When Bill Hewlett and David Packard started HP in a Palo Alto garage, they prepared a set of eleven rules that represented their core beliefs. To keep these core beliefs front and center of their new-found venture and remind them of the founding principles as they tinkered and toiled with various inventions, they posted a sign at their garage that articulated the succinct and to-the-point guiding principles they shared.
These guiding principles coupled with core values of Bill Hewlett and David Packard— the HP Way—translated into a wide-ranging set of operating practices, cultural norms, and business strategies that transformed into the one of the most respected companies of their time.
- Believe you can change the world.
- Work quickly, keep the tools unlocked, and work whenever.
- Know when to work alone and when to work together.
- Share tools, ideas. Trust your colleagues.
- No Politics. No bureaucracy. (These are ridiculous in a garage.)
- The customer defines a job well done.
- Radical ideas are not bad ideas.
- Invent different ways of working.
- Make a contribution every day. If it doesn’t contribute, it doesn’t leave the garage.
- Believe that together we can do anything.
- Invent.
For Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard’s legendary management style and the history of Hewlett Packard, read ‘Bill & Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World’s Greatest Company’ by Michael S. Malone and ‘The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company’ by David Packard.