogspot.com/
Your comments and editorial
statements for the Blog will be most appreciated.
Hope to see you Wednesday
nite!
Best, Chuck
House