Leadership Tuesdays: Ursula Burns Discusses Impatience and Leadership at Catalyst Awards Luncheon (1105 hits)
Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY presents Leadership Tuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. The resource for this week is an article from The Glass Hammer on Xerox's CEO, Ursula Burns. The writer, Melissa J. Anderson, shared highlights from a recent speech given by Ms. Burns at the Catalyst Awards Luncheon in New York where she discussed her perspective on "Impatience and Leadership". _______________________________________________________
Ursula Burns Discusses Impatience and Leadership at Catalyst Awards Luncheon
By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
At last week’s Catalyst Awards Conference, lunch keynote Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox, shared her experience and advice on leadership and more. “I lucked out,” she began. “Xerox is a company that fit me well. It allowed to relax into my own self.
”Having begun her career as an engineer, Burns climbed the corporate ranks all the way to the top, becoming the first Black woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company in 2009. “There was an unbelievable roar and uproar about that,” she recalled. “But the board expected that, and I expected it, and our PR people expected it and prepared me for it.
”But what surprised Burns and the rest of Xerox was the conversation about her transition – how she was appointed CEO by another woman, Anne Mulcahy. “The two together really took ...
