Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox, was the featured speaker for the first dinner meeting of the Economic Club this season on October 5. The topic of Ms. Burns’ remarks was “Impatience is a Virtue.” She made the case that leaders and policy makers in all sectors have become too satisfied with the status quo. Rather than focus on what can’t be done, Ms. Burns maintains that much more impatience with “what is” should be exhibited along with passion for “what might be.”
Ms. Burns also shared aspects of her compelling personal story. She grew up in the public housing projects of the lower east side of New York. Raised by a single mother who had a fervent belief in the power and importance of education, Ms. Burns became a mechanical engineer and spent one summer interning at Xerox. She never left, spending her career climbing the corporate ladder at Xerox one rung at a time. Today, she is leading a major transformation of the company; guiding it in an evolution from a largely technology company to a services-led technology company. Ms. Burns concluded her remarks and comments to a standing ovation.
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