Two Women Make History - Building Gender Balanced Business

• Together, Anne M. Mulcahy and Ursula M. Burns have made history. Mulcahy for having turned a “glass cliff” into a success, after turning Xerox around from near bankrupcty. And Burns for becoming the first African American woman to lead a major US company as well as the first female CEO to take over from another woman CEO. (The transfer from Mulcahy to Burns is effective July 1, 2009).

• During Mulcahy’s tenure as CEO, Burns was entrusted with most of the day-to-day operations while Mulcahy focused on customer service and the finances.

• Burns’ was a tough job, given the changes that needed to be instigated. For example, Xerox’s workforce was cut from 94,600 to 57,100.

• The company’s commitment to diversity (one-third of its executives are women and 22% are minorities) gave Burns opportunities. But, she says, she had to do the rest.

• “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 guy’s attention. And then the rest was really up to me.”

Source: Ursula Burns: An Historic Succession at Xerox, BusinessWeek, May 28, 2009.

Click here to find out how Ursula Burns worked her way to the top