Xerox continues to champion women in IT

On first hearing that Anne Mulcahy, chairman and chief executive at printing and document management specialist Xerox, was going to step down from her CEO position at the start of July, I was disappointed.

This wasn't because I'm a huge fan of Xerox or necessarily think that Mulcahy has done a fantastic job heading up the firm. Although she has been credited with leading "a multibillion-dollar turnaround of Xerox and transform[ing] the business into an innovative digital technology and services enterprise" by the vendor, Mulcahy leaves a company that, much like the rest of the IT industry, is struggling to cope with the economic crisis, leading to 3,000 job cuts in light of falling revenues.

My initial reaction was more because she is one of the few women who has headed up a large technology company - and managed to retain her position for a significant period of time, and hasn't ended up being unceremoniously booted out, à la Carly Fiorina.

Mulcahy joined Xerox as a sales representative in Boston in 1976, and during her 33-year tenure held senior management positions in sales, HR and marketing before working her way right to the top in 2001. Her progress would be impressive enough by any standard, but it's given extra weight by the fact she's a female operating in a male-dominated arena that still has around an 80/20 split of men to women.

I discussed Mulcahy's management style during a recent meeting with Xerox's UK managing director, Alan Charnley, and got the impression she was a firm but fair boss. Charnley said while the "feminine touch" was nice to work with, Mulcahy set very high expectations of her staff and herself, and certainly didn't like playing up the 'role model' card. "Anne doesn't want to be judged on her gender," he noted.

Clearly she did something right at the firm, as Xerox has agreed to appoint another female, current president Ursula Burns, as her successor.

Burns has also had a long career at Xerox, joining in 1980 as a mechanical engineering summer intern and moving up to the level of president in 2007.

"Ursula takes on the leadership role the old-fashioned way," Mulcahy said. "She has earned it. And, for that, she has my deep respect and confidence."

Mulcahy added that she joined Xerox "because it offered a level playing field -a sales environment where meritocracy ruled".

Hopefully the strong vote of confidence displayed by Xerox appointing another female to head up the business in these tough times will encourage other IT players to consider doing the same and level out the playing field elsewhere.

22 May 2009