Postcards

Xerox chief charts her new path

by Patricia Sellers

While ideal partners at the top of Xerox (XRX), Anne Mulcahy and Ursula Burns stand apart in terms of strengths and style. Mulcahy, who was CEO and is now chairman, is a sales ace and strategist who brought Xerox back from the brink a decade ago. Burns, who rose from intern to president of the company, is a brass-tacks engineer who embraces execution and always got the job done.

Today Burns MORE

A new global challenge for Xerox's Mulcahy

You wouldn't think that Anne Mulcahy has time to trek to Central America--yes, Haiti is on her calendar, but this year she has already flown south to help children in poverty. Having served as chairman and CEO of Xerox (XRX) for most of the past decade--and turning the company around from near-bankruptcy--Mulcahy, 57, is now Xerox's chairman (with Ursula Burns, her former president, as CEO). Obviously more energetic than MORE

Xerox and Wal-Mart bosses: Career paths not taken

There comes a fork in every career. Should I do this or do that?

Charting a successful career was the topic on Tuesday at Wal-Mart (WMT), where the company's female officers staged a "Fortune Most Powerful Women" event and I interviewed two stars of the 2009 MPWomen rankings: Wal-Mart EVP of People Susan Chambers and Xerox (XRX) CEO Ursula Burns.

Their bios tell the paths they chose. More inspiring and instructive, as MORE

How to hire in uncertain times

by Jessica Shambora

Who's hiring? Hardly anybody, yet. But as you dream about recovery, you'd better be thinking about how to upgrade your talent. You'll be hiring again someday. Really.

We talked about hiring at the recent Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, where this year's theme was "Betting on the Future." A session called "Building a Standout Start-up" was led by two CEOs who are in major hiring mode. We thought we'd MORE

Why Xerox CEO Burns is buying big

Xerox's $6.4 billion deal to buy Affiliated Computer Services--which walloped the stock yesterday--is evidence that new CEO Ursula Burns knows what she wants and won't waste time getting it. "Top line revenue growth," Burns replied, at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit, when asked what is Xerox's "unfinished business."

The Summit interview was the first public sit-down for Burns and Anne Mulcahy since the former took over from the latter in the MORE

Behind Xerox's historic CEO handoff

By Beth Kowitt

In their first public conversation on their historic CEO handoff, Ursula Burns and Anne Mulcahy of Xerox (XRX) said the intensity and amount of attention it's received has really surprised them.

In July when Mulcahy, Xerox's chairman, stepped down as CEO and handed over the reins to Burns, it was the first woman-to-woman CEO succession in Fortune 500 history. Burns is also the first black woman to lead a MORE

Most Powerful Women on CNBC's Squawk Box

I co-hosted CNBC's Squawk Box Thursday morning, when we unveiled Fortune's 2009 Most Powerful Women in Business list--topped by PepsicCo (PEP) CEO Indra Nooyi for the fourth year in a row.

With us on the show: bank-industry analyst Meredith Whitney, No. 39 in Fortune's rankings. She stayed after co-hosting Squawk Box the hour before--and made news, by the way, predicting that home prices will continue to fall and unemployment will go MORE

Guest Post: Bridging college to career...to CEO?

You never know who your summer intern will turn out to be. In 1980, Ursula Burns was a summer intern in mechanical engineering at Xerox (XRX). Last month, she became CEO there. In 1985, Sallie Krawcheck was a summer intern at Fortune. She later climbed to the top tier of Citigroup (C), where she served as CFO and ran a $13 billion wealth management unit. Last week, Krawcheck moved to MORE

New power in Africa...and beyond

Leadership, essentially, is about inspiring others to carry on a mission. The leadership opportunity compounds in a connected, viral, global community.

Here's how leadership can spread: In 2006, Fortune and the U.S. State Department launched the Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. Every year since then, we've selected two dozen or more of the best and brightest young women leaders in developing countries and invited them to the U.S. to shadow women MORE

Xerox's next CEO: Ursula Burns

by Jessica Shambora

Yesterday on Postcards we wrote about an historic event: Xerox (XRX) CEO Anne Mulcahy announced she will pass the baton to president Ursula Burns on the first of July in the first ever woman-to-woman transfer of the CEO role in the Fortune 500. Burns will also be the first African-American female to lead a company on the list. (Click here for a 2006 Fortune profile of Burns.)

While Fortune, MORE