What Kind of Leader is Carly Fiorina?

Like many other Americans (some 27 million) I watched the second Republican Presidential debate. Carly Fiorina received a great deal of coverage for her replies to Donald Trump as well as her methodical and businesslike responses. Afterward she saw a rise in her poll numbers. So what kind of leader is Carly Fiorina?

One answer to that question lies in the proceedings of the Deleware trial of Hewlett vs. HP. The son's of one of HP's founders, who sat on the board of HP, attempted to block the acquisition of Compaq which Fiorina pushed through HP. Fiorina noticed that Deutsche Bank (DB) had voted to oppose the acquisition and also had an investment banking relationship with HP. series of calls and a voicemail came out in which Firoina instructed her CFO to "bring Deutsche Bank over the line" and in which she mentioned the possibility of "doing something extraordinary" if the vote went the wrong way.¹

She next told DB that the vote "was of great importance to their ongoing relationship." The result was that DB switched its 17 million votes in favor of the merger which ultimately passed by less than 2% with the DB switch accounting for the two percent margin. Fiorina maintained that she was misinterpreted and she intended to place no undue pressure on DB. The consensus of opinion did not agree with that characterization.

And perhaps some would want a President that strong-arms other countries into agreement in the same manner she strong-armed DB into agreeing to the merger with Compaq. Fiorina continues to maintain that that merger was a positive one for HP, despite many in the business community (certainly including Donald Trump) who think that the merger was a bad one for HP. Certainly she has never been willing to consider the possibility of an error in pushing the merger.

I would much rather have a leader that works towards compromise with other nations. In certain cases, for example, dealing with totalitarianism or a crazed leader, no compromise is possible. But we are trying to move beyond strong-arm tactics and using war as a go-to for getting what we want. I think Carly Fiorina's record shows she has not.

^{1. Money For Nothing How CEOs and Boards are Bankrupting America. John Gillespie and David Zweig. 2011, First Free Press, New York.↩}