Silicon Valley is famous for launching raggedy early versions of products. As the local jargon goes, these aren't flops; they are "minimum viable products." Gather some customer feedback about what's wrong with Version 1.0, and later versions eventually will conquer the world.
Can this approach be applied to politics, too? Former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina has bravely volunteered to be Presidential Candidate 1.0.
When Fiorina officially announced her bid for the Republican nomination this week, the first day's press coverage was pretty rough. The New York Times pointed out that "only a sliver of Republicans would support her at this stage." The Washington Post observed that her tenure at HP was "rocky." And Silicon Valley's hometown newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News, drew attention to the 30,000 layoffs that Fiorina enacted at HP, with the implication that such details might unsettle voters.
These are all fixable flaws, however -- if not for Fiorina herself, then for the next generation of Silicon Valley presidential candidates. As tech guru Eric Ries explained in his book "The Lean Startup," the whole idea of launching minimally viable products in a hurry is to iterate rapidly toward better Versions 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, and so on.
With that insight in mind, if Fiorina's campaign doesn't fare as well as the candidate hopes, here's how Silicon Valley can harvest those findings.
- Find a candidate who isn't famous for big layoffs. Silicon Valley has lots of companies that have enjoyed nearly uninterrupted success. HP, alas, is not one of them. It's a lot easier to promise fast growth and prosperity for everyone if the candidate can point to a robust record of job creation at, oh, say, Facebook or LinkedIn.
- Find a candidate with at least a little political experience, too. Fiorina hasn't ever held political office, though she did make an unsuccessful bid for a California Senate seat in 2010. By contrast, Maria Cantwell, whose background combines politics and a stint at RealNetworks, has twice won election as a Senator from Washington. When Silicon Valley musters presidential candidate 2.0, a dual-track resume with success in both business and politics would be a plus.
- Find a candidate whose path to wealth doesn't annoy people. When Fiorina was squeezed out of the CEO's job at HP in 2005, she collected an exit package of $21 million in cash and $19 million in stock and pension benefits. Those numbers stir up resentment and are cited repeatedly by critics. Big wealth tends to be more palatable to voters when it's associated with the gutsy decision to found a business.
- Find a candidate who radiates success. During Fiorina's tenure at HP, the company's stock price fell 65%. She joined the company in the midst of the dot-com bubble and left when overall stock prices were a lot lower, so Fiorina has maintained that her showing wasn't nearly as disappointing as it looks. Fair enough. But mediocrity doesn't inspire voters either.
I got to know Carly Fiorina in 2002, when I was researching a book about Hewlett-Packard. She had just finished a shareholder battle about who would keep control of HP, and it had been painful. At the time, I thought that her tenacity and tightly focused analytic manner would carry the day. Ultimately, it didn't. (For more on her awkward exit from HP, see this story.)
In my book, I portrayed Fiorina as someone who could make beautiful promises while delivering something slightly less than what people expected. The book's title, Perfect Enough, was drawn from one of her own favorite phrases back then. Calling something "perfect enough" was her pragmatic shrug when the results of some initiative became clear.
If you're thinking of voting for her -- or are concerned about what might happen if she did succeed in her campaign -- I encourage you to buy the book. You'll find out about the curious Greek and medieval European figures that she regarded as personal heroes. There's plenty of behind-the-scenes stuff about HP to fill out your point of view, too. Click on these links for either the paperback edition or the audio book.
Meanwhile, I'm waiting to see what will happen in the next few election cycles. There are plenty of politically ambitious, younger executives in Silicon Valley who may dream of a presidential run some day. My betting is that Silicon Valley eventually will bring forth a much more plausible candidate.
