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Tough Choices: A Memoir
The New York Times bestseller by the most talked about woman in American business.
For five and a half years, Carly Fiorina led Hewlett-Packard through major internal changes, the worst technology slump in decades, and the most controversial merger in high-tech history. Yet just as things were about to turn around, she was abruptly fired, making front-page news around the world.
Fiorina has been the subject of endless debate and speculation. But she has never spoken publicly about crucial details of her time at HP, about the mysterious circumstances of her firing, or about many other aspects of her landmark career. Until now.
In this extraordinarily candid memoir, she reveals the private person behind the public persona. She shares her triumphs and failures, her deepest fears and most painful confrontations. She shows us what it was like to be an ambitious young woman at stodgy old AT&T and then a fast- track executive during the spin-off of Lucent Technologies. Above all, she describes how she drove the transformation of legendary but deeply troubled HP, in the face of fierce opposition.
One of Fiorina's big themes is that in the end business isn't just about numbers; it's about people.This book goes beyond the caricature of the powerful woman executive to show who she really is and what the rest of us male or female, in business or not can learn from the tough choices she made along the way.
For five and a half years, Carly Fiorina led Hewlett-Packard through major internal changes, the worst technology slump in decades, and the most controversial merger in high-tech history. Yet just as things were about to turn around, she was abruptly fired, making front-page news around the world.
Fiorina has been the subject of endless debate and speculation. But she has never spoken publicly about crucial details of her time at HP, about the mysterious circumstances of her firing, or about many other aspects of her landmark career. Until now.
In this extraordinarily candid memoir, she reveals the private person behind the public persona. She shares her triumphs and failures, her deepest fears and most painful confrontations. She shows us what it was like to be an ambitious young woman at stodgy old AT&T and then a fast- track executive during the spin-off of Lucent Technologies. Above all, she describes how she drove the transformation of legendary but deeply troubled HP, in the face of fierce opposition.
One of Fiorina's big themes is that in the end business isn't just about numbers; it's about people.This book goes beyond the caricature of the powerful woman executive to show who she really is and what the rest of us male or female, in business or not can learn from the tough choices she made along the way.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
82 people are currently reading
797 people want to read
About the author
Carly Fiorina
14 books40 followersCarly is a true leader and a seasoned problem‐solver. She is a passionate, articulate advocate for entrepreneurship, innovation, and effective leadership. She started out as a secretary for a small real-estate business and eventually became the first woman ever to lead a Fortune 50 company. In 1999, during the worst technology recession in twenty-five years, Carly was recruited to lead HP. As she refocused the company on innovation and market leadership, revenues grew, innovation tripled, growth quadrupled, and HP grew to become the eleventh largest company in the US.
Connect with Carly at CarlyFiorina.com, Facebook, and Twitter.
Connect with Carly at CarlyFiorina.com, Facebook, and Twitter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 156 reviews
December 30, 2008
The first half of this book is totally inspiring. It's a great book on leadership, and one that anyone in business should read. It actually made me want to do my job better.
However, the second half of this book felt like "Carly's Defense". It seemed like she really felt the need to tell her side, and this book is the vehicle for it. It wasn't bad, per se, but it didn't go with the first half, and in some ways, it took away from the first half. It seemed awfully defensive, and wasn't so much about leadership as just the HP business itself.
I'm aware that in the same situation, I'd probably feel the need to defend myself, too, but I wish the first half had stopped at the point where it was still inspiring and encouraging and made me want to be a leader as well as just a good employee.
However, the second half of this book felt like "Carly's Defense". It seemed like she really felt the need to tell her side, and this book is the vehicle for it. It wasn't bad, per se, but it didn't go with the first half, and in some ways, it took away from the first half. It seemed awfully defensive, and wasn't so much about leadership as just the HP business itself.
I'm aware that in the same situation, I'd probably feel the need to defend myself, too, but I wish the first half had stopped at the point where it was still inspiring and encouraging and made me want to be a leader as well as just a good employee.
