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Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark HurdJustin Sullivan

When Mark Hurd recently was named co-president of Oracle , former employer Hewlett-Packard , which gave him the boot earlier this year, immediately sued, arguing that his new job would violate trade secret and confidentiality agreements. Stanford University Management Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer's advice to the HP board, was: "Get over it!"

On Harvard Business Review blogs, he notes that legal analysts believe the likelihood of HP prevailing in the suit is low, and that the suit threatens to contaminate a 20-year partnership in non-competitive areas. He feels it's an example of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

"Evidence suggests that people motivated by power and the desire for status are more vengeful than others, perhaps because it is so damaging to them to lose face. The sad fact, however - also demonstrated by research - is that taking revenge doesn't end up yielding much psychic benefit."

In such situations, he argues, forget about making the other side suffer and focus on making your own side succeed.

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