A year in the life at HP: what matters to its Northern European chief in April 2026?

Priorities:What’syour big focus for 2026?

Navigating our business—as well as our clients—through a lot of macroeconomic conditions. This sort of disturbancecan create a lot of new opportunities for us, butwealso need to make sure that we manage the status quo within our business.

It’san interesting time, technology is forminga big part of the investment envelope for our customers,soour second priority is understanding our customers’objectivesmore as technology transitions into being theirprimary cost.

Thethird point is making sure that, from a prioritization point of view, we continue to diversify our business into longer-term solutions and services-oriented value propositions. We’relookingat that from a supply chain perspective,in termsof where weproduce, but also making sure we deliver on the security criteria that many of our customersneed.

Pep talks and preparation: How did you motivate your team at the beginning of theyear?

I seem to give a motivational speech almoston a daily basisat the moment!

My currentpep talk is:‘HP isa commercial entityandthere will always be winners in a market where there is macroeconomic turbulence. We havea very strongproposition that is diverse,that addresses different technology needs,that we can deliver through our partners and to our customers. So,let’smake sure that we are the winners. Let’snot look at the downsides that can present itself. Let’slook at the upsides and make sure that weretainand build on our winning culture.’

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When it comes to this macroeconomic turbulence, itwouldn’tbe right,as a leader,not to recognize that there are concernsforpeople,bothpersonally and professionally, andwe’vegot to make sure that we support our people throughout that. But we are a big,resilient,diversebusinessandwe should capitalize on winning because we know that technology choices are directly shaping how companies invest andhow peoplework.

Worries:What’skeeping you up at night?

Well, I have a new,six-week-old dog, so thatdefinitely keepsme up at night, wondering what it’s eaten today!

On the business side, it would be remiss not to acknowledge what is happening in terms of themilitary actionthat’shappening in many countries across the Middle East. It’simportant for me to maintain our focus on how we deliver confidence insupply inthis time.

We also recognize that,because of some of these macroeconomic considerations, some of our customers will need to make tough choices about the technology that they invest in,looking atwhatthey’veinvested ininthe pastrelativeto what they will invest in in the future. To that end,I want to make sure that we continue to deliver the highest level of customer satisfactionpossible.

We know that there is moreturbulence in the market, not created by the industry itself, andwe need to navigate thatas a manufacturer anda supplier. We not only have to be reliable, but we also have to demonstratestability.

So that, aside from the dog, is the thing that keeps me awake at night, andI’mvery pleasedto say thatwe’remakinggood progress.

Trade-offs:What’sone compromiseyou’vemade this year to reach a more strategic goal?

We’reletting go of the way in whichwe’veadopted practices previously. Agood example of this is how we respond to our customers. Where previously, we have worked through our supply chain and had an order book that islargely drivenby what our customers want and need to buy,nowwe havealsointroduced the opportunity toshapedemand as well.

Whatwe want to do is make sure we maintain the highest level of customer fulfillment,sowe’re making sure that we’re consulting more than ever before with our customers around what technology is availableandwhat the alternativesarethat can deliver the same solution, oftentimes in a more cost-effective way.

Magic metrics:What is one numberyou’relooking for at the end of this month to signalit’sbeen a success?

We spend a lot of time focused onourNet Promoter Score.

Of course, there are commercial metrics around revenue, profit, marketshare, but those metrics are cared for by the fact that we delivera high levelof customersatisfaction. So, ifpushed for just one metric, I wouldsay alwaysour net promoter score, because it fuels the results that we see in the others.