Carly Fiorina: A Message for the Future Business Leaders

Courtesy of Time Magazine-Andrew Burton—Getty Images 

By Julianna Guthrie 

Last week former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina came to Maloney Hall and spoke to a group of about 120 students from the Busch School of Business in a presentation entitled “Unleashing The Full Potential of People.” 

Besides her presidential run in 2016, Fiorina was also the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company, Hewlett Packard, better known as HP, a leading technology company in the U.S. During her time there, she was able to lead the company through the worst recession in 25 years in 1999. 

Fiorina was addressing a room which contained mostly members of a class exclusive to the Catholic University of America, The Vocation of Business. Although it is a management class, The Vocation of Business focuses on establishing a standard of ethics and values in students’ lives. It is meant to promote honesty, dignity, and guides students to find their callings.  

The business mogul this past spring partnered with the Busch School and became a clinical professor. In a statement released by the Catholic University of America, Fiorina outlines her dedication and belief in the mission of the Busch school. 

“As a person of faith, I believe we are created on purpose for a purpose, and that purpose centers on solving the problems closest to us,” Fiorina said. “The Tim and Steph Busch School of Business teaches the values and disciplines necessary to solve problems, and I’m honored to be part of such a wonderful institution.”

Professor Andreas Widmer, one of the four professors of the Vocation of Business course, values the presence and message of Fiorina. 

“Professor Fiorina has come to talk with my class for the past three semesters and every time she is one of the most liked guest speakers,” says Widmer. “Students tell me that her story of going from not knowing what to do with life at 18, to being a secretary at a real estate office to becoming the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, to running for president of the United States is very inspiring.”

Widmer also stated that Fiorina stays after class to personally speak with students, which was a great hit with the class.

Fiorina began her presentation by quoting what the Business Roundtable, a non for profit organization made up of the business leaders of today who meet and discuss the business environment, concluded on the current state of the business world. In its statement, the Business Roundtable established that business has become more about profits rather than a focus on employees, people, and the communities it serves. 

Fiorina moved to talking about the most recent headlines businesses have made. She listed some recent headlines over the past decade such as the housing crisis in 2009, the Boeing airplanes falling out of the sky, the controversy surrounding Mark Zuckerberg the ongoing Facebook privacy crisis. Fiorina emphasized the fact that there were individuals in all of these enterprises that knew there was a problem and instead of working towards a solution, chose to ignore it in order to garner more profits. 

Fiorina believes that big companies have lost their way as a result of lack of good, strong leadership.

Fiorina then discussed the good qualities that make up a leader.  According to Fiorina, a leader must be a good problem solver and outlined her four techniques to approaching a problem. 

A leader first needs to have the courage to take on a problem and recognize it in order to deal with it. Then a leader needs to have a good character that will allow you to take criticism and be resilient in the face of others. A leader needs to both give and receive support from others. Finally, a leader needs the ability to see no limits to the possibilities. 

Students had the opportunity to reflect on these four characteristics in their own life. 

“I think that having courage is the most important because without courage, it’s difficult to get through life without always being stepped on or taken advantage of,” said Makayla Clemmer, a freshman student in the business course. “You have to have the courage to stand up for yourself and to get what you want.” 

Fiorina closed by talking about what guided her to leadership. Her goal was never to be a CEO, and that is what made her the perfect candidate. She says she didn’t even realize her potential to be a CEO until she was offered to be one. 

Her parting advice: worry about the task in front of you and the rest will follow.