| PRODUCT DETAILS | | Tough Choices: A Memoir |  | |
Tough Choices: A Memoir
Behind the headlines-one of the most talked about business leaders in the world tells her own story.
Abridged CDs - 5 CDs, 6 hours
Manufacturer: Penguin Audio
Price: $4.51
 Tough Choices: A Memoir
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| User Reviews |  | Good read
rating: 4
I've learned quiet a bit about Carly. She corrected many rumors that I've heard about her. And this book really humanized her.
Now the $64000 question is has she really saved HP's future by laying a strong foundation and doing the dirty job or has she screwed up a Silicon Valley icon and left?
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Great inspiration if you have to make tough choices
rating: 4
I found Tough Choices by Carly Fiorina an interesting read for several reasons. She provided great detail so that mental pictures could be formed; this is very different from the sound bites we have become used to. Sound bites frustrate me, so I liked the details. The book and her career built logically on each chapter and story; there is no sudden appearance of a situation or fact that the reader can't link to the ones in the immediately previous chapter. As a female sales employee of AT&T (specifically Southern Bell) during the same time as Carly, I found the Chapters about AT&T and Lucent like a trip through a memory book. She did an excellent job of creating a word picture of that time and culture. Because of this I assume she did the same kind of good job of creating a picture of HP during her time. Carly does admit that she wrote the book partially to present her case, but I think from the details I know to be true that she is a stickler for the truth. Granted the book is her view and may not include every fact or opinion of someone else.
On the personal side I saw a strong woman able to lead and willing to make decisions when no one else would. But I also saw a woman that, like most of us women, wanted people to like her. I am not sure if she meant for this to come through, but I applaud her for being brave enough to tell her stories with so much honesty that you can still see her emotions. I agree that it would have fleshed out the story to have learned a little more about her personal life, but I don't think a lot of "home stuff" would have added to the purpose of the book. But that is my opinion and I am the kind of person who likes the television "who done it" shows until they bring in too much personal drama.
I am not reviewing Carly's life, just her book. And I think the book is a worthwhile read if you want more than sound bites or crucifixions. I wish I could get more of my women business owner clients to understand that they have to take the necessary steps and actions and give themselves permission to succeed, which does include making money. My book "Capitalizing On Being Woman Owned" gives them the actions, maybe I can get them to read Carly's book and it will give them the courage.
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Self-serving
rating: 1
I am a big fan of biographies, but after reading this book, I came to a conclusion that biography is more interesting when it's written by a third party. When a person writes about his/her life, the author tends to write all the "cool" stories, and there is nothing I can learn about the real person who has failed, became angry and upset, and surviveed from it. I am sure Ms. Fiorina is an extremely interesting and strong person, but I could not feel it from this book, which is a collection of stories to show how great she is, and that's just about it.
In addition, I was a little ticked about her opinion on law school being a place to learn all the old stuff and not creating anything new. As a law school graduate, I remember the excitement of reading cases like Brown vs. Board of Education and Wade vs. Roe. Law does create new things too, and it seems that Ms. Fiorina could not see that after studying the law only one semester. It make me question though... Ms. Fiorina majored history as her undergraduate study. Isn't it the ultimate study of learning the "old stuff"? Her opinion of law school seems to me is just another self-serving "execuse" and not the real reason.
Anyhow, it was like reading a biography of a robott. Very shallow and not interesting at all.
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Horray for Carly Fiorina!
rating: 5
The fabulous story of one bright-young-girl growing into the top executive in a world class Fortune 125 company. Intriguing to read about the roadblocks she faces in corporate America as a woman rather than a member of the good-old-boys network...and my oh my, how WELL she did it indeed. Extremely well written - I could not put it down. This should be required reading for all teenage girls in America - and the boys could learn a thing or two too. I nominate Carly Fiorina for President of the United States! She could do it and do it well!!
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An intriguing and well written memoir of Hewlett-Packard's first woman CEO.
rating: 5
Having worked at a Cambridge based business school for a little over seven years as an administrative assistant, the story of Carly Fiorina really caught my interest, because I was curious about the gender dynamics and or biases in the business world, if indeed there really were and are any. But according to Fiorina's intepretative slant, there are. To a certain extent, I believe her; she was a controversal CEO, and in reading some of the reviews, there do seem to be some people who have an axe to grind in regards to her leadership, especially in HP's acquisition of Compaq, among some other happenings.
With a background in medieval history and philosophy, one would not think that that would be a stable foundation for a life in business, but it was always her obedience to her parents and those around her that prevented her from flourishing into what she ultimately became, and I think that is ultimately what Fiorina's core message is to her readers, that people have to follow their own instincts. People can not always follow the path that others have laid out for them, no matter how good intentioned it may be. The person's individual instincts must come first.
Yet with the judgements and bickering aside, Tough Choices is actually a good memoir and very well written, lucid, direct and not overdone with protective hyperbole; the memoir is not suggestive of a pity party or a woman who is trying to find redemption through all the chaos of criticism. What was really conveyed was how Carly Fiorina rose through the ranks to become the CEO of Hewlett-Packard in the first place.
She gives illuminating details of her various stints at AT&T, Lucent Technologies and all the various offshoots until she was recruited by HP. She also details her family life, her numerous trips abroad (the meeting in Japan with the assigned geisha brought a smile to my face), to the various firings she had to commit to in order to see the industry through. And there are those moments where she writes about her encounters with sexism. They were not indicative of the companies that she worked for, just certain people who unfortunately did not know any better. That may sound weak, but it is true nonetheless.
Overall, Tough Choices was a fine read, and I learned something from it. When a person is in a position of authority, irrelevant of gender, not everybody is going to be pleased. Sometimes it is just what is best for the company? CEOs have to look down the road, not at just the moment, and Carly Fiorina did that, to the best of her ability until the Board decided that new leadership needed to be gleaned from a pool of likeminded candidates. Lastly, I would not take the totality of Tough Choices as one hundred percent truth, as memoirs and autobiographies can always be manipulated so only one side is conveyed. I am sure there were plenty of screw-ups that were not acknowledged, but as a basic memoir, Tough Choices was a worthwhile read.
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Tough Choices: A Memoir
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