I'm Carly, Read Me!

'Tell some' book on tap

By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 24th August 2005 22:04 GMT

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Carly Fiorina has landed her first fulltime position since being ousted as Hewlett-Packard's chief executive, agreeing to write her first book.

Carly secured a deal of undisclosed value to deliver a stocking filler in time for next year's Holiday season in collaboration with Penguin Publishing's Portfolio operation.

The book will give Carly's account of the events that led to her dismissal, according to one report. Preliminary indications are this could be the book's best, and only, selling point. Fiorina told graduating high-school students this year she'd been treated as the industry's "token bimbo" during her time working in high-tech.

The rest of Carly's tome promises to be a somewhat predictable exercise in vanity publishing reserved for former business leaders and politicians. According to reports, the book will consist of a spicy potpourri of her personal memoirs, inspirational views on how women can thrive in business, and valued insights about how technology will continue to change the world.

Carly's book will be edited by Adrian Zackheim, who also edited the dreary Perfect Enough - the book that charted HP's bitter take over of Compaq Computer, a move that helped spike Fiorina's HP career and that features a hero shot of Fiorina on the cover. Amazon reviewers said Perfect Enough provided "zero insight" and positioned Fiorina favorably as "a lone crusader in a sexist culture."

Amazon's reviewers suggested turning instead to Backfire: Carly Fiorina's high-stakes battle for the soul of Hewlett-Packard as a more informative read on events.

Zackheim also edited The HP Way, written by David Packard.®

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