The Man I knew.

…It’s 2am in the morning, and my phone rings, I wake up and look at the phone – it’s Mark calling me, so I pick up. “Hey, it’s me, what time is it there?” 2am, I say. “Ah, Ok… anyway listen, I need you to…” and Mark goes on without a thought in the world for what time it is.

 Just a typical day in the global life of Mark Hurd. He called whenever, every day, sometimes three times in a day, because he could, because he was always ON – and had a brain that would never stop thinking how we can sell more and how we can make things better.

Mark was a rare individual, an operator at the highest levels, he was able to connect the dots on a powerpoint chart quicker than anyone else in the room. His consumption of numbers and data was something the likes nobody had seen. He was the best sales guy we had, and he loved talking to customers and lit up the room no matter where he went.

My first-ever meeting with Mark was right after I had joined HP as the new Channel Chief, and I got pulled into Mark’s office on day two. Mark sits me down and says: “Your channel organization is the worst in the company,” considering I had been there two days, I thought this is going well…but accepted the challenge and, supported by a fantastic team, we really turned things around within a few quarters. One year later, he sent me a note and said: ”Your organization is the best in the company.” While being a tough business leader, he would always recognize his people and celebrate their successes with them. It was also the same time I had won the Channel Chief of the Year award at CRN. As the email of the win went around the company, Mark sent a note back that said: “Does this mean we sell more?” That was Mark :-)

 I have many stories of my days working with Mark. From him following me in his car one day because I knew a short cut, which turned out to be a road closure. He called me on my mobile phone and said: “This shortcut is a bit like your forecast: unpredictable.” His intellect was that of a consummate businessman and leader, and his sense of humor knew no bounds.

 One day, when we both were still pretty new into the Oracle career after leaving HP, we are in an important review meeting. The room was facing the street, and all of a sudden the “Cash For Clunkers” Truck with Oracle’s advert for killing HP Superdomes at the time went by. I looked at Mark, he looked at me, and I have never witnessed so much laughter between the two us. We laughed so hard that we both had tears rolling down our faces. The next morning we thought of the idea how we could have an Oracle truck drive around the HP Palo Alto parking lot. I suggested we put a picture of his face on the back, saying “Miss me yet” but our marketing team didn’t think that was a good idea. ;)

There were many times when his humor would make life working for Mark a blast – and there were times you sat in a meeting where all you wanted to do was walk out or wish you could be somewhere else. He could drill down harder than anyone I have ever known, he really liked to “prosecute the witness,” as he used to tell me, and forbid anyone presented more than seven slides, that was just never going to work. Though even when he was hard on you and pushing you to the edge of the cliff, he would never be unfair and talk to you after the meeting, asking me to go for a glass of Silver Oak and a steak which he clearly loved – just as like nothing had happened – and life was back to normal.

It’s hard knowing now that a genuinely brilliant leader is gone forever. There are moments when I think that my time with Mark was among the best of my career. I had the privilege to get to know Mark very well over my eight years working at HP and Oracle. Although he was my boss at the time, he was also my friend – and I will never forget what he taught me, not just in business but in life. He has touched the lives of so many. The legacy of the man he really was will live on forever.

 Thanks Mark for the best times of my career, you are already missed.