Phil McKinney

Ideas without execution are a hobby. Former HP CTO. CableLabs CEO. The Innovators Studio — since 2005.

Anyone can have the idea. Few make the call.

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

There are 12 official definitions of R&D.

Not one was built to answer the question that actually matters:

Is this investment creating something nobody else can easily replicate?

The definition that does, and why the line matters more than the number above it:

https://t.co/lVXYmHwfxJ

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

Most companies have three innovation budgets.

They just report them as one.

Here is what is actually in there:
Research. Development. Product Engineering.

When I was CTO at HP, our split was 10% Research, 20% Development, 70% Product Engineering.

What’s your split?

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

Two questions. Every project in your R&D budget.

1.Are we creating new knowledge, or executing against something we already know?

2.Does this build a capability competitors can’t easily replicate?

If the answer to either is no, it is not R&D.

It’s product engineering. Valuable. Not innovation.

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

Elliott is inside @HPE.

The data on what happens next after an activist investor is sobering. R&D drops 9%. Headcount falls 7%. Financials look fine — until the research cliff.

Elliott has ousted 14 CEOs since 2022.

What's going to happen to HPE?

https://t.co/9H3TOcyXVz

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

I know because I was that second leader. Lost tens of millions.

https://t.co/CYCKezl1gK

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

The leaders everyone calls "great under pressure" aren't making great decisions. They planned months before the crisis. You're watching the execution. The ones who got surprised? They're already loosing. They just don't know it yet.

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

I was Enrique’s peer during HP’s toughest years. Never sold a single share while he led the company.

Disney just named a 28-year insider as their new CEO. HP’s board is starting from scratch.

I wrote the full story — including a piece of HP history most people have never heard.

https://t.co/uWKIlG8sp9

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

@HP has fired, forced out, or lost six CEOs in twenty-five years.

Carly - fired.
Hurd - forced out.
Apotheker - fired after 11 months.
Whitman - was on the board that hired Apotheker, then got the job herself.
Weisler - walked away.
Lores - just left for PayPal.

Same pattern. Here we go again.

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

Took me 30 years to tell this story publicly.

The full breakdown — the meetings, the excuses, the resurrection:

https://t.co/hhFciLF7LA

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

The 5 words that bankrupted two companies:

"I need to think about it more."

I was the CEO. Here's my $50M lesson:

🧵

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

30 years later, I've made billion-dollar decisions at HP and CableLabs.

Every one of them felt uncomfortable.

That discomfort isn't a warning.

It's the job.

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

Merry Christmas from the ranch - looking west on to Longs Peak inside Rocky Mountain National Park.

#rockymountainnationalpark #rmnp #ranchlife #Colorado #berthoudcolorado #skyecroft #sunrise

[Phil McKinney @philmckinney]

Part One of Thinking 101 is done. 8 episodes on thinking skills nobody taught us.

The response surprised me.

Should there be a Part Two? You decide.

🎬 Watch: https://t.co/lws2J6GrA5
📋 Survey: https://t.co/e7IupE1KJw

At CES in January? DM me. Let's connect.

#ThinkingSkills #CriticalThinking #CES2025