Anne M. Mulcahy was born October 21, 1952, in Rockville Centre, New York. She is former chairperson and CEO of Xerox Corporation. She joined Xerox as a field sales representative in 1976 and was vice president for human resources from 1992 to 1995. She became chief staff officer in 1997 and corporate senior vice president in 1998. And later on August 1, 2001, she became the CEO and chairwoman on January 1, 2002, of the Xerox Corporation. Mulcahy has also been a member of the boards of directors of Catalyst, Citigroup Inc., Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd. and Target Corporation. She named ‘CEO of the Year 2008’ by Chief Executive magazine and through this award Anne proved she could offer something special as a leader in the business world. Anne took on her leadership role at Xerox in a very turbulent period of the company, but she was so determined to get the best out of it. Her momentous & significant leadership qualities, skills & styles enable her to lead the company.
We will be discussing some of her leadership attributes which made her possible to become a successful leader.
Leadership Qualities, Skills and Styles of Anne M. Mulcahy
1. Loyalty: One of the most powerful leadership qualities that Anne M. Mulcahy possesses. Generally, it is hard to find loyal employees & dedicated leaders during the turbulent period of a company. When Xerox was near bankruptcy, Anne took over the duty of the company and made some changes and decisions to get the company back on track. Loyalty can be the most valuable quality of a leader.
2. Valuing People: Xerox was in a state when Anne had to cut jobs and sell divisions to get the company back on track. But she did not do that and instead she valued her employees. She stated that “Employees are a company’s greatest asset – they’re your competitive advantage. You want to attract and retain the best; provide them with encouragement, stimulus, and make them feel that they are an integral part of the company’s mission.”
3. Giving Employees a Roadmap: Anne M. Mulcahy’s another leadership quality and skill is providing employees a roadmap to give a sense of hope in the reality of the company’s direction.
4. Being Honest: Honesty is another leadership quality of Anne. She is being transparent when she used to work with customers and employees.
5. Reinvention: This is her another leadership skill made her a successful leader too. Shifting from expensive consumer printers, Anne focused on the new technology of high-end color digital printers. She realized that the world was changing and Xerox needed to get ahead of the shift. “Companies disappear because they can’t reinvent themselves,” she said.
6. Recognizing the Shortcomings: Anne’s top leadership quality was she knew how to recognize manager’s shortcomings and how to overcome those. She stated, “Good managers recognize their own shortcomings and find others who are strong in those areas.” Today Xerox encourages it’s managers to assess their own performance and to receive their Feed backs from the associates.
7. Vision: Providing vision will help the employees and customers to know where the company is heading to. Anne M. Mulcahy is a visionary leader. “Today’s leaders, she said, must offer employees a compelling vision of the company’s direction; simple command and control are not enough”, she said.
8. A Leader with Good Organizational Skill: Besides being a strong leader, Anne Mulcahy possesses organizational skills as well. After being appointed as CEO of Xerox in 2001, she proved everyone that how capable she was to take the company to success. According to Manville in 2016, Anne Mulcahy implemented strategies of relentless cost-cutting, boosted innovation, and organizational focus. Anne was recognized as CEO of the year by Chief Executive magazine in 2008 because of her strong commitment to innovation through research and development as reported by Donlon. With the help of her organizational skill, she was able to save Xerox from drowning in the sea of debts. Though she retired in 2009 from the company, her organizational skill is still effective in today’s business.
9. Possessing Planning and Delivery Skills: Fruitful plans and make them deliver at the right time help the leaders to avoid things going wrong in critical situations. Whenever a crisis arises, a successful leader creates a path to articulate a plan for saving the company. Mulcahy quoted “Even at the worst of times, invest in the best of times.” When Xerox was in a crisis moment, Mulcahy planned to maintain funding for research and development. Anne Mulcahy also stated that two-thirds of Xerox’s revenue today comes from services and products that they have introduced in the last two years. Since Mulcahy had her planning skill and delivery skills, the Xerox company has survived the worst and progressed so quickly. In line with her statement, Xerox company had been successful because of following brilliant strategic planning and delivering those plans timely.
Her other leadership qualities & skills which she possesses are given below:
- Spend time in listening
- Communicate face to face
- Focus on things that matter
- Developing first-class leadership in a company
Her leadership styles played the important role to become a great leader.
She followed Democratic Leadership style as she became the leader of her company and worked with all her employees in the turbulent period. She also possesses Team Leadership style. When everyone was in an emergency state she took the leadership position of the team and followed according to this style. She also possesses Visionary Leadership style as she always gives advice to her staffs for a compelling vision.
Despite the company’s deep problems, Anne M. Mulcahy believed the future is bright. All she needed to follow the leadership qualities, skills & styles. Mulcahy had handled the situation well and different from what other leaders would do. Many companies would choose the easy way out and declare bankruptcy but she didn’t do so. She took the initiative and set the visions so high that no one believed that Xerox corporation was able to achieve them. Not everybody is created for possessing leadership qualities, and it’s important for companies to identify those high potentials and treat them differently.
Related: Leadership Qualities, Skills, and Style of Bill Gates & Leadership Qualities, Skills, and Style of Jeff Bezos
REFERENCES:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_M._Mulcahy
- http://brandongaille.com/leadership-style-anne-mulcahy/
- https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/anne_m_mulcahy.html
- https://www.usnews.com/news/best-leaders/articles/2008/11/19/americas-best-leaders-anne-mulcahy-xerox-ceo
- https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/anne-mulcahy-keys-turnaround-xerox
Sadnan is one of the top contributors of The Strategy Watch, he has been actively contributing since 2017 as a Content Analyst; He has finished his graduation from North South University with a dual major in Accounting & Finance. As a contributor, he has written for different topics including Leadership Styles and Qualities, Finance, and Economics. He also has a strong interest in SWOT & PESTLE Analysis and Marketing Strategy.