Xerox chairman and CEO Ursula Burns received the 2015 John Wooden Global Leadership Award from the UCLA Anderson School of Management Tuesday before an audience of nearly 500 invited guests gathered at the Beverly Wilshire.
In a video interview screened during the gala event, Burns, the eighth recipient of this annual award, described her humble beginnings as the child of a single mother in a New York City housing project — and the humbling experience in 2009 of being invited to lead the company she joined as an intern 30 years earlier.
Dean Judy Olian introduced Burns by comparing her values and life’s inspirations with Coach Wooden’s. Where Wooden was singularly influenced by his father, Burns looked to her mother for the wisest advice and most upstanding example. “I’m sure Coach would have approved of this year’s recipient,” said Olian. “Ursula’s mother reminded her and her siblings that where you are is not who you are.”
Burns was interviewed on stage by Maggie Wilderotter, executive chairman of Frontier Communications, who serves on the boards of Xerox Corporation and other private and nonprofit organizations. As Burns’ “boss,” Wilderotter helped select Burns for the Xerox helm and is in the best position to know how capably she has led and transformed the company. Wilderotter asked her about her role models, prompting Burns to grin at her boss and say, “This is the ultimate kiss-up.” Wilderotter paused and then quipped, “All right, bring it on.” After the laughter died down, Burns replied seriously, “Maggie can always find a way to build a bridge between what people can do best.”
Burns also delved into her early education, explaining that when she was young she really had no industry role models that looked like her or embodied her experiences. A star math student, she attended an all-girls’ Catholic school and later went to an all-male engineering school.
“I found role models in people I admired because they did things so differently from the way I did, or who did things a lot like I did,” Burns said. She said the most important quality of leadership is authenticity. “You have to bring your whole self to work,” she said. It was Anne Mulcahy, Burns’ boss before Wilderotter, who steered Burns away from the “Don’t let them see you sweat” ethos of big business. “Your team needs to know you’re concerned about the same things they are,” Burns said.
Burns told Wilderotter that when making decisions, “Very rarely do I go back to my office and do analysis. You have people who are credible speaking to you, people you can trust. These things make it possible for me to make good decisions. Most of my time is spent making sure we can all fit together as a team. Not all companies work well together, because they don’t have the right fit.”
Risk is a reality in leadership, she said. Burns led the $6.4 billion purchase of the business process outsourcing company Affiliated Computer Services, an example of taking chances or “leaning over the edge,” as she put it. “The simpler thing would have been to stay close to home and stick with photocopying,” she said.
On the future of Xerox, Burns said, “History matters and relationships matter. Making a decision as you go forward, you need to think about whether the person you partner with will be there for you … for good or for bad. We are here for the long term. We have the best people to do what we do. You can’t get a better team of people on your side. We will be with you from the beginning to the end, and that’s what you need as a company.”
Coach Wooden’s daughter Nan also expressed congratulations, as did Ariel Investments president Mellody Hobson and several past Wooden award honorees, including CEO and chairman of American Express Ken Chenault and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo.
“As much as I admire you on a professional level, I am proud to call you a close personal friend,” Nooyi said. Chenault praised Burns’ character: “She is pragmatic and she also inspires,” he said, observing her “willingness to take on the status quo and make tough calls.”
In the spirit of candid congratulations, Dean Olian called Burns “a perennial rock star in the world of CEOs.”
Tuesday’s awards ceremony also included tributes to Coach Wooden by two athletes who knew him well. Ann Meyers Drysdale, a U.S. Olympic silver medalist and a pioneer of collegiate women’s basketball who led UCLA to the AIAW national championship in 1978, said, “His door was always open. He was a teacher; that’s how he looked at himself. He wanted to be a better person every day and treat people with respect.”
NBA champion Keith Erickson played on Coach Wooden’s first two NCAA Championship teams in 1964 and ’65. Coach started with a team lesson in putting on socks, of all things, Erickson recalled. “If you do the little things right, they turn into good big things,” the former athlete said.
This is an edited version of a story posted on the UCLA Anderson website. Read the complete story here, along with other related stories.