October 4, 2015
Please note I read the abridged audio version of this book. I "read" this book because I was tired of hearing, "I know someone at HP and they hate her because she ruined the company..." blah, blah, blah. ...when it was more than obvious that the majority of people telling me this, 1. Didn't know anyone from HP and 2. They were talking out of their ass...not knowing ANY relevant details of the subject at hand. I find those kinds of people transparent as in finding aggrandizement of themselves in the eyes & ears of anyone willing to listen. Such is the ignorance that leads you down a path of stupidity and stupid decisions in your own life.
Her side of the HP story gave me a lot of clarity on what I heard from the other side. Although I see through some "massaging" of certain situations, it is clear that Carly is an articulate and honest person who also happens to be wickedly intelligent and has a work ethic to match. I urge you to read this and other books to get the entire picture of what actually happened at HP and who Carly Fiorina is, as a person.
You'll also find a never-ending source of business analysis of the HP/Compaq merger in numerous iTunesU and MIT Open-Courseware courses.
Her side of the HP story gave me a lot of clarity on what I heard from the other side. Although I see through some "massaging" of certain situations, it is clear that Carly is an articulate and honest person who also happens to be wickedly intelligent and has a work ethic to match. I urge you to read this and other books to get the entire picture of what actually happened at HP and who Carly Fiorina is, as a person.
You'll also find a never-ending source of business analysis of the HP/Compaq merger in numerous iTunesU and MIT Open-Courseware courses.
September 5, 2023
If I could get lunch with one celebrity, I think I would pick Carly Fiorina. I found this whole book fascinating. Part memoir, part defense of her time at HP, and part book on management, Touch Choices kept me coming back for its practical wisdom and wry encouragement.
Fiorina reminds me some of Dorothy L. Sayers in that she seems to view all her 'firsts' as a woman as fairly inconsequential. It isn't that she dismisses her identity as a woman. But she tends to view (and talk about herself) as a 'businessperson who happens to be a woman' more than she focuses on being the first woman ever to lead a Fortune 50 company.
She isn't afraid to name names in this memoir. From the start, she calls out the behavior of her colleagues, bosses, and mentors. Some she praises. Others she criticizes. But she is straight about it and what about their behavior assisted or alienated her.
The book is also just full of practical observations on life, management, and leadership. I'm going to have to give this one another read...but with a highlighter in one hand and a notebook in the other!
Fiorina reminds me some of Dorothy L. Sayers in that she seems to view all her 'firsts' as a woman as fairly inconsequential. It isn't that she dismisses her identity as a woman. But she tends to view (and talk about herself) as a 'businessperson who happens to be a woman' more than she focuses on being the first woman ever to lead a Fortune 50 company.
She isn't afraid to name names in this memoir. From the start, she calls out the behavior of her colleagues, bosses, and mentors. Some she praises. Others she criticizes. But she is straight about it and what about their behavior assisted or alienated her.
The book is also just full of practical observations on life, management, and leadership. I'm going to have to give this one another read...but with a highlighter in one hand and a notebook in the other!
December 4, 2013
Wow. This woman is extraordinary. Her careers moves at lightning speed from a role as a secretary at a brokerage firm to CEO of HP. She also was one of the three people who spun off Lucent from AT&T, creating the logo, company identity and mission statement. She exhibits spectacular moral courage, ethical conviction, daring creativity and infectious charisma. Never would I have imagined adding to my list of personal heroes the CEO of a major corporation, but there you have it; she's been added. This is a story about a meteoric rise to greatness, leadership and stupendous achievement that anyone, whether in business or not, can use as inspiration. She is a dynamo and this is not only an addictively compelling story but supremely well-written and carefully crafted. She was a philosophy major. She studied Ancient Greek and Latin. What more needs to be said? A must read.
December 9, 2015
Carly Fiorina wrote Tough Choices: A Memoir (2006), which I read in December 2015. I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the contributions she made in the field in which I thrived for my entire early career – telecommunications. Both her stint at Lucent and Hewlett-Packard (HP) in leadership positions revealed important lessons many of us learned during the optimistic 1990s and subdued 2000s.
