Charlie NEXT - The Future Reimagined - The Winning Practice is NEXT!
What does one do after accumulating 35+ years of career experiences? Well, if you are me and you get disrupted by the industry shape shifting and corporate restructuring eliminates your role, you take a hiatus. For over 5 months I have and I've done my best to get on the "honey-do" list and get on all of the things I have neglected over the years. I've taken the opportunity to work on spending the millions of points and miles that took me away from my family so often to enjoy and exchange them to make new experiences and memories.
The HPE Next restructuring came at a perfect time in my life and career after all of the experiences I’ve been through over the years: the successes, failures, losses, wins, friendships, partnerships, analogue ways to digital shifts, sales gigs to leadership roles, restructures, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and more. Through it all I’ve realized that if what you are doing doesn't challenge you, it won't change you. My journey has been filled with disruption, challenges, excitement, fear and accomplishment. I have embraced the challenges and maintained an attitude to always be a student of the business, a student of change and an agent for it in this unprecedented era of change.
"if it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you"
Disruption is a wave you can either ride on or drown under and for me, what a great ride it has been! I look back to 1990 when I was at Kodak, the worldwide leader in the picture, reprographics and film industry. Kodak brought to market the world's first commercially available digital camera system, the DCS 100 in 1991 (they invented the digital camera in 1975). Ironically, the digital revolution they fueled nearly burned them to death. Kodak’s revenue peaked at nearly $16B in 1996 and sadly they reported their last fiscal year (2016) revenues of $1.6B... disrupted badly.
Evolution and revolution lived at Hewlett-Packard and I had a front row seat. HP grew from $39B in 2000 through M&A and organic growth to their revenue peak of $127B in 2011. I was an active participant in the highly successful separation of HP into two companies on November 1, 2015 with the creation of HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise in Canada. This was followed by the 2017 spin-mergers of HPE's Enterprise Services and CSC forming DXC Technologies, and the spin-merger of HPE Software and Micro Focus. My chapter came to a close with Hewlett Packard Enterprise under HPE NEXT. Since then HPE has emerged as a leaner and meaner $29B standalone company, and I have exited with many enriched experiences enabling me for what’s NEXT.
With all of the experiences I have enjoyed (and some I've not), I have decided that what's NEXT is not going to be anchored in another corporate gig. For Charlie NEXT, it is a new journey to share my knowledge, skills and experiences, helping other leaders and their businesses navigate through the industry and marketplace disruption to coach and consult. With that it's time for a new ride with the formation of The Winning Practice. Leveraging my experience driving culture, strategy and class leading results, I’ll be coaching and consulting with a focus on People Leadership, Profit Optimization, Maximizing Productivity and Partner Management under my new banner, The Winning Practice. To all of you who have helped me along this wonderful journey, I thank you for your inspiration, encouragement and support!
It's time for Results Inspired Strategic Excellence – RISE up with The Winning Practice!
... I'm back 🙂
Charlie