Blog
The WSJ Got Quarterly Reporting Wrong
Michael Dell and his investors spent twenty-five billion dollars to buy back Dell Technologies. But they weren't really buying a company. They were buying freedom from quarterly earnings pressure. I'm Phil McKinney, former CTO of Hewlett-Packard, and I witnessed how this pressure shaped decisions for years.
The WSJ Got Quarterly Reporting Wrong: A Corporate Executive's Response
Why James Mackintosh's defense of quarterly reporting ignores what actually happens in corporate boardrooms.
How to Get Smarter by Arguing with People Who Disagree with You
What if I told you that the people who disagree with you are actually your secret weapon for better thinking? Just last month, my wife and I had a heated argument about studio changes I wanted to make here on the ranch. Her immediate reaction was about cost. Mine was
Why the People Who Disagree with You Are Your Secret Weapon
How intelligent opposition transforms your thinking from weak assumptions into rigorous reasoning—and why most people avoid this advantage entirely.
How to See Opportunities Others Miss
In 2005, I had a ten-minute conversation at San Jose Airport that generated billions in revenue for HP. But here's what's fascinating: three other HP executives heard the exact same conversation and saw nothing special about it. If you read Monday's Studio Notes, you
The 10-Minute Airport Conversation That Generated HP Billions
How a casual exchange at San Jose Airport became HP's gaming empire—and why most executives miss these moments entirely
5 Questions That Spot Breakthroughs Before They Happen
In October 1903, The New York Times published an editorial mocking the idea of human flight, stating that a successful flying machine might take "from one to ten million years" to develop through the efforts of mathematicians and engineers. Eight weeks later, on December 17, 1903, the Wright
Can an Innovation Be Impossible?
Five questions reveal which 'impossible' ideas become billion-dollar breakthroughs—while experts dismiss them as fantasy.
I Evaluated Over 30,000 Innovation Ideas at HP: Here's Why Most Failed
Your best innovation ideas aren't losing to bad ideas – they're losing to exhaustion. I know that sounds counterintuitive. After 30 years of making billion-dollar innovation decisions at HP and CableLabs, I thought I understood why good ideas failed. Market timing. Technical challenges. Resource constraints. Sometimes that
The Innovation Fatigue Crisis: Why Your Best Ideas Are Getting Ignored
Your best innovation ideas aren't losing to bad ideas – they're losing to exhaustion. Intelligence doesn't predict innovation success. Attention allocation does.
