A Seat at the Table: Ursula Burns on Women in Tech

Ursula Burns

CEO, engineer, mother, change agent and straight-shooter

What makes you feel like a real grown-up?

When I interact with my grown children. Our relationship has transitioned from parent-child to adult friends. They have grown up—and I have too.

What’s the weirdest thing in your tote bag?

I have no fewer than five lip glosses—all clear— from Carmex to ones I get on the airlines. I think about paring them down, but I think I would miss them.

What’s the best gift you gave or received?

Received: My son and daughter call me every day. Gave: I gifted a Rolex watch to my close girlfriends and my sister on a trip last year. The best part wasn’t the luxury of it—it was that each of them almost fainted upon receiving it.

Applied Technology: Ursula Burns Stirs Up the Status Quo

I stumbled into engineering (and by extension technology). I didn’t even know what engineering was—let alone mechanical or chemical engineering. But I was good at math and I was lucky. I had a wonderful counselor named Connie Costa and I participated in the Higher Education Opportunity Program, which provided support and resources for promising students. When we explored how I could apply my math skills as a practical matter, engineering naturally cropped up. The rest is history—I started as an intern at Xerox in 1980 and left as its CEO in 2016.

“I think at its best, technology gives you time and allows you to be efficient. And at its worst, it takes away time and makes you inefficient. If you’re not disciplined and discerning about it, you end up overwhelmed. You either optimize it or you become overrun. The choice is yours.”

It’s interesting how much we rely on rote memory. After over three decades at Xerox, I recently became the CEO of another company. Walking in, I was immediately struck by how unaware I was of everything about this new place—I didn’t even know where the bathroom was. I was equally shocked about how much was the same: a predominantly male leadership team, habits and tactics established long ago by men, and an organizational favoring of power over knowledge. What excites me as a leader right now—made clear by the pandemic—is that things must change. There has been a massive imbalance in power, knowledge and opportunity. More and more people are activating around the idea that these things must be distributed differently. There has to be a better way.

People often ask me about being a woman (and a woman of color) in technology and what I brought to the table. I always return to the same theme: The most important thing was that I was at the table and I was as good—if not better—than everyone else there. There was, of course, a sense of surprise that I would be there (and I am sure plenty of assumptions made), but I didn’t just stop with being in the room. After all, I walked in just like they did. I am very direct and real with people. I have a strong confidence for what I know and a good sense of humility for what I don’t. I don’t cower away from a challenge. People figured out they better have their game together if they were going to play with me. I know that it changed people’s awareness that talent can come from all places.

I have spent a lot of my career driving change, and the best thing I can tell someone is to engage—start doing something different. You need to take in the reality of where you are today and build a hopeful future for yourself, but then you need to start moving. Not deciding is deciding. As women, we take care of so many other people. We help them confidently and with conviction, yet we won’t do it for ourselves. We would never leave our kids or our friends to just float. If it doesn’t work out, no problem, but do something.