The Soul in the Computer: The Story of a Corporate Revolutionary [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Barbara Waugh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 2001

When Barbara Waugh joined the Hewlett-Packard Corporation in the mid-80's, this 60's radical encountered a company with a benign but topdown leadership. As she progressed from recruiting manager to world change manager, she used a set of radical tools to transform its corporate culture and to help realize the true potential of The HP Way.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Using the spirit of 1960s activism, Barbara Waugh was able to bring about change in a large corporation. The activist joined the recruiting department at Hewlett-Packard in the mid-'80s with the goal of finding "co-conspirators" and bringing about change by "doing well by doing good." To this end, she applied traditionally unbusinesslike techniques to the company's policies and strategies. She offers her own advice for bringing about "radical" change in a corporate environment in The Soul in the Computer: The Story of a Corporate Revolutionary. Among her recommendations are tried and true concepts that activists have used for years (e.g., finding the "deviants," "strength in numbers" and "bringing an issue home."

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Waugh is a self-described former '60s radical who was active in the Freedom Schools movement during the civil rights struggle. She has been an actor in a socialist-feminist street-theater troupe, once served as a bodyguard for Angela Davis, and was a divinity student and director of the women's center for the nine theological schools of the Graduate Theological Union. She lives in Silicon Valley with Anastasia, her partner of 25 years, and their children. In 1984 Waugh "went corporate," becoming the worldwide personnel manager for Hewlett-Packard Lab, and she cofounded and runs HP's World's Best Industrial Research Laboratory program. No one, though, could ever accuse Waugh of "selling out." She serves as a perfect role model for those who hope to effect change by "working within the system." Part memoir and part how-to manual for corporate "revolutionaries," Waugh's story shows how successful transformation is the result of a series of "small wins." She shares her victories and recommends "turning 'enemies' into allies; amplifying positive deviance; scaling up, scaling down; and playing with whoever shows up." David Rouse
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Inner Ocean Publishing (October 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930722036
• ISBN-13: 978-1930722033
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,265,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Barbara is the real thing, and her spirit is in this book!, January 7, 2002

By 

Woodspoet (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Soul in the Computer: The Story of a Corporate Revolutionary (Paperback)

Barbara is an amazing person--a "connector" in the sense of the Tipping Point--and someone who has made remarkable things happen in the world of very large corporations. This book is well written, direct, inspiring, and challenging. And the stories are believable.
Joel Birnbaum is a scientist's scientist, head of IBM research, head of HP research, something of a rennaissance man--and a very nice, approachable, supportive person. This book is a testiment to the humanity with which some technologists approach their work. HP Labs did not set out to be only the best corporate lab in the world--but to be "the best lab FOR the world." That is a higher standard than most aim for.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars formlas for a better world, March 26, 2002

By 

Peter Kline (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Soul in the Computer: The Story of a Corporate Revolutionary (Paperback)

Recently a doctor friend who is contemplating a career change as a researcher for a drug company was discussing his dilemma with me. The reason for the change is that he's bored with the repetitive nature of his work and wants to be on the leading edge in socially active work. How could he do this in a corporation? he was asking me. "Boy have I got the book for you!" I said, and told him about Barbara Waugh.
This book is one of the top ten on my list of tools for building a new and better civilization. Corporations run the world today, but in the light of the Enron fiasco, many of us are asking, "Are they leading us all towards Doomsday like a bunch of lemmings?"
No one has a more reassuring answer for that question than Barbara Waugh. Yes, corporations would be able to save the world, not destroy it, if they were in the hands of people like her. Adapting the ideology of capitalism to the demands of a world struggling for survival may seem like a daunting task, but the tools are all there. Combine this book with Jack Stack's The Great Game of Business, David McClelland's Achievement Motivation and The Achieving Society, D. O. Hebb's The Organization of Behavior, Buckminster Fuller's Critical Path, a few wise words of advice from the Grameen Bank (and perhaps one or two other choice items) and you've got a sure fire formula not just for saving the world, but for building a world wide Utopia in the next twenty years. And I don't think I could assert all this so positively if Barbara Waugh's book hadn't been published, because it takes its place alongside Bernard Shaw's The Revolutionist's Handbook in a list of highly readable books for revolutionaries. The difference is that Shaw's ideas have had their day, whereas Barbara Waugh can take you where we all need to be going right now. Thanks to her, the train is leaving on track 5 for.....
Chock full of good ideas, spine-tingling anecdotes and the creative adventure of Jack the Giant Killer, Barbara Waugh's odyssey (that may well be the first major new idea about world conquest since Caesar's Gallic Wars) will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what false god the next dropped ball will smash into on its rebound.
I loved the book, and, unless you're deep-down happy and satisfied with things in the corporate world being just the way they are right this minute, you will too.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best business book, October 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Soul in the Computer: The Story of a Corporate Revolutionary (Paperback)

This is the best business book I've read. This is an inside look into how to make a difference within a big corporation, utilizing the resources, steering the concience. Dr. Waugh's story tells the truth about how meaningful work can be done.