Monday, November 13, 2006; D02

Carly Fiorina knows what it's like to be an outsider. The law school dropout started her career as a secretary in a male- dominated business world. She was initially rejected by the University of Maryland's business school, was once referred to as the "token bimbo" at her job selling telephone service for AT&T, and later became the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, where she championed an unpopular acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. and laid off 36,000 people before the company board fired her in 2005.

In many ways, it's been a lonely road for Fiorina. But she was in good company last Wednesday as she spoke before 550 local business leaders at an ExecutiveBiz event in Falls Church. She talked about her memoir, "Tough Choices," the challenges of leadership and her uncertain future. Having majored in medieval history and philosophy at Stanford, she called herself "essentially unemployable" and joked that "not much has changed now." But "leadership is about seeing possibilities and seizing possibilities."

Fiorina, who lives part time in Georgetown, was introduced by friend and former AOL Time Warner chairman Steve Case, who hinted she may take a stab at politics. But as a registered Republican, that could feel lonely now, too.

-- Kim Hart