Xerox Leadership

S P JAIN SCHOOL OF GLOBAL MANAGEMENT

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Through the stories of

Rupert Murdoch, NEWS Corp.

Anne M Mulcahy, XEROX

Jeffery Immelt, General Electric

Submitted by

Rashmee Raghu, MSEP15G32

Anne M Mulcahy

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When Mulcahy was handed over the baton in 2001, XEROX held the record for the 6th consecutive year of loss, a $17 billion debt, last sales plan gone wrong and the cherry on the stale cake was a SEC investigation on their Mexico Unit. To lead a company that was halfway down the hill demanded courage, and in came Anne Mulcahy.

Courage is contagious. Her courage was the silver lining all employees held on to. Her courage seemed to pour confidence into the minds of her employees. To solve the problem, she had to identify it first. The brilliant leader in her knew that listening was the first step. She called herself the “chief communication officer”. She spent her first 90 days as CEO, travelling to the different offices to listen to all the perspectives as to what was wrong with the company?! Honesty and transparency, she believed are critical to boost morale in trying times. She is known for her no-nonsense, no holds-barred approach. “Either roll up your sleeves and go to work or leave XEROX”. As a leader, listening is important, but being heard and followed is an absolute necessity. Her resilience and optimism acted as fuel to her employees. Future vision, goals, targets are the ultimate boosters. Mulchay’s vision for Xerox is not inscribed on the office walls but was put forward in a fictitious wall street journal article – XEROX in 2005. Every employee now knew what they working towards. She had empowered her employees with the big picture. Living up to her honest and transparent nature, Mulchay never shied away from admitting her weakness. Strategic thinking, was not natural to her. She had a team backing her up. A good leader know what he can do best and is sure about what he can’t do best. Admitting it and empowering another to help and take that trait forward speaks out integrity. One of the applaudable decisions that Mulcahy made, was to never curb research. During the 2001 slump, when cost cuts was the first step to kill the debt, R&D continued to work on full budget. She believe curbing research is killing innovation.