Mark Hurd, the CEO of HP, was recently fired because of improper business conducts. He had filed false expense reports to hide his personal relationship with a contractor, who was hired by Hurd himself. After doing further research (found here), I found Hurd’s love interest to be Jodie Fisher, a soft-core porn star. Fisher was one of the main reasons behind Hurd’s resignation and she happened to sue Hurd for sexual harassment. Furthermore, not only was his false expense reports a form of fraud but they were also bordering on embezzlement. As the leader of HP, Hurd’s actions were extremely unethical and unprofessional as the top leader of one of the most successful technology companies. He was basically committing an act of dishonesty for his own personal gains.
The part that left me confused was when Hurd received a $50 million severance package to exit the company – the money is on top of the $10 billion of market value that HP shareholders lost as a result of Hurd’s departure. Not only does HP negatively impact its image but the values within the company could crumble. CEO was a bad role model and his departure with $50 million can leave employees questioning their ethical behaviours within the company and relate negative actions to compensation.