Unlike her father’s view that learning was not simply a way to make a living, learning was a goal in and of itself, Carly, and many of us educated during the 1970s, saw an education as a way of securing a good paying job. Careers in engineering and the sciences “paid off” while those in the arts and humanities did not.
I resonated with her book owing to mutual experiences in the workplace. She recalls, “Most of all, I loved the people of business. I loved working with them; I loved collaborating with them and negotiating with them. I learned for the first time that some people in business are driven by facts and numbers, some are driven by judgment and intuition, and most are driven by both. And some are driven by emotion and ego more than others. I loved the camaraderie of working hard and then winning, or losing, together. I even found the politics of office life interesting, because I was often asked to intervene to help people find common ground.” I experienced all of this too at Nortel Networks (just as Carly did at Lucent) and at Cisco Systems (just as Carly did at HP).
We share the view that customers and our competitors set the pace of how we conduct business and it’s critical that movement quickly occurs “when the decision is perfect enough.”
Carly’s story spoke to me. She writes, “Challenge comes from the reality that your best is required and falling short is possible. Learning comes from rising to meet that challenge.” I always took on new roles early in my career to learn, just as she did at AT&T-Lucent. Carly adds, “Sometimes the riskier the choice gives you a better opportunity to prove yourself to others, and you’ll always prove something important to yourself. You’ll know yourself and those you work with better.” I adopted this mantra and left the security of a large company for a California startup and proved myself there during the late 1990s.
Bottom line: Business is about producing results, and if you can’t deliver, you should work someplace else. See how Carly and her colleagues delivered.
I encourage you to read Tough Choices about those myriad workplace experiences found in large companies. You’ll learn a lot from her story and enjoy the journey.
Unlike her father’s view that learning was not simply a way to make a living, learning was a goal in and of itself, Carly, and many of us educated during the 1970s, saw an education as a way of securing a good paying job. Careers in engineering and the sciences “paid off” while those in the arts and humanities did not.
I resonated with her book owing to mutual experiences in the workplace. She recalls, “Most of all, I loved the people of business. I loved working with them; I loved collaborating with them and negotiating with them. I learned for the first time that some people in business are driven by facts and numbers, some are driven by judgment and intuition, and most are driven by both. And some are driven by emotion and ego more than others. I loved the camaraderie of working hard and then winning, or losing, together. I even found the politics of office life interesting, because I was often asked to intervene to help people find common ground.” I experienced all of this too at Nortel Networks (just as Carly did at Lucent) and at Cisco Systems (just as Carly did at HP).
We share the view that customers and our competitors set the pace of how we conduct business and it’s critical that movement quickly occurs “when the decision is perfect enough.”
Carly’s story spoke to me. She writes, “Challenge comes from the reality that your best is required and falling short is possible. Learning comes from rising to meet that challenge.” I always took on new roles early in my career to learn, just as she did at AT&T-Lucent. Carly adds, “Sometimes the riskier the choice gives you a better opportunity to prove yourself to others, and you’ll always prove something important to yourself. You’ll know yourself and those you work with better.” I adopted this mantra and left the security of a large company for a California startup and proved myself there during the late 1990s.
Bottom line: Business is about producing results, and if you can’t deliver, you should work someplace else. See how Carly and her colleagues delivered.
I encourage you to read Tough Choices about those myriad workplace experiences found in large companies. You’ll learn a lot from her story and enjoy the journey.
