The HP Way

The HP Way, also known as the Packard Way, or simply the Way by employees, was a progressive business philosophy implemented at Hewlett-Packard (HP) by its founders Bill Hewlett and David Packard from the 1940s through the early 2000s. It was a form of management by objectives, which emphasized teamwork, innovation, fiscal responsibility, and the obligation to improve society. It involved collaboration between management and the labor force and infused HP's corporate governance, and was a significant factor in HP's employee loyalty.

Bill Hewlett and David Packard were initially inspired by the Stanford University engineering professor Fred Terman. The HP Way first appeared formally in 1957 as a set of six written objectives for the company, with a seventh added in 1966.

The HP Way ended during 2001–2002 under the direction of CEO Carly Fiorina, who merged HP with Compaq and fired thousands of HP employees instead of reassigning them.

The progressive philosophy of the HP Way influenced the early Silicon Valley tech industry and corporate culture. Notably, Agilent Technologies, a laboratory instrumentation company spun off from HP in 1999, retained the HP Way concept even after it was abandoned at HP.