Hewlett and Packard were both diehard electrical engineers and entrepreneurs in one. But, while that combination worked well in helping to grow their startup, it was in fact largely the passions they held outside of their business that kept them going through the tough times and helped them maintain a sense of balance.
When Queen Elizabeth visited an HP plant in 1983, Packard insisted on giving her a personally-guided tour. He wanted to make sure she knew just how much they valued having her there. But what she did not know was that throughout the entire tour, Packard was subtly hiding a limp. It was only afterwards, when one of Packard’s managers asked him why he was limping that the truth came out.
The morning of the Queen’s visit, Packard had not been in the office. He had not been going over files or holding meetings. That morning, Packard had been at home, experimenting with a homemade irrigation system. He had been molding impeller blades and had accidentally dropped a bucket of hot bronze on his foot.
Packard was a lover of all things outdoors, thanks in large part to his childhood. “I spent many hours roaming the prairie, sometimes with childhood friends, sometimes alone, until my high school years, when studies and school activities consumed most of my time,” he wrote. “But in those early years of roaming, my love of nature was born.”
Packard might have been on the Stanford board of trustees and the national Business Roundtable, but he was also a man who loved the simple pleasures of nature. “I started helping my mother when I was quite young, and gardening became a lifelong interest for me,” he said. “I also found it to be an excellent recreational activity, for one quickly forgets the troubles of the world when absorbed with gardening.” As an adult, Packard continued to indulge in his passion for farming, fishing and ranching, even once personally bulldozing 20 miles of roads at his ranch near San Jose.
Hewlett shared Packard’s love for the outdoors. In fact, it was on a Stanford field trip to the Sierra Nevada to visit a hydroelectric power plant that the two discovered their shared passion, and they used the time to go fishing together. It would be the first of many trips the two took together, including a two-week camping trip to Colorado after graduation, and a hike up the San Juan Mountains with a horse they had rented for one dollar.
Hewlett and Packard were business partners, but they were friends first. And, they were friends who shared a passion outside of their business. Their shared love of nature helped develop their friendship and create a sense of understanding that would help strengthen both their working relationship and their company.
The two men, although devoted to their work, also enjoyed devoting their time to other pursuits. In doing so, they were able to maintain a sense of balance that filtered through to the rest of the company.
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