February 15, 2009
I have a confession to make. I am yet another Hewlett-Packard refugee. I was at HP when Carly Fiorina was CEO. Working on a design team that was almost all male, it was exhilerating to have a female CEO. But, like so many other HP employees, I felt that Carly was calculating and immune to the charm of "Bill and Dave" and the HP Way. I agreed with the sentiments of most of my co-workers that Carly Fiorina was a ...(rhymes with witch). Although I was no longer at HP when Carly was ousted, I cheered along with the rest of the valley. But, a few weeks ago, I saw Carly speak at the Flint Center. She was warm and engaging and refreshingly honest about her career and especially her time at HP. She impressed me enough to listen to her autobiography, Tough Choices . I'm sure the past several years have improved my perspective on HP, but after listening to the book, my opinion of Carly has changed. She is intelligent, capable, and possibly saved HP from extinction. Now if only I could change her political views...
May 30, 2008
I know nothing about HP or management, but I really liked this book. Fiorini was the CEO of HP, and this is her autobiography, focused on her climb through the business world (from AT&T to Lucent to HP). There is a lot on management techniques and her personal philosophies on management and business, and this is interesting to read. I enjoyed the stories of how she overcame particular obstacles at work. What I really liked about it, though, was her frank depiction of the challenges for women in the workplace, and at the same time her refusal to be categorized as a woman in the workplace. She clearly discusses the difficulties she faced because of her gender, and then tells the reader how she overcame those difficulties. The book is sobering and uplifting at the same time.
April 14, 2009
This is an autobiography of the former CEO of HP. It chronicles her rise and fall from power. I could relate to a lot of it, of course with quite a few less zeroes in my case! ( I read elsewhere that Carly received $21 million in her HP severance agreement – 2.5 X her annual salary.) I agreed with much of Carly’s philosophy of business. The following quotes resonated with me, primarily in the context of my own situation.
“They (the Board) did not thank me and they did not say good-bye. They did not explain their decision or their reasoning. They did not seek my opinion or my involvement in any aspect of the transition.”
“I was utterly devastated, but the next day the sun still came up and life went on. That day, and in the days that followed, I was more hurt than angry. I felt a curious mixture of sorrow and relief. I had worked so hard for so long; I had thought about the company constantly; I’d put everything on the line, and now suddenly it was over. …I thought about the people of a company I had grown to love, and I ached for the chance to say good-bye and reminisce, one last time, about the remarkable journey we had taken together. I was never given the chance.”
“As weeks became months I asked myself over and over what had happened. Were there signals I’d missed? Was there something I should have said or done that would have made the difference? “
“They (the Board) did not thank me and they did not say good-bye. They did not explain their decision or their reasoning. They did not seek my opinion or my involvement in any aspect of the transition.”
“I was utterly devastated, but the next day the sun still came up and life went on. That day, and in the days that followed, I was more hurt than angry. I felt a curious mixture of sorrow and relief. I had worked so hard for so long; I had thought about the company constantly; I’d put everything on the line, and now suddenly it was over. …I thought about the people of a company I had grown to love, and I ached for the chance to say good-bye and reminisce, one last time, about the remarkable journey we had taken together. I was never given the chance.”
“As weeks became months I asked myself over and over what had happened. Were there signals I’d missed? Was there something I should have said or done that would have made the difference? “
November 13, 2019
This is an unforgettable book for me. It was the first time I read book in this genre - female leaders' memoirs/bio/autobiography, and I fell in love with this genre after I finished this book.
It was thoroughly well-written. Enjoyable, good flow, page turner, good info, juicy details, with just the right amount of wisdoms, lessons learnt, and key takeaways.
Yes, she's no angel, yes, she's had her problems...but she is honest and tried to defend her choices, which I learned a lot from. I learned that sometimes you have to sacrifice things, you have to be ready to lose things, for standing up for what you believe, and that's okay. You get to keep your principles, and you know what, that's great, too.
I learned how hard she worked to get to the top, and note that I had to be willing to work just as hard, if not harder, than she was.
I learned the importance of network, and the amazing support you can get from your social circles, and sort of vowed to keep myself rich with friendships.
I'd like to think that I have kept all those notes to myself when I read this book, so many years ago during my youth.
Afterwards, I remember reading eBay's Meg Whitman's book, and it wasn't even close to this book (in terms of quality).
