Early in her career, in a job for which she didn’t feel fully qualified, Fiorina feared looking stupid if she attended a lunch with clients at a strip club, especially since a male colleague who she was supposed to be working with explicitly told her she couldn’t come.
The risk paid off. “Everything in the office changed because people decided I had a little more guts than they realized. And they decided he was kind of a classless guy for putting me in this situation in the first place,” Fiorina said.
Fast forward to her tumultuous firing at HP in 2005 after a battle royale with the board. Some board members were leaking confidential board conversations to the media, she said, while others were trying to put their favorite people in positions for which they weren’t qualified. “So I … said this behavior has to stop. And if it doesn’t, either you go or I go.”
The board gave her the boot.
While Fiorina had feared the horrible headlines that would result from her firing, she realized she had a greater fear of selling her soul had she tried to keep her job by appeasing the board. “That was worse to me,” she said.
She also realized that it helps to focus on the larger picture of what you’re trying to accomplish. “Then when the tough times come for you, they’re not as tough.”
Source : CNN
