Best and Worst Manager
The Best & Worst Managers of the Year
1. Take a look at the most recent list of “The Best and Worst Managers of the Year” and pick one of the best managers and one of the worst manager.
America's Best Leaders: Anne Mulcahy, Xerox CEO
Shortly after Anne Mulcahy took over the helm at Xerox in 2000, with the company facing possible bankruptcy, she had a blunt message for shareholders. "Xerox's business model is unsustainable," she said. Expenses were too high, and the profit margins were simply too low to return to profitability.
Wanting easy answers for complex problems, shareholders dumped Xerox shares, driving its stock price down 26 percent the next day. Looking back on that dark time, Mulcahy says she could have been more tactful. "I thought it was far more credible to acknowledge that the company was broken and dramatic actions had to be taken. Lesson learned."
After 25 years at the company, Mulcahy knew Xerox intimately, but even she was unprepared for the depth of its financial crisis. Taking over from CEO Richard Thoman, an IBM recruit who lasted only 13 months in the top job, Mulcahy acknowledged her lack of financial expertise—most of her time at Xerox was in sales and upper management. She quickly enlisted the treasurer's office to tutor her in the fine points of finance before meetings with the company's bankers.
Her advisers urged her to declare bankruptcy in order to clear off Xerox's $18 billion in debt, but Mulcahy resisted, telling them, "Bankruptcy is never a win." In fact, she concluded, using bankruptcy to escape from debt could make it much harder for Xerox to be a serious high-tech player in the future. Instead, she chose a much more difficult and risky goal—"restoring Xerox to a great company once again."
To gain support from Xerox's leadership team, she met personally with the top 100 executives. She let them know how dire the situation was and asked them if they were prepared to commit. A full 98 of the 100 executives decided to stay,
1. Take a look at the most recent list of “The Best and Worst Managers of the Year” and pick one of the best managers and one of the worst manager.
America's Best Leaders: Anne Mulcahy, Xerox CEO
Shortly after Anne Mulcahy took over the helm at Xerox in 2000, with the company facing possible bankruptcy, she had a blunt message for shareholders. "Xerox's business model is unsustainable," she said. Expenses were too high, and the profit margins were simply too low to return to profitability.
Wanting easy answers for complex problems, shareholders dumped Xerox shares, driving its stock price down 26 percent the next day. Looking back on that dark time, Mulcahy says she could have been more tactful. "I thought it was far more credible to acknowledge that the company was broken and dramatic actions had to be taken. Lesson learned."
After 25 years at the company, Mulcahy knew Xerox intimately, but even she was unprepared for the depth of its financial crisis. Taking over from CEO Richard Thoman, an IBM recruit who lasted only 13 months in the top job, Mulcahy acknowledged her lack of financial expertise—most of her time at Xerox was in sales and upper management. She quickly enlisted the treasurer's office to tutor her in the fine points of finance before meetings with the company's bankers.
Her advisers urged her to declare bankruptcy in order to clear off Xerox's $18 billion in debt, but Mulcahy resisted, telling them, "Bankruptcy is never a win." In fact, she concluded, using bankruptcy to escape from debt could make it much harder for Xerox to be a serious high-tech player in the future. Instead, she chose a much more difficult and risky goal—"restoring Xerox to a great company once again."
To gain support from Xerox's leadership team, she met personally with the top 100 executives. She let them know how dire the situation was and asked them if they were prepared to commit. A full 98 of the 100 executives decided to stay,