Anne Mulcahy Leadership Skills
Anne Mulcahy is the former CEO of Xerox, serving from 2001 to 2010. She is reknown for taking Xerox out of a path to bankruptcy and settling conflicts with Xerox’s violation of SEC regulations. When everyone thought Xerox should bankrupt its debt and move on, Anne Mulcahy took the route less chosen by restructuring and reinventing Xerox at that time. Reflecting upon her time serving as CEO of Xerox, Mulcahy offers the following leadership advice.
Anne Mulcahy Leadership Advice
Following Anne’s retirement from CEO of Xerox, she reflected upon the top ten leadership qualities she enacted during her success.
1. Spend time listening – Listen to what your customers and employees have to say.
2. Communicate face to face – Meet with people where they are, even if that means traveling regularly.
3. Make goals clear – Communicate regularly with employees letting them know the goals of the company.
4. Give people a roadmap – Provide the employees and customers with a roadmap to give a sense of hope in the reality of the company’s direction.
5. Be honest – Being transparent will provide honesty to customers and employees.
6. Lead and manage to values – Illustrate a clear and consistent set of values.
7. Challenge the status quo – Do not shy away from making tough and difficult calls.
8. Focus on things that matter – Focus on value not complexity.
9. Inspire your people – Inspire them to do more.
10. Invest upstream – Cut down costs and increase productivity while investing upstream for the long haul.
6 Leadership Strategies
1. The art of listening – Actively listen to employees, customers, and shareholders to help pinpoint specific hidden weaknesses within the organization.
2. Instincts – Things may look good on paper but it does not mean there is nothing that needs to be fixed.
3. Vision – Provide a vision for all of the future so employees and customers know where they are heading.
4. Research and development – Keep investing in R&D as it will serve your as your future product and growth abilities.
5. Customer focus – Maintain continued focus on the customer.
6. Communication – Focus on the alignment of common set of goals among people and the organization.
Anne Mulcahy Leadership Quotes
“I will fly anywhere to save any customer for Xerox.”
“Companies disappear because they can’t reinvent themselves.”
“Do not defend yourself against the inevitable.”
“Focus on client service instead of financial engineering.”
“Entire families work for Xerox.”
“You have to live the mission… love what you do.”
“You know a good board when you see one.”
“Turnaround or growth, it’s getting your people focused on the goal that is still the job of leadership.”
“You should be accumulating really great relationships throughout your career.”
Anne Malcahy has been selected for the following awards:
“CEO of the Year 2008” by Chief Executive Magazine.
“One of 50 Women to Watch in 2005″‘ named in The Wall Street Journal.
“6th of the Most Powerful Women in America in 2005” by Forbes Magazine.
“15th of the Most Power Women in America in 2009” by Forbes Magazine.
“One of America’s Best Leaders in 2008” by U.S. News & World Report.
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