CEO Today Hall of Fame

HALL OF FAME 3 www.ceotodaymagazine.com President of HP Inc. Nick Lazaridis What experiences brought you to where you are today? I’ve been fortunate over the course of my career to have lived and worked in Australia, Singapore, Japan, the United States and China. My experiences have taught me to truly appreciate culture and diversity. These days, I’m based in Geneva - but I’m originally from Australia, where I studied at the University of Wollongong. More recently, I received an honorary doctorate from the International University in Geneva and delivered a commencement speech for this year’s graduating class – a humbling and rewarding moment. It’s been almost three years since HP’s separation from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Would you say the impact on HP Inc. has been positive? Absolutely. It’s made us leaner, faster, more focused, and better placed to compete in a rapidly changing global economy. It has accelerated our innovation and allowed us to create our best- looking and best-performing devices ever. It also enabled us to invest and grow faster. We acquired Samsung’s billion-dollar printer business in 2017, which wouldn’t have been possible before the separation, and we regained our position as the world’s leading PC producer – just two years after separation. As EMEA President, how have you found leading a team through this enormous change across a diverse region? Driving change on that scale requires a strong and motivated team behind you. To foster that spirit, I’ve tried to stick to five key leadership principles. • Number one: trust people. Leading and inspiring people means trusting them 100%, and making sure they know you’ve got their back. • Two: don’t micro-manage. Allow your team to make decisions – and mistakes. That’s the best way for them to learn. • Three: learnfromfailure. Think like a start-up: take risks, and learn lessons on the occasions when they don’t come off; fail fast, learn fast. • Four: share the glory. Successes are team achievements. Make sure people know that, and give them opportunities to show their value. • Five: plan for succession. Be aware of who’s ready to step up – and who should call it a day. Giving people the opportunity to make decisions will show you whether they’re up to the challenge, and to further grow and develop themselves. You have to optimise talent - get the mix right. Know when to promote internally, and when to hire in external skills. Additionally, I always look for disengagement, especially during periods of change. Spending time with your team will help you spot signs of disaffection. Can you tell us about the ‘megatrends’ that HP tracks? At HP, we carefully monitor four megatrends: long-term, socio- economic developments, with far-reaching implications for all aspects of global society. The first is demographic change. Generation Z is coming to the global workplace–all 2.6 billion of them–and they’re different. They’ve grown up in the digital era and are hyperaware of the challenges facing the world. More than three quarters believe that ‘doing good’ should be central to their work. The second is rapid urbanisation. As the world’s population swells– to 8.5 billion by 2030–people will be drawn in their millions to cities, seeking better economic and life prospects. McKinsey predicts that by 2025, urbanisation will add 1.8 billion consumers to the global marketplace. Thirdly, hyper-globalisation. Our lives and work are becoming increasingly interconnected. As such, digital platforms and ecosystems are now the key to success – which makes digital security more important than ever. Finally, accelerated innovation. The pace and breadth of innovation has become exponential. Emerging technologies like AI, IoT, and 3D Nick Lazaridis is the President for EMEA at HP Inc., managing operations, growth, and their financial performance across the region. Before that, he led HP’s Asia-Pacific and Japan region. HP Inc. reinvented its business in November 2015 and, today, it is a Fortune Global 100 company operating in more than 170 countries with about 50,000 employees. It creates leading-edge printers, PCs, and mobile devices, and provides technology solutions and services around the world. It’s more than just a tech firm: its vision is to create technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere. We were delighted to speak with Nick about his formative experiences at HP Inc., his top advice on leading teams across a diverse region as an executive, and an in-depth look into 3D printing.