It was thoroughly well-written. Enjoyable, good flow, page turner, good info, juicy details, with just the right amount of wisdoms, lessons learnt, and key takeaways.
Yes, she's no angel, yes, she's had her problems...but she is honest and tried to defend her choices, which I learned a lot from. I learned that sometimes you have to sacrifice things, you have to be ready to lose things, for standing up for what you believe, and that's okay. You get to keep your principles, and you know what, that's great, too.
I learned how hard she worked to get to the top, and note that I had to be willing to work just as hard, if not harder, than she was.
I learned the importance of network, and the amazing support you can get from your social circles, and sort of vowed to keep myself rich with friendships.
I'd like to think that I have kept all those notes to myself when I read this book, so many years ago during my youth.
Afterwards, I remember reading eBay's Meg Whitman's book, and it wasn't even close to this book (in terms of quality).
June 25, 2010
I really enjoyed this book. One of the best leadership and business books I have read and will likely re-read or at the very least borrow wisdom from. Carly's astuteness for business is unmatched. This was a rather quick read that focused on her career and her thoughts on leadership. I read this book to gain some insight into Carly to see if my vote would be her this coming election. She certainly now has it, but what I did not expect in this book and I actually appreciated the book did not go this way was that she did not mention anyting about her political beliefs. Rather it was strictly business as she provided a chronology of her career, her education, her early beginnings ending in the culmination of her 5.5 year run as CEO of HP. It is unfortunate what happened to her at toward the end of her time at HP, but it is my view she is now destined for elected office. Some highlighting points were her perserverance through the establishment, her guts and her diplomacy through tough situations. I would love to meet her one day.
December 11, 2014
Very inspiring. I would want to write a very long review, but if I wait to find the perfect words, it will never happen. So, the bottom line is that I feel rejuvenated. It have set myself my 5 and 10 year goals because of this book. I had never seriously considered management until now, and I owe it all to this book. I feel less intimidated by my own management because the book humanizes upper management.
My only issue is how she focuses on metrics as measurement of success (ie # of patents = innovation). In my experience, employees will find ways around these metrics so that the numbers look good for them, and people who don't play the game look bad. But that's really the only negative thing.
She has more guts than me (hence why she's where she is, and I am not), but her story has given me the confidence/courage to stand up for myself more, and for that, I'm grateful to whoever suggested I read this book and will encourage many (men and women) to do the same.
My only issue is how she focuses on metrics as measurement of success (ie # of patents = innovation). In my experience, employees will find ways around these metrics so that the numbers look good for them, and people who don't play the game look bad. But that's really the only negative thing.
She has more guts than me (hence why she's where she is, and I am not), but her story has given me the confidence/courage to stand up for myself more, and for that, I'm grateful to whoever suggested I read this book and will encourage many (men and women) to do the same.
February 18, 2008
I liked this book - would even recommend it - but the first half held my interest more than the second half. One of my favorite things about this book is the way Ms. Fiorina closes many of her chapters by summing up what she learned from the particular time or place covered in that chapter. Her stories from the early part of her career were interesting - dropping out of law school, her first jobs, her first encounter with male bias against women. I was surprised at how 'normal' she comes across - she wrote this in a style that makes her seem approachable. I wonder if she really is.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2008
Thanks, Laura, for sharing this book! It is a great picture of a woman driven to the heights of corporate responsibility, with memorable assessments of what leadership consists of. I especially liked how she never once whined about the unique challenges of being a woman in this role, but she never sugar coats it either. I'll reread this book.
January 23, 2016
This was one of the better business books I've read... up until the last third, when it became purely a defense of Carly's time at HP, filled with tons of unnecessary details that were boring unless you were reading it to understand her firing scandal. I'd higly recommend reading it up until she gets the job at HP, then stopping.
January 29, 2013
I found this book fascinating but it is definitely not a page turner if you aren't interested in reading an in-depth story of a female CEO in the Valley. Lots of detail about leadership strategy and politics at Lucent and HP, which I loved reading!
