Name: HPE CEO's Leadership Advice: 'Aspire to Be Something Bigger'
Uploaded: 2019-10-01
Duration: 6 min 22 s
Description: Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri is following the innovation lessons of legendary founders William Hewlett and David Packard.

[ MUSIC ] Antonio, you've said you never pictured yourself being a CEO, but now that you've become chief executive of Hewlett Packard for more than a year now, you say it's your dream job. Tell us why, I mean, what changed? > Well, I mean, when I joined HPE in 1995 at the call center, I never pictured myself as the CEO of the company. But it's my dream job because I get to lead an iconic company. You don't get to lead a company that has Hewlett and Packard The brand and it's a big responsibility. And you're also an engineer CEO and there haven't been too many of those at the company since the early days with Bill Hewlett and ,- Yeah. Dave Packard when they founded the company 80 years ago. Has it made a difference in the way you lead HP? In the market that we compete today, you have to move really fast. And when you miss a technology or market trend is hard to recover. We have our own lessons about that. We missed the cloud, maybe ten years ago. Even though we came up with the concept. But we did not execute it, so having that technology right now makes a huge difference. Your personal story is so inspiring. You were born in Argentina. Son of an Italian homebuilder. You speak four languages. In school, I thought it was interesting, you studied drawing and painting. Yeah. Your idea was to become an architect, but then everything changed up, as you mentioned, 1995 you became a call center representative for Hewlett Packard, and then you just stayed. How do you use your story to motivate your employees? I was very curious about technology, and the only way in Argentina to do that was to go into a military kind of environment even though I was not a military person. I was a technician. So I started as an apprentice learning about electronics and repairing rather than sonar. I had the unfortunate situation to be in a war at 16 years old even though it was no part of the world but I was in the military base when that happened in being aspirational in everything you want to do. And that's the story I tell to my employees. You can do it, you know, and aspire to be something better than you are today, every single day. But it starts by investing yourself into it. By learning every day. How do you know that this message Just getting across to everybody. Have you seen some changes? Yes, absolutely. I think the cultural company has been involved in the last 18 months. I can see it everywhere I go, I spend 50 % of my time with customers and partners and visiting our HP sites. I can see the innovation picking up the ideas, I'm getting through directly to me or through the ranks is is quite interesting. Just picking the right ones and investing in the people going forward. I see a reenergize workforce we are 63, 000 people, and the power of the diversity we have in the organization is quite significant .>> One of the first big decisions you made as CEO was to change your headquarters you have location leaving Palo Alto which is where the roots of the company have been. Since the founding back in the 1930s. Yeah. And moved to San Jose, was that for practical reasons, or was it something symbolic to move the headquarter? Both, I would say both. So the original building we were in, as a Hewlett Packard Enterprise, was not the original building, that Bill and Dave Founded the company. It wasn't the same campus, but the original building where their offices are, went with HP ink / g, the PCs and printers. And so for us, it was nothing really emotionally connected. And the site was not designed for the 21st century, they will live in a digital world. I'm actually proud because I was part of the design team. I actually designed part of details of the building because I believe you need to have your hands on to change that culture without perception. Yeah, I was surprised actually then, you designed the building and also the sculpture at the entrance of the headquarters You'd also hear too many CEO's getting involved and they're kind of detail, why was that important. I believe some of the aspects of the building reflects our value. And our value is as part on your way to knock. And when you come through the building, that sculpture that the friend of mine and I did together They have three arms, which is reflecting the three values, partner, innovate and act. So when you come through I want you to feel it immediately. As you go through the lobby you see our customer stories and our innovation, the legacy of the company, but more gear into the future, not the past. You also talk a lot about the importance of having fun in the company. And I hear that you like to dress in costume at a lot of the employee events. One time as a soccer player, another time you dressed up as Santa Clause. It sounds Silly, but fun. But is there a bigger leadership lesson here? Are people really working hard for our customers and for our company. And we need to take the time to celebrate our people. And work with fun when you do it in an authentic way. There is an incredible story to be told you people like to follow that type of leadership. And that's part of the culture we want to establish going forward. You're still very close with Meg Whitman. And as we all know, she was the CEO at HP for many, many Years. When she handed the job over to you, did she give you any leadership advice? Well, first of all, Maggie is a friend and a mentor to me. We have done a lot of work together over the last eight years. She committed to be with me for a year through the transition as a board member Which was very helpful, which actually gave peace of mind to customers and partners as well. Her advice is be yourself. You have the right instincts, you know the market, you know our customers, just don't procrastinate. If you are convinced of something, just do it. If you make a mistake you're going to learn and you're going to move on versus waiting and waiting and waiting. We have a say a short no is better than a long yes. So that's the lesson to me and I carry that with me every single day. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

HPE CEO's Leadership Advice: 'Aspire to Be Something Bigger'

Leadership

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri is following the innovation lessons of legendary founders William Hewlett and David Packard.