Ursula Burns - Female billionaire rose from the slums, broke the stereotype of black people to become the CEO of Xerox

Perhaps the media will talk more about Ursula M. Burns as a proud son of the African motherland, a business leader who is determined and dares to take risks. In addition, she is also an administrator who knows how to reverse difficult situations.

Born in poverty

Ms. Ursula Burns grew up in refugee camps on the Lower East Side, Manhattan, USA where neighborhoods were occupied by street gangs, which were the hubs of criminal gangs. His father is a Panamanian immigrant and his mother is an American. She is the second of three children and lives with her single mother. To support her family and pay for her education at Cathedral High School, a Roman Catholic preparatory school, her mother opened a nursery and a laundromat.

When she recalled where she lived as a c.hild, Ursula Burns shared, "There are always many people sleeping under the stairs, including drug addicts... The hallways often smell of urine... That's why. It's not a safe place to live."

Even so, she has always attributed part of her success to living in less comfortable housing but with access to cheap public transport and a good education. Ursula's mother always inspires positive thinking and optimism for her even in the poorest: "The place of birth will not determine who you are, therefore the only way out of hunger The poor have only good education".

After finishing high school, because she was good at math, Ursula Burns earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from New York University's Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn. She then began studying for a master's degree in mechanical engineering at Columbia University.

After that, she also received many more honorary university degrees from schools such as New York University, University of Pennsylvania, Howard University, University of Rochester, Xavier University, Georgetown University.

It can be said that her mother was the one who taught her how to get out of poverty by getting a good education and she tried and worked hard for Ursula to go to New York University and get a degree in mechanical engineering. With constant effort, after earning her degree, she was accepted to practice for the data management company Xerox.

Courage makes it all

In 1980, Ursula Burns started her career at Xerox as an intern and then became an engineer there with a starting salary of more than 29,000 USD/year after graduation. Thanks to the courage to voice her opinion, Ursula Burns from an ordinary employee has the opportunity to become the president of Xerox.

Accordingly, in 1989, when she attended a company meeting about work-life balance. One of her colleagues asked the executive why Xerox focused so much on diversity. "He didn't say the word 'people of color,' he asked, 'Why do we hire so many 'different' employees and women into the company?", Ursula Burns said. .

Because she was not satisfied, Mrs. Ursula Burns at that time stood in front of all the personnel present at the meeting, reprimanding the director for her lack of passion and working principles. Burns' serious rebuttal caused tension on both sides.

Only after the meeting ended did Burns learn that the person who ran the meeting that day was Wayland Hicks - an Executive Vice President at the time. "I thought I was going to be fired. And the $29,000 salary would go with the wind," recalls Ursula Burns.

In fact, Hicks reprimanded Burns for being inappropriate and told her, "There's always a better way to say you don't agree with someone else's opinion." After the "reprimand", the two even talked to each other several times in a number of meetings.

In 1990, Wayland Hicks asked Ursula Burns if she wanted to take on the role of executive assistant. For a second time, Burns felt let down by Hicks. "Are you serious?" she asked, seeing the prospect of having to switch to a job that didn't match her qualifications. Hicks had to explain that the job wasn't as simple as that of a secretary, he would introduce her to senior leadership and give her a chance to get a hands-on approach to how executives operate. enterprise.

It was then that Burns took on what she describes as "the most important role I've ever held". This is an opportunity and a springboard for her to develop her career in the future. Just like that, Ursula Burns was continuously promoted between the 1990s and 2000s, becoming president of Xerox in 2007. In 2009, Ursula Burns was appointed CEO. In May 2010, she also served as the President of the Company. She stepped down as CEO of Xerox in December 2017.

Burns' career shows the power of loyalty, the value of advancing within a company, and proof of a hard worker who demonstrated his skills during his time at Xerox. . 34 years later, Ursula Burns is the company's president and chief executive officer.

In 2009, President Barack Obama selected her to help lead the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education (STEM) Alliance. It is a national coalition of more than 1,000 technology organizations that are working to improve student engagement and performance in the aforementioned subject areas through legislative advocacy. She held this position until 2016.

Ursula Burns not only holds power in the high-tech industry, but is also rated by Forbes as the 14th most influential woman in the world. Ursula Burns contributed greatly to bringing in more than 50% of the $22.4 billion in revenue in 2012 from information technology services.

Female billionaire Ursula Burns is one of 5 influential leaders selected to interview by CNNMoney to implement the program "American Dream: New York". Careers, talents and life experiences are different, but all 5 of these "typical New Yorkers" have in common a passion for maintaining and developing talents for generations to come.

In addition to Ursula Burns, the remaining 4 characters selected by CNNMoney are Alan Greenspan - former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), Mickey Drexler - CEO J. Crew, Howard Schultz - Starbucks CEO and hip-hop legend Russell Simmons . Each of these people has overcome many difficulties and achieved success even beyond their own greatest expectations.

Burns is also a member (2010 - 2016) of the President's Export Council (PEC) - a group of labor, business and government leaders who advise the president on methods of promoting US export growth. In addition, she serves on the boards of many companies, including ExxonMobil, Uber, and VEON. An Amsterdam-based telecommunications provider then appointed her executive chairman in 2017, and the following year she became president and chief executive officer.

However, in 2020, she stepped down as chief executive officer, although she continued to serve as president.

Burns believes that she has achieved the "American dream" and believes strongly that it still exists despite the difficulties facing America.

"America is one of the few places where you can live this dream and make it come true," she said.

"New York is not an easy place to live. You have to be tough to overcome the prejudices that exist in a life full of challenges like this."

As the CEO of Xerox herself, she is known to be the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. In 2014, Forbes magazine ranked her at number 22 on its list of Fortune 500 companies. Strongest woman in the world.

Burns may have a long way to go, but this woman deserves to stand on the podium telling students on the 145th graduation ceremony of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that "The world needs you more than you are." We need your spirit of discovery and your thirst for knowledge."

Perhaps the media will talk more about Ursula M. Burns as a proud son of the African motherland, a business leader who is determined and dares to take risks. In addition, she is also an administrator who knows how to reverse difficult situations.

Madonna was sued because she continuously committed this violation after more than 40 years of singing Minh Ngọc15:42:59 20/01/2024Madonna has been singing since the 1980s, but after more than 40 years holding the mic, she is still constantly being sued for allegedly lacking professionalism. The reason recorded in the minutes was because she performed 2 hours late at her concert.