“I think many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists simply to make money,” said Packard during an HP management training session in 1960. “While this is an important result of a company’s existence, we have to go deeper to find our real reason for being…A group of people get together and exist as an institution that we call a company…to do something worthwhile – they make a contribution to society.”
In the company’s early years, Hewlett and Packard had made one rule, above all the others, the golden rule: no parts bins or storerooms should ever be locked. To outsiders, this was a mind-boggling phenomenon. Visitors to the company’s headquarters would be shocked that millions of dollars worth of parts and equipment were lying around free for anyone to use, and nobody ever suspected anyone else of theft.
One weekend, Hewlett decided to stop into the office to do some work. Upon arriving, he headed for one of the storerooms to get a microscope. The room, however, was locked. Hewlett was angry that his rule had not been followed. He decided to break open the latch and left behind a note saying that it should never be locked again. That story quickly spread throughout the HP ranks and the mistake was never again repeated.
What was the point of having this rule? It was not just to show that HP staff could be trusted. It was also to encourage what they called “the next-bench syndrome,” where one engineer’s gadget would intrigue the worker next to him, and a product would eventually ensue. And, in order for that to happen, people needed to have access to whatever tools they needed whenever the urge stuck. Closing the doors to the parts and equipment, for Hewlett and Packard, was akin to closing the doors on innovation.
At HP, innovation became entrenched in everything the company did. It was not just something to aspire towards; it was a way of being and working. Indeed, Hewlett and Packard believed that fostering a culture of innovation was equally as important, if not more so, as riding the latest technology wave.
To that end, Hewlett and Packard also made it illegal – by company policy – to do scheduled work on Fridays. Instead, it was a day to “think blue sky” and for “thinking far out.” They made a point of dedicating an entire work day to brainstorming and innovating. On those days, there were no mistakes. In fact, if you did not make any mistakes, you were not thinking far enough ahead.
Even while he was CEO, Hewlett could not help but become himself absorbed in the lab with his fellow engineers. He would investigate new gadgets and toss out random ideas, asking his staff, “What do you think? Could we do that?”
Hewlett and Packard understood the nature of their industry; if they were going to survive, they were going to have to engage in a non-stop process of innovation. And so, they set out on a mission to embed that within their company and not only make it an end goal, but the very means to that end.
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