Later, as Hewlett and Packard scaled up, they stayed true to the guiding principle of “first who”. After World War II, even as revenues shrank with the end of their wartime contracts, they hired a whole batch of fabulous people streaming out of government labs, with nothing specific in mind for them to do. Recall Packard’s Law, which we cited in chapter 3: “No company can grow revenues consistently faster than its ability to get enough of the right people to implement that growth and still become a great company”. Hewlett and Packard lived and breathed this concept and obtained a surplus of great people whenever the opportunity presented itself.
–– Good to Great by Jim Collins p 192
