Anne Mulcahy, chairwoman and CEO of the Xerox Corporation believes in the value of Human Resources. Recently, she was interviewed by the New York times and when asked the following question, she surprised the interviewer and a number of top executives, describing her decision to jump off the fast tract through management and take a turn in Human Resources.
Q. Looking back over your career, do you recall a certain insight that put your career on a different trajectory?
A. A couple of things. I had come up through the sales organization and I was very much a product of that — you know, the next level of upward mobility. I reached a point where I felt like I was just running out of steam, and I knew that you can always get bigger and bigger budgets and sales assignments.
But I chose to go into human resources. I didn't do it so much because of leadership development or career aspirations. I did it just simply because I thought it was really interesting. I'd always believed that human resources could be a very powerful part of an organization and often wasn't. So I kind of threw my hat in that ring, wound up running human resources for Xerox worldwide. That was a decision that certainly changed my career path and reinforced the power of leadership for me.
If you want to read more about Ann Mulcahy you can go to the New York Times, Corner Office and see the article in its entirety.