April 30, 2011
Listened to the audio book that was read by the author and really enjoyed it. It was like listening to "lessons learned" from a mentor.
January 21, 2023
I liked the first half of the book. But then when she talked about things at HP. It felt disconnected, convoluted, and biased. It almost felt like she was trying to blame others for why she was fired by HP. When you got fired like this, no one would be happy or okay about it. And she was no exception. Yet all she was trying to say in the book was “ I am fine. I am confused but I accepted the outcome. Of course I had made some mistakes, but I think I deserve an explanation. HP has a terrible board and all I did in my tenure as a CEO was trying to make sure they work and communicate as a team. But I guess I failed”. While I don’t doubt the factfulness of her stories, I feel like she was only telling one side of the story. All the things she mentioned in the book felt like cherry-picked.
Also, the name of the book is tough choices, please remind me again what those choices are?
What I think happened was she got fired, and she had to write a book to defend herself but she didn’t want to write a book only on that, otherwise it would just be excuses. So the book editor asked her to write a memoir but she couldn’t resist the eager to spend half of the book on the last 5 years of her more than 20 years of career. I refuse to consider a book like this as a legit memoir.
Sorry for being so resentful about this book. I gave it 3 stars.
Also, the name of the book is tough choices, please remind me again what those choices are?
What I think happened was she got fired, and she had to write a book to defend herself but she didn’t want to write a book only on that, otherwise it would just be excuses. So the book editor asked her to write a memoir but she couldn’t resist the eager to spend half of the book on the last 5 years of her more than 20 years of career. I refuse to consider a book like this as a legit memoir.
Sorry for being so resentful about this book. I gave it 3 stars.
August 31, 2025
I found this book while hunting for stories of women in leadership, and it didn’t disappoint.
The first half of the book details Fiorina’s college years and her first years in AT&T and Lucent. In my view, this is where the book really shines. Fiorina shares her experiences with so much candor and humanity — the moments her hands shook after difficult confrontations, or when she cried after being harassed by a sexist colleague. It’s incredibly encouraging to see that even the fiercest women don’t start off (or even end) their journey completely immune to anxiety.
The second half, as others have mentioned, turns into an account of her years at HP, which felt much more focused on the circumstances of the business and her firing rather than her personal experience with them. By her own Afterword, this mix of leadership advice and business knowledge seems to be what she was going for. It simply felt like an odd shift in pace and purpose, to me.
Overall, I would recommend this book. If you’re interested in the corporate world or the tech market after the dot-com bubble burst, it would probably be a 5*. But even if you’re not, the insights into what it means to be a leader and to stay true to oneself are very valuable regardless.
The first half of the book details Fiorina’s college years and her first years in AT&T and Lucent. In my view, this is where the book really shines. Fiorina shares her experiences with so much candor and humanity — the moments her hands shook after difficult confrontations, or when she cried after being harassed by a sexist colleague. It’s incredibly encouraging to see that even the fiercest women don’t start off (or even end) their journey completely immune to anxiety.
The second half, as others have mentioned, turns into an account of her years at HP, which felt much more focused on the circumstances of the business and her firing rather than her personal experience with them. By her own Afterword, this mix of leadership advice and business knowledge seems to be what she was going for. It simply felt like an odd shift in pace and purpose, to me.
Overall, I would recommend this book. If you’re interested in the corporate world or the tech market after the dot-com bubble burst, it would probably be a 5*. But even if you’re not, the insights into what it means to be a leader and to stay true to oneself are very valuable regardless.
January 6, 2018
This book has been out for a while, and was on the discount shelf when I picked it up. I was vaguely aware of Ms. Fiorina, and once in a while foray from my typical reading material into memoirs or biographies. Presently I am in a leadership class, so the subject of business was a plus. The style of the writing reminds me of how our leaders present their "profiles" during our quarterly meetings. She starts by telling us about herself, and the path that lead her to her leadership of HP. Perhaps most interesting to me is her observations of people, and the culture of a business. I have been blessed with very good leadership at my work environment, but with a recent change in leadership the working atmosphere has deteriorated. What happens at the top truly does roll downhill. This book is well written, and carefully done so with consideration of what perhaps went wrong, in addition of what does work.
