Way back in 1999, an executive from Lucent Technologies named Carly Fiorina was recruited to be CEO of Hewlett-Packard. The board of HP—that granddaddy of Silicon Valley companies—brought her in to help transform the lagging computer maker. She tried to do just that, slashing headcount, shaking up how the venerable old company worked, and embarking on a massive controversial merger with Compaq despite opposition from one of the company founder’s sons.