Hp's Carly Fiorina: The Boss

Carly Fiorina has a silver tongue and an iron will. When the 44-year-old was considering the CEO post at Hewlett-Packard Co., she met board member Richard A. Hackborn for lunch at the Gaslight Club in Chicago's O'Hare airport. Hackborn, who had built HP's printer business into a gold mine in the 1980s, had decided to leave HP's board to devote his time to charity work. But over salads and "what felt like 10 gallons" of iced tea, Fiorina persuaded him not only to reconsider but also to step up as chairman. "You can't tell me there's a better person for the job," she told Hackborn as Gaslight's waitresses, clad in skimpy uniforms and fishnet stockings, made their rounds. Over the course of three hours, Hackborn agreed. "And no, I did not put on fishnet stockings," Fiorina says with a laugh. "Don't even go there."

It will take all of the charm and mettle Fiorina trotted out that afternoon to get her where she wants to go at HP. On July 19, the granddaddy of Silicon Valley announced that Fiorina would become its new chief executive, making her the first woman to head a Dow 30 company--and the first outsider to take the reins of the venerable computer giant. Indeed, in HP's 60-year history, this is the first time it has reached beyond its homegrown troops for any of the top jobs at the company, let alone Numero Uno.