When I watched this story on FOX, I was immediately reminded of the timelessness of human nature. Specifically:

1. It will "work" in the manner so wonderfully described by many who have commented on the article. Specifically, human nature will "triumph" in the end.

2. The same motivations to publicly present this story, will NOT publicly present the results - unless they serve to impugn the CEO.

The "bottom-line" is that it is his company and he may do with it as he pleases. Those who desire, however obtusely, something for nothing, will, as they most always do, get nothing from something.

Always find yours and db's posts of value and interesting.

You'll never catch me voting for her. She couldn't even beat Barbara Boxer for a Senate Seat despite her huge Compaq-merger-funded warchest.

No - all the good ones got laid off. Many of them in my area either started their own companies or (ironically) got hired back to HP as contractors when management found out they had niche system knowledge which was impossible to replace. Karma either way, as now HP is either paying more for the very same work (contractors) or facing stiffer and more competent competition (start-ups)!

If everyone is paid the same, what happens to the individual drive to excel and advance?

Are all the HP engineers going Galt?

When did HP come out with a dvr for oscilloscope? I made one in college in 1990 for my digital design class project that was used in physics class.

I agree that the prevalence of sub-par CEO's does tend to make one pessimistic, but I do believe there are exceptional CEO's that do provide value justifying million $ salaries. I believe that Ayn Rand depictions of value in CEO's in "Atlas Shrugged" was accurate: only a few were true revolutionaries who truly made things happen. We shouldn't forget that even though there are a lot of James Taggarts in today's business world, that there are also the Hank Reardon's who do not deserve to be lumped in with them. I find danger in lumping all of corporate America into the 1% so bandied about by the Occupy Wall Street know-nothings.

That being said, we certainly can't (and IMHO shouldn't) stop companies from making bad decisions in CEO hirings. That it has trickle-down effects that get passed on to hundreds or even thousands happens. No, it's not fair, but it's life.

I too; however, even to be allowed in the Gulch one had to prove themselves before going without knowing they were being vetted.

Indeed, good questions, but not the kind that would get into mainstream media, they are "distractions"you may be right about the comparisons, but I find the idea has merit, in some ways. He doesn't have to do anything about it, it is his choice and we just have to see how well it plays. Maybe we will never hear another thing...

To add insult to injury, look at this one, she can do the the country what she did for HP....

http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/30/technolo...

Again, this supports the idea that just because you are CEO, does not mean you get huge bucks, The system does not work, it is too corrupted by the industry insiders, those who "know" and Boards made up of astronauts and retired generals making hundreds of thousands for one or 2 meetings a year. Look at the names on some boards and you wonder who the hell they are. Fiorina did her destruction and then moved on to:

After HP

After resigning from HP, Fiorina was named to several board memberships. She was named to the boards of directors at Revolution Health Group[59] and computer security company Cybertrust.[60] The following year, she became a member of the board of directors for chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.[61] She joined the board of trustees of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum. She is an Honorary Fellow of the London Business School.[62][63][64][65] In July 2012, Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia appointed her to the James Madison University Board of Visitors.[66]

In April 2012, Fiorina became chair of Good360, a nonprofit organization in Alexandria, Virginia that helps companies donate excess merchandise to charities.[67] (From Wikipedia)

And yet she thinks she is better than Hillary..... Look at how many "Boards" she has sold her brilliance to. She is working without working, the new America...

Indeed, an excellent example of my point that CEO's and Boards can be more destructive than any other factor, yet they are always the highest on the food chain. Position does NOT guarantee competency or capability, hence the pay should be relative to that, not because you are top dog.

Quite possibly as it directs some corporate wealth that may otherwise go to the looters into the golden "tax deduction".

Major difference: To me, Ayn says that a worker should be paid according to his contribution to society. A hard worker who continually strives to improve his abilities should expect to become more valuable and should reasonably expect to earn more than his counterpart who does the minimum to keep his job. To pay the building maintenance employee the same as the president of the company may, on the surface, seem a honorable, almost heroic thing to do. Nothing could be further from the truth. The lesson of the 20th Century Motor Factory should not be lost on us since it exemplifies the liberal view of the world today.

