"We had some very uncharacteristic turnovers, which is a sign that I've got to do a better job of execution, making sure the right people have the ball in the hands, or there was a little bit of losing your composure, " Mulkey said.
Hurd had taken HP to the biggest tech company in the world, an arguable contender against both IBM and Cisco, and a model for the rest of the industry about the right way to do mergers and carry out efficient execution.