April 18, 2020
A good book although sometimes hard to read due to the economic language that I have forgotten since my business classes almost 20 years ago (my God, it makes me grasp for fresh air when I realize how time has passed).
A few things that got stuck in my mind:
- people who stop learning become old before their time
- continuous progress, not perfection is the goal in management
- if you’re in a leadership role that doesn’t make you necessarily smarter
- people are the same all over the world
- a good leader helps the employees to rise up and use their creativity, making the best of their potential.
- diversity is good
- you must be adaptive to change
- stories and analogies are powerful communication tools
A few things that got stuck in my mind:
- people who stop learning become old before their time
- continuous progress, not perfection is the goal in management
- if you’re in a leadership role that doesn’t make you necessarily smarter
- people are the same all over the world
- a good leader helps the employees to rise up and use their creativity, making the best of their potential.
- diversity is good
- you must be adaptive to change
- stories and analogies are powerful communication tools
September 22, 2025
I hated it. She assumedi knew everything there is to know about Bell Telephone, AT&T, and Western Electric'. I could not follow it and put the book down after attempting to read almost half of it, I am going to asssume the rest of the book is her being the CEO of HP. I can appreciate her rise to that lofty site and cannot say anything about her. Firing because I didn’t get that far. She definately overcame some obstacles but she should have used the book to highlight these instead of trying to show us fer problems with male management on her way up. Not worth reading in this format.
November 26, 2021
Page turning rollercoaster
A great memoir that describes the journey of a driven female CEO from early and humble beginnings to the boardroom. There are too many lessons to count and Carly build an engaging narrative that blends human psychology, leadership lessons, business fundamentals and historical lessons on gender roles in corporate America. An addictive read that had me going into the early hours of the morning. 5*
A great memoir that describes the journey of a driven female CEO from early and humble beginnings to the boardroom. There are too many lessons to count and Carly build an engaging narrative that blends human psychology, leadership lessons, business fundamentals and historical lessons on gender roles in corporate America. An addictive read that had me going into the early hours of the morning. 5*
January 8, 2020
Read when it first came out. This book has stayed with me for years as a female insider's look at succeeding in a pre-existing Fortune 500 company - as opposed to most woman in business books which tend to be pink collar entrepreneurs. The Board shenanigans she dealt with were also terrible. It's a good reminder that even at the top of top companies, flawed humans run things.
May 3, 2020
I was curious about who she was and how she became a presidential candidate. She’s obviously very intelligent. Seemed more like a defense explaining her side of the story for being fired from Hewlett-Packard. Not really a spoiler since she starts the book talking about it. It was interesting hearing her overall strategies for business. I came away feeling I know more about who she is.
October 28, 2017
“Sometimes the riskier the choice gives you a better opportunity to prove yourself to others, and you’ll always prove something important to yourself. You’ll know yourself and those you work with better.”
Love the first past but unfortunately loose my interest when it reaches the second-half.
Love the first past but unfortunately loose my interest when it reaches the second-half.
December 20, 2021
A great business book and an illustration of how, however successful, women still get treated unfairly in the work place. In spite of it all the author took some tough decision especially with the HP, Compaq merger and delivered success which continued years after her unfortunate exit.
March 31, 2019
Very well written. A highly valuable read for anyone working in a complex organization.
May 8, 2017
Tough no nonsense professionals
Trial of women in business but truly more about a person with strong moral compass and her learning curve and Adventures up the
Corporate ladder
Trial of women in business but truly more about a person with strong moral compass and her learning curve and Adventures up the
Corporate ladder
August 11, 2017
What a brave, courageous, strong woman. I had no idea all that was going on at HP.
September 25, 2017
Respectable. Good insight.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 156 reviews