20th Century was inherited by some moronic, spoiled children, who were of the same education as a lot of CEOs (read: We are rich, so we are smart, so we are better). They then took their "smarts" and applied it to the company. allowing everyone to vote on who "needed" the pay. Pay for performance is not a new idea and is in use in some companies (mine for example), but even then, there are distinct issues with it. It relies on those above determining what that "pay" is worth. So even if things would grind to a halt without you, "they" do not see it that way, and it is translated into a higher pay raise, above your peers. That does not stop the "management" from cleaning up because they, of course, have these huge responsibilities, like making sure all the minions get to work.CEOs set strategic direction, policy and then, then, need to know enough of the business to know why nuts go on bolts and replacing them with washers because it is cheaper, is still a bad idea. Many, many do not. The Home Depot deal was the stellar example and cost them 80 million flushed down the toilet into the guys pockets just to get rid of him. They couldn't fire him, send him to Antarctica or anything. That is Board irresponsibility as well. Our future is only in our hands as far as we can reach and that is not too far in corporate america. That may have been part of AR's message. reach as far as you can, but sometimes if you have a better idea/product and the faith, bail out and do it yourself.

I also hope that this works out for these folks. . yet, I
studied motivation pretty thoroughly for an IE masters
and there must be personal recognition associated
with $$, else it becomes a "utility" like clean H2O in
the u.s. and is taken for granted.

we can just hope that his management team makes
everyone know that their contributions are valued
individually. -- j

Indeed, maybe he is not truly altruistic, but you just have to wait and see..

Blarman, I agree with you, and it is the crappy "leadership" that gets dragged in for millions, and performs at the level of the 3rd floor janitor, that made me post this. In MHO, no CEO is ever worth more than the highest paid worker, simply because they deliver the same thing that worker does, a contribution to the final product. While one guy may be the expert toilet paper replacer, another is the wiz at buildong the hardive. Man with dirty bumn does not do well at hard drives, due to distractions. I am not an advocate of communist style companies or setup, I just do not believe in the crazy CEO crap, it snarks of Hillaryism. There is always a herd of people with common sense who can fill the job, usually better than the spoiled idiots they hire. I knew many people who worked in Corvallis who were trashed in the HP meltdown, and they saw it coming and couldn't do anything to stop it. Very sad...

XenokRoy, I work at Intel, where they still have a quarterly performance bonus,(which was not too great last quarter). With over 100K people only about 12000 actually make the stuff, and another 40K design and create the new, so I am not quite sure where the rest fit in. But it is still there, I am not sure they could really get rid of it now, it's pretty ingrained.

Herb, they guy says:
"When asked what life will be like for him at a lower pay, he said, "I haven’t even thought about that at all, too much. My life started pretty simple, in a lot of ways. I don’t have a lot of financial obligations or debts."" So maybe he doesn't need it, and as others have pointed out, he may want to sell it and make out that way. If it is his own, and someone wants to swallow him up, then he stands to come out better off. I don't know, hard to tell what his motive is, maybe he really does want to make it better for his employees... weirder things have happened.

There you go, game the system as "They" designed it, since "we" can never make it fair and equitable. I don't begrudge anyone able to do it, the system is so damn complicated you just load up the tax software, try to be as honest as you can, but answer every question with an eye towards "Is this really..?" I have a small horse farm and everything keeps skyrocketing, so all the expenses do as well, and adds to my "business" deductions. I am just impressed that he stopped to consider someone other than himself, even if it is in a self serving way. Pure honesty and truth and kindness, etc.. do not money make...

Yes, that is a hazard in any work environment. Hopefully a does of honest review will help avoid that..

I would reserve judgement to see what happens. People (especially here, where I think a lot of people actually can see what is happening) tend to get very frustrated and cynical, since cynicism is usually called for, but I would like to think the better of this guy.

My question is "How much has he already made?" Has he already made enough that he has a million dollar house, more cars than he will ever drive, and a big bank account? I'm not knocking that he made it, just the fact that he has enough...

It is good that the employees will benefit from his generosity instead of sucking the company dry.

I love your last point!!!! Sounds like Government workers. You get paid well even if you are just holding a sign or a flag as the one running the heavy equipment. Sounds socialist to me!!!

I know far too many that work hard and produce that would dream to make 70k. While far too many do little and produce nothing and make millions. This seems to be a noble jester let's see how it truly plays out. Truth is always in the outcome not the plan.