On this blog, I’ve speculated on the factors that lead to highly talented women dropping out of their once-chosen careers and thus not being available to take the next step, leading to one consequence that these folks are not available in the pool of candidates for top jobs. With this as backdrop, it was fascinating to me to read a recent profile of Ann Livermore, one of the top people at Hewlett Packard, and her decision to remain at the company, despite a likely diminished role as HP pursues its acquisition and merger with EDS.