Quotes by Ursula Burns

About Ursula Burns:

Ursula M. Burns is the first African-American woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company. She is also the first woman to succeed another woman as head of a Fortune 500 company, having succeeded Anne Mulcahy as CEO of Xerox. In 2014, Forbes rated her the 22nd most powerful woman in the world.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Race and gender definitely came up, occasionally, in my life at work. But the bigger challenge that I had was age. I took roles earlier in my career than people expected, and so a lot of what I got was, 'Do you actually know enough to do this?'

Ursula Burns

My mother was amazing. I guess, in our community, if you wanted to get by you had to work hard. So she cleaned offices. She did everything that you could imagine. We were really poor. But she would say, 'Where you are is not who you are.'

Ursula Burns

The best way to change it is to do it. Right? And then after a while you become it, and it's easy.

Ursula Burns

Crankiness is a human attribute that, when people walk in the door of Xerox, they remain human. The best way to get the best out of people is to not force them to be something other than they naturally are. Now what do they have to be? They have to b...

Ursula Burns

As I've progressed in my career, I've come to appreciate - and really value - the other attributes that define a company's success beyond the P&L: great leadership, long-term financial strength, ethical business practices, evolving business strategie...

Ursula Burns

Admiration takes on a whole new level when you appreciate just how complex it is to run a modern business.

Ursula Burns

I don't think paper will go away. I do believe that the value of paper will change, and Xerox is working on changing that value. Consider a color page. Actual life is in color, but you keep reproducing it in black and white. You remove value. It's a ...

Ursula Burns

I went to an all-girls Catholic high school. The three things that they focused on were reading, writing, and arithmetic. My goodness, this is a novel idea in this modern society. I was really good at all three of these things. I was particularly goo...

Ursula Burns

Fresh out of college, you tend to join a company because it's a job. But, you tend to stay because it becomes a career; you start to feel at home. In the beginning of your career, you're focused on you: 'I like this place because I'm doing rewarding ...

Ursula Burns

I'm less concerned about whether being a good corporate citizen burnishes a company's reputation. That's just an added benefit. I believe it's a responsibility, and there is no negotiating on responsibilities.

Ursula Burns

Xerox is really good at managing documents, and we're definitely good at managing through a process.

Ursula Burns

Long time ago, people would make the Bible, right? The guy said it, somebody wrote it down. And then if you wanted another copy of it, another human being wrote another one. It took a long, long time. Somebody created this thing called mimeograph pap...

Ursula Burns

Find something that you love to do, and find a place that you really like to do it in. I found something I loved to do. I'm a mechanical engineer by training, and I loved it. I still do. My son is a nuclear engineer at MIT, a junior, and I get the sa...

Ursula Burns

Kids are pretty resilient. You don't have to be at every volleyball game. We can't guilt ourselves.

Ursula Burns

My perspective comes in part from being a New York black lady, in part from being an engineer. I know I'm smart and have opinions worth being heard.

Ursula Burns

I want to stop transforming and just start being.

Ursula Burns

Unlike people, companies outlive their founders and their leaders.

Ursula Burns

My mother was pragmatic, focused and extremely, exceedingly practical, and she was the ultimate self-determining person.

Ursula Burns

CEOs resign when the internal dynamics of the company and the external dynamics of the company actually come together to say it is appropriate. When the internal dynamics ask you whether you have a replacement. I think the transition from CEOships ha...

Ursula Burns

The world is full of opportunities - every day there's something new that you can do. For example, you could make dirty water potable. Why does anyone not have potable water? Because it's a problem that hasn't been solved yet, but it can be.

Ursula Burns

Author Bio

  • NameUrsula Burns
  • DescriptionAmerican businessperson
  • BornSeptember 20, 1958
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionManager; Engineer; Businessperson
  • AwardsHonorary Degree