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When I became CEO of Xerox 10 years ago, the company's situation was dire. Debt was mounting, the stock sinking and bankers were calling. People urged me to declare bankruptcy, but I felt personally responsible for tens of thousands of employees.

Anne M. Mulcahy

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Anne M. Mulcahy
Age: 72
Born: 1952
Born: October 21
Businessperson
Chief Executive Officer
Rockville Centre
New York
Years
Thousands
Ceo
People
Debt
Sinking
Calling
Bankers
Xerox
Responsible
Declare
Mounting
Became
Employees
Urged
Situation
Employee
Dire
Company
Stock
Tens
Felt
Personally
Bankruptcy

More quotes by Anne M. Mulcahy

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When parents are confident that their children will live, they have fewer of them. They invest more in each child's food, health and education.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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Educated and productive young people are needed to help # LIFT their countries out of poverty and create a wealthier, more secure world.
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I'm at the gym at 6, so I'm usually in my office by 7:15. And I try to not schedule a lot of meetings before 8. So I've got that first hour to get myself organized for the day and to make sure that I've structured what I want to do.
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Turnaround or growth, it's getting your people focused on the goal that is still the job of leadership.
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The day I was announced as CEO, I think the stock dropped another 20%.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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What do you really believe makes a difference in the company? For me it's really clear. It's about customers and employees. Everything else follows. If you take care of your customers and you have motivated employees, everything else follows.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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Most of my career has been in sales. I spend 50% or more of my time with customers and employees, and I can't wait for it to be more than 50%.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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If you're a global company you are going to have jobs overseas. The reality is if we start taxing those jobs at a rate that makes them noncompetitive in those markets, the reality is that we're going to lose business.
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Customers require the effective integration of technologies to simplify their workflow and boost efficiency.
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Even under the most difficult circumstances you can have creative flexibility.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person - not just an employee - are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.
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People ask my mother whether she had any idea that I'd be CEO of a company some day, and she would say, 'Absolutely not. Totally out of the realm of possibility.' There was certainly nothing that would have been very predictable in my upbringing.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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I learned how to be a learner. When you get in a job, the tendency is to say, 'I've got to know it. I've got to give direction to others. I'm in this job because I'm better and smarter.' I always took a different view, that the key was to identify the people who really knew and learn from them.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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The Obama campaign is one of the greatest examples of what is possible in the brave new world of 21st Century marketing. They did a masterful job of connecting with minds, personalizing messages, refining old and new media, sending clear messages, and providing the feedback that enabled them to respond to the messages they heard.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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The hardware business is all about per-unit manufacturing cost and functionality. The services business is less asset-intensive and more dependent on people.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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I worked in sales. It was definable, it had a quantifiable approach to accomplishment that had a great deal of importance to me. It had a degree of clarity that I loved. And of course, it was core.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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By the time I stepped down as Xerox's CEO in 2009 - and as chairman in January 2010 - Xerox had become the vibrant, profitable and revitalized company that it still is today. What made the difference was a strong turnaround plan, dedicated people and a firm commitment from company leaders.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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Whenever an earthquake or tsunami takes thousands of innocent lives, a shocked world talks of little else.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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Get face time with the customers.
Anne M. Mulcahy
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Whenever an earthquake or tsunami takes thousands of innocent lives, a shocked world talks of little else. I'll never forget the wrenching days I spent in Haiti last year for Save the Children just weeks after the earthquake.
Anne M. Mulcahy