Worksheet

A controversial CEO
The departure last month of Carly Fiorina, the charismatic CEO of Hewlett Packard, has divided many business
analysts. Some analysts are positive about her time at HP. Others are more critical. Just what makes a good CEO?

1. Explain the difference between the following ways someone can leave their job.
to resign to be laid off to be fired to stand down
to be sacked to retire to be dismissed to step down

2. Complete the biography (a–d) of Carly Fiorina with information from the article below.
Business biography: Carly Fiorina
1954 Born in Austin, Texas, USA 2000 Appointed (c) __________ of HP
1976 Graduated from Stanford University 2001 HP lays off 6,000 employees
1976-1996 Saleswoman and marketing executive at (d) _____ Carly pushes through the merger between HP
AT&T and (a) ____________________ and Compaq
1998 Named as the most powerful woman 2004 HP reports falling sales and increasing losses
executive in the US by (b) ________ magazine
July 1999 Became chief executive of Hewlett Packard February 2005 Carly invited to step down by HP board

Farewell to Carly
In July 1999, Carly joined HP as chief executive, and
Was she fired or did she resign? The business press
was named chairman a year later. She was seen as the
has described the departure of Hewlett Packard’s
supreme example of a woman doing well in a male-
charismatic CEO last month in a number of ways.
dominated field. Women run just 14 of the 1,000
She was effectively dismissed, or “invited to stand
biggest publicly traded companies in the US, according
down”. The press also speculated on the amount of
to one research firm.
her final severance pay, which is reputedly
$21.4 million! Carly was a controversial figure at HP, partly because
of the abrasive manner in which the takeover of
Carly spent nearly 20 years at AT&T and Lucent
Compaq was fought. The merger was completed in
Technologies, becoming known for her energetic
2002. Her admirers claim she revitalised HP through
style. Fame followed when Fortune magazine
her leadership and vision. Her critics see her as
published its first ever ranking of the 50 most
arrogant and blame her for destroying the HP way –
powerful women executives in the US, putting her at
the famous “worker-centric” culture. Now, she has
number one. She became a celebrity and one of the
been removed. Does this prove that the bottom line for
few business people identifiable by her first
any CEO is to produce profits in an increasingly
name: Carly.
competitive marketplace?

3. Read the article again. What are the two opposing views about Carly Fiorina? What do you think about her?

4. Which of the following adjectives describing people’s qualities as a leader are positive, and which
are negative?
charismatic energetic controversial arrogant dynamic
abrasive visionary competitive caring motivating
5. Prepare a short biography of a business person you admire using some of the words below. Include a
description of their qualities as a leader. Give your presentation to the class.
born educated graduated appointed promoted became

This page has been downloaded from www.businessenglishonline.net.

It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages.
Copyright Macmillan Publishers Limited 2005.
 Teacher’s Notes: e-lesson for week commencing 28 February 2005
Worksheet and Teacher’s Notes by Pete Sharma

A controversial CEO
Level
Intermediate

Tasks
Discussing the differences between words meaning ‘to leave one’s job’
Completing a business biography of Carly Fiorina by scanning an article
Identifying whether adjectives to describe people’s leadership qualities are positive or negative
Preparing a biography of a famous business person to present to the class

How to use the lesson

1 Ask students to give you the names of some famous CEOs (e.g. Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson etc.) and to
suggest what leadership qualities these people have. Tell students that this lesson will be about a famous woman at
the top – Carly Fiorina – and invite students to tell you what they know about her.

2 Hand out the worksheet and ask students to describe the differences between the words in Exercise 1. How
would they describe what happened to Carly?

3 Ask students to complete the business biography in Exercise 2 by scanning the article.
Answers
(a) Lucent Technologies (b) Fortune (magazine) (c) chairman (d) 2002

4 Students read the article again and summarise people’s opposing views of Carly Fiorina (Exercise 3). Then find
out students’ own thoughts about her.
Answers
A positive view: Carly revitalised HP and pushed through a successful merger; she showed leadership
and vision
A negative view: the merger ended the old HP way of life; people lost their jobs; the company has experienced
falling sales, made losses and is unable to compete in the marketplace – a failure of the CEO

5 Students say whether the adjectives describing people’s qualities as a leader are positive or negative (Exercise 4).
For practice, ask students to describe some famous people using these adjectives.
Answers
Positive: charismatic, energetic, dynamic, visionary, caring, motivating; Negative: arrogant, abrasive;
“competitive” is usually positive; “controversial” is usually negative.

6 To prepare for Exercise 5, students could work in pairs or small groups to brainstorm the names of famous
businessmen and women. If they have access to the Internet, students can research data. NB Before class, you may
want to check the first two websites below for ideas. The students could prepare an OHT with their key dates
and data, if a projector is available. After the mini-presentations, the students could vote for “the CEO of the year”
or “the best CEO of all time”, if appropriate.

Related websites
Send your students to these websites, or just take a look yourself.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774560.html
http://www.woopidoo.com/biography/
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/fiorina/
http://www.hp.com/

This page has been downloaded from www.businessenglishonline.net.

It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages.
Copyright Macmillan Publishers Limited 2005.