Scott Empringham recounts a 1988 anecdote in which, as a USC student preparing a class presentation on retaining key employees, he called Hewlett-Packard and unexpectedly reached David Packard. Packard briefly explained HP practices for retaining talent—one memorable practice was an "entrepreneurship program" that compared compensation, interest, and equity terms to stay competitive—after which Scott shared the advice with his classmates and felt confident about their presentation outcome.
Chapters
It was a week or two long assignment. I'm into the second week, couple days before we actually make a presentation. The rest of the class. And either I was young enough and dumb enough and naive enough or courageous enough and all three, four of those things. Back in the day, this would have been 1988. I dialed information in my little apartment off of Vermont Avenue and got information for Hewlett Packard. And I asked for him by name. And she said, let me put you through. And I thought, that's a good first step. And then it went to, I think, his personal secretary. And I kind of got nervous and same thing. May I speak to. May I speak to Mr. Packer, please? Who is this? And I think with just enthusiasm and excitement, I. I just started pitching her, right? I said, well, I'm a student here at usc, and we're doing this presentation, and it would just mean the world to me. And something in my voice, something. Enough enthusiasm or whatever it was. She kind of chuckled and she goes, well, I don't know, but let me. Let me see if he's got a second. I went, you know, and I'm kind of. You get nervous when you get the yes. You're like, yeah, I don't know what to do, right? I didn't expect it. And so she comes back and she goes, he's got a minute between meetings. I'll put you through. And I remember thinking, should I sit up, stand up? And this is a landline kind of thing, so I couldn't walk around very much, and I just grabbed the phone and he said, this is Dave. I said, Mr. Packard, I'm scattering. He goes, I've only got a few minutes. What was the question you had? I said, my question was, retaining key employees. I'm doing it. Blah, blah, blah. I tell him. He goes, oh, I'll tell you. Here's what we do. And he laid out two or three things that they do, one of which I'll never forget, was called an entrepreneurship program. If somebody comes to him and he's leaving the business, how much money are you getting? What kind of interest are you paying? What kind of equity are you giving up? And let me be competitive with that. I thought, what a great idea. I went back the following day or the next two days. I called my group right away. They're like, holy, guy, look. I think we got an A on this one, guys.
