13 Facts About Lewis Platt

Lewis Emmett Platt was an American businessman and corporate director, who was chairman, president and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard.

Lewis Platt earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University in 1964 and his MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1966.

Lewis Platt was granted an honorary doctorate in Engineering Science by Santa Clara University.

Lewis Platt was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega National Fraternity and served on its National Foundation Board of Governors.

Lewis Platt's wife died of cancer, and leaving him to raise two young daughters.

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Lewis Platt joined Hewlett-Packard as an engineer in the medical products division.

Lewis Platt was known as an embodiment of the "HP Way", a management philosophy developed by company founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, that "built on respect for every individual and on the notion that people want to do their best — and will, if given the right direction".

Lewis Platt was noted to being attuned to the company's rank-and-file as he practiced "management by walking around", as he flew commercial airlines instead of using the corporate jet.

Lewis Platt ate in the company cafeteria with the employees on a regular basis.

Late in his tenure, Lewis Platt was often criticized by investors and some HP executives for focusing on progressive values and long-term results.

Lewis Platt's detractors said that company needed a more cold-blooded competitiveness and higher octane leadership to succeed, that his "pragmatic, nothing-fancy approach" seemed out of touch with the "go-go demands of the late 1990s, " and that he had failed to capitalize on the Internet boom.

In 1996, Lewis E Platt was elected cochair and a memberof the board of directors of Joint Venture Silicon Valley and theTech Network, formed in 1991, to strengthen the local economy andmake the area a better place to live, and he was a member of The Business Council, serving as a member of the California Business Roundtable from 1993 to 1995.

In 2005, Lewis Platt was instrumental in forcing out President and CEO Harry Stonecipher for violating company rules, after it was revealed that Stonecipher was having an extramarital relationship with a female executive.