"It's not personal, it's business"?

Yah, nothing personal. We really, honest, no foolin, hated your resume and the the ideas you had....We mean it. Serious. Two salient snippets from the below article for those who enjoy hearing folks barking up an invisible tree.

"The stock is up a bit on the fact that nobody liked Carly's leadership all that much," said Robert Cihra, an analyst with Fulcrum Global Partners. "The Street had lost all faith in her and the market's hope is that anyone will be better."

Liked? "Hope"? "Faith"? Anyone will be better? Even Barney Fife? Wait, I thought we're told: Who needs to be "liked" when you're driving the bus? What the hell's hope and faith got to do with being a steely-eyed leather chair pilot and podium-jockey ? Show me the spreadsheets!

But during a conference call Wednesday morning, HP CFO Robert Wayman, who was named interim CEO, suggested that no major changes in strategy would take place following Fiorina's departure.

"We continue to believe we have the right ingredients for success in the marketplace," Wayman said during the call with Wall Street analysts.

Fiorina's real problem? She was boring. It's got nothing to do with strategy. The Street was bored. And impatient for some action. Here's the front of the article, from CNN/Money

Fiorina out, HP stock soars
CEO who engineered Compaq merger leaving after fight with board; will walk away with $21 million.

Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina, one of the most powerful women in corporate America, is leaving the troubled computer maker after being forced out by the company's board.

Shares of HP (Research) jumped 6.9 percent in heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday on the news. But at one point, the stock was up as much as 10.5 percent.

"The stock is up a bit on the fact that nobody liked Carly's leadership all that much," said Robert Cihra, an analyst with Fulcrum Global Partners. "The Street had lost all faith in her and the market's hope is that anyone will be better."

Fiorina, the only female CEO at a company in the Dow Jones industrial average, had been with HP since 1999. But the company's controversial deal to buy Compaq in the spring of 2002 -- after a bruising proxy fight led by one of the Hewlett family heirs -- has not produced the shareholder returns or profits she had promised.

"While I regret the board and I have differences about how to execute HP's strategy, I respect their decision," Fiorina said in a statement released by the company.

On a conference call with reporters, executives said Fiorina was not terminated for cause and that she would receive severance pay -- and a company spokesman said she'll get a payout of approximately $21 million, including stock options (see correction).

Fiorina told analysts in December that Hewlett Packard (Research) had seriously considered breaking up the company on three separate occasions but each time decided against it.

Some industry analysts had argued HP should either split off its lucrative printer and imaging business, or break HP into separate firms, with one focusing on consumers and the other on corporations.

But during a conference call Wednesday morning, HP CFO Robert Wayman, who was named interim CEO, suggested that no major changes in strategy would take place following Fiorina's departure.

"We continue to believe we have the right ingredients for success in the marketplace," Wayman said during the call with Wall Street analysts.

Yawn.