Lessons Learned: Ursula Burns’ Path to CEO
At the Most Powerful Women Summit, when asked how she would tag herself, Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox, responded the “Groomed CEO”. With roughly 28 years of experience there is no doubt that Ursula Burns not only loves Xerox but created her own path to prepare for this seat. Burns led Xerox through many stages of transition, e.g. responding to crisis by spearheading downsizing initiatives, turning around Xerox to meet revenue growth expectations and realigning parts of the business to boost its business to business offerings. Burns’ path offers many examples, success factors that prepared Ursula for the next level, here are five of them:
- Burns knew what her factor. Your factor is a powerful, clear, positive idea that comes to mind when people think about you. Ursula took “on roles of increasing responsibility, distinguishing herself as a quick study who could handle multiple tasks at once and wasn’t afraid to flag a problem.” Not only did Burns differentiate herself, she was not confined by the limitations of her job description.
- As the most junior person on the Organizational Transition Board, Ursula shared: “I decided that my role should be to keep the group honest. I also thought of myself as the representative of the line. I kept asking questions like: Why did we just do that? How does it help us meet the goals? What are we going to tell people?” Notice Burns was not focused on her title/position more so on her value and the best role to deliver it.
- Burns took control of her career, diversity may or may not have got her foot in the door. Once she was there it was up to her. During a talk at YWCA in Cleveland, Burns told them: “I’m in this job because I believe I earned it through hard work and high performance. Did I get some opportunities early in my career because of my race and gender? Probably…. I went to work for a company that was openly seeking to diversify its workforce. So, I imagine race and gender got the hiring guys’ attention. And then the rest was really up to me.”
- Everybody who works with Ursula knows that her son is at MIT, and her daughter is in high school, and how she grew up, this makes her personable and trustworthy. Ursula Burns learned the power of sharing stories as way of connecting with others. So many of us keep our work and personal lives separate, it is amazing what happens when you share information about yourself.
- Burns focused on what she committed to do. Sometimes one focuses on the future so much so, they neglect their day to day duties. When asked in 2006, “What about becoming a CEO? Burns responded “I can’t let myself get confused by tomorrow,”. As her mother taught her, “If I keep focused on what I need to do today, the future will take care of itself.
Ursula Burns was stretched, coached and mentored along the away by Anne Mulcahy, someone who had been in the very shoes, she was about to step into. How are you creating your path to get the next level? Who is supporting your path to the next level?
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Xerox Corporation
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