The CEO of Xerox, Ursula Burns, has been driving the transformation and growth of this Fortune 500 company for longer than many recognize. Not always in the driver’s seat, she followed a unique path to her current position at the top of the iconic brand.
Burns graduated with undergraduate and masters degrees in mechanical engineering. During the final part of her studies, she completed an internship with the Xerox Corporation, her introduction to a long relationship with the company. The key to her 30 year-long career was, in her words, that, “I saw what was possible for myself early.”
The turning point in the Ursula Burns’ story fell during a 1989 Xerox “caucus” on diversity. When she pointedly asserted her opinion that the company’s diversity initiatives did not lower hiring standards, her superiors took notice. Called in for a meeting with the then president of marketing and customer operations, Wayne Hicks, Burns thought she may be reprimanded for her comments. Instead, she was asked to continue meeting with Hicks, who was interested in her curiosity for the company. He eventually asked her to become his Executive Assistant the next year.
“Why would I ever want to do that?” she wondered. But her acceptance to this “de facto leadership program” not only allowed her to learn the inner workings of the Xerox business, but also put her in the right places at the right times for her characteristic outspokenness and keen business insights to be noticed. It was not long before Xerox’s CEO at the time, Paul Allaire, had Burns working in a similar position with him.
The result of Xerox’s executive bootcamp had Burns leading key segments of the business as senior vice president and president through the 90’s and 2000s. History was made when she succeeded Anne Mulcahy in June 2009 to lead Xerox, the first time one woman followed another as the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Their combined leadership was key in maintaining the reputation of the company they both love.
Their tough love was necessary, as Xerox, while iconic, was dying slowly. Through its 100+ year tenure, the Xerox Corporation had established a brand synonymous with the photocopying technology that it invented and pioneered. However, a shift to the digital world, among other factors left Xerox struggling to keep up. Xerox’s move into the business process industry was their ticket to relevancy in the transforming landscape of the way information is produced, transferred, and consumed.
Burns championed the acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) as she settled into her role as CEO. The merger showcased some of the innovative research conducted from the company’s research hubs in Europe and California. Since 1993, Xerox has been developing the tools that it now uses to remain relevant in the digital world. Their machines not only capture, but understand information at a level beyond human capabilities. Coupled with ACS’s data collection technologies, for services such as electronic toll collection, Xerox has not only managed to streamline, but has also simplified the data collection process. Xerox machines eliminated the need for transponders in each vehicle, with machines that can read its license plate and even detect minute details that may reveal if the vehicle was stolen.
Xerox offers value to its customers, both through their tried and true machinery and with unique service solutions for business process challenges provided by their diligent research. Burns describes the leadership style of the company to be “values-based,” and this helped her earn her spot at the top. She says: “Know the values that influence your business decisions. Articulate the values often and loudly. Then, live by them – test every decision through the lens of your value system.” Her leadership style demonstrates her commitment to Xerox and its clients, an image that has helped her to steer the company in the right direction.
As some pause this month to reflect upon the diversity that we sometimes take for granted, Burns’ story serves as a reminder that she got to where she is just like any other CEO: through hard work, strong relationships and a dedication to grow and sell a brand that she cherishes. For Burns, “Where you are is not who you are.” While she may have never imagined herself to be the first female, African-American CEO of a Fortune 500 company during her childhood in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, she never doubted that she would be successful.
That is the confidence that history is made from.
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