David Packard (l) and Bill Hewlett


Founded over 80-years ago, Hewlett Packard has been one of the world’s most respected and admired corporations. Led through many of those years by Bill Hewlett and David Packard, the values of the business were ingrained in the business and with every colleague.

Although both have since passed on, the “11 Simple Rules” of David Packard are etched in business legend and in the practice of small and large companies alike. Here they are for you to review and reflect upon in the management and ownership of your company and with your company colleagues:
  1. Think first of the other person. This is the foundation of getting along with others.
  2. Build up the other person’s sense of importance. When we make people seem less important, we frustrate their deepest urges.
  3. Respect the other person’s personality rights. Respect is something sacred and is the other person’s right to be different than you.
  4. Give sincere appreciations. If we think someone has done a thing well, we should never hesitate to say so.
  5. Eliminate the negative. Criticism seldom does what its user intends, for it invariably causes resentment which will rankle, to your disadvantage, for years.
  6. Avoid openly trying to reform people. Every person knows he or she is imperfect, but they don’t want someone else trying to correct their faults.
  7. Try to understand the other person. When you begin to see the whys of another person, you can’t help but get along.
  8. Check first impressions. We are especially prone to dislike some people on first sight because of some vague resemblance to someone else who we have reason to dislike. Follow Abraham Lincoln’s advice: “I do not like that man…therefore, I shall get to know him better.”
  9. Take care of little details. Watch your smile, your tone of voice, how you use your eyes, they way you greet people, the use of nicknames and remembering faces, names and dates.
  10. Develop genuine interest in people. You cannot successfully apply the foregoing suggestions unless you have a sincere desire to like, respect and be helpful to others.
  11. Keep it up. That’s all, just keep it up. The key to a values-based organization is constant repetition.


Hedley Lawson, Contributing Editor
Managing Partner
Aligned Growth Partners, LLC
707-217-0979
hlawson@alignedgrowth.com
www.alignedgrowth.com