I do have to admit when I first joined the ESP team I was a bit intimidated by “Bill”; Bill who was so good at his job that management allowed him to attend staff meetings from his desk rather than join everyone else in the conference room. The intimidation changed to full-on admiration and respect in a big way. I admired your intelligence/brilliance, your vision, your earnestness in trying to “do good things” for HP. I admired your perseverance through some challenging times. I was happy to see that you were able to stay with it during some tough changes until you got the offer that was “too good to pass up”.
One of my most vivid memories of your intolerance of BS was when ESP was going through a due diligence effort around choosing a vendor for the next-generation ESP. (I can’t remember if that was the Next-Gen project or the No Name project, or maybe even the Phoenix project.) We were compelled to consider Oracle, given that Oracle already had a large presence in Sales Ops. The sales rep started off her presentation by showing us a picture of Ellison and Carly shaking hands, and telling us about what buddies they were, blah blah. This was supposed to impress us! Hah! The session didn’t go so well after that…
(I still have part of the final vendor selection presentation that Accenture completed for us, which didn’t select Oracle. It included a picture of Bob Crum and Carly – shaking hands. It was perfect.)
I wish you all the best, and then some, with what you decide to do next. I hope that includes an enviable work-life balance. Please stay in touch.
Warmly, Peggy
P.S. I’m the keeper of the ESP poster that used to grace Bob’s cube; trying to hang onto little pieces of the good ole days, and memories of a Great Team.
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