施乐(Xerox)董事长(上图右一)，首席执行长Ursula Burns在比弗利威尔希尔酒店（Beverly Wilshire）近500受邀嘉宾面前接受UCLA安德森商学院颁发的2015年约翰伍登（John Wooden）全球领导力奖。
在联谊会期间，大屏幕上播放了一段采访视频。视频里，第八届该项年度奖项获得者Burns讲述了她单亲的贫民窟女孩的卑微出身以及2009年被邀请去管理一个她三十年前作为实习生进入的公司的艰辛经历。
院长Judy Olian(上图左一)在介绍Burns时，将她的贡献和标杆性与伍登教练相提并论。Wooden主要受到他父亲的影响，Burns则从她的母亲那里获得善谏和操守标准。“我相信Wooden教练应该会认可今年的获奖者，”Olian说，“Ursula的母亲让她和她的兄弟姐妹明白你的出身不能决定你的未来。
Burns在台上接受Maggie Wilderotter的采访。Maggie Wilderotter是美国边疆通信公司的董事长兼CEO，是施乐集团和其他私人、非盈利组织的股东。作为Burns的“大老板”，Wilderotter助她坐上了施乐掌舵人的位置，她最清楚Burns的能力和她给公司带来的变化。Wilderotter问及她的榜样是谁，Burns笑着看着她的老板说：“这是给我机会拍马屁呀。”Wilderotter停顿了一下说：“好啊，尽管说吧”直到笑声归于平静，Burns才认真地回答道：“Maggie总是能设法使人发挥自己最大的才能。”
Burns讲述了她的早期教育，解释道，年轻时候的她真没有前辈可以点拨她。作为一个数学成绩优异的学生，她进入一个天主教女子高中，之后进入男生占据的工程学院。
“后来我找到了我敬佩的榜样，他们中有的人行事与我完全不同，有些则是与我的做事方式特别相似，”Burns说。她说作为领袖的最重要的一个品质就是真实。“你必须在工作中展现真我”她说。Burns的前任老板Anne Mulcahy让她摒弃大公司所谓的真理“别让员工看到你流汗（劳作）”。“你的手下需要知道你和他们关心着一样的问题”Burns说。
Burns告诉Wilderotter，遇到要做决定的时候，“我很少会回到自己的办公室一个人分析。你有那些可以给你谏言的人，你可以信任这些人。这样的情况让我能够做出好的决定。我的大部分时间都用在确保我和团队能真正地融为一体。不是所有的公司都能很好地开展团队活动，因为他们没有真正地融为一个团队。”
她说，领导就需要冒险。举例来说，Burns决定花64亿美元收购业务流程外包公司Affiliated Computer Service就是一次冒险或是“将自身置在危机边缘”。她说，“比这更简单点的事就只有呆在离家近的地方和复印两件事了。”
谈及施乐的未来，Burns说：“交情很重要，关系也很重要。在你前进的时候，做任何决定你都要思考你的合作伙伴是否站在你身边，不论祸福。我们是要寻求长期发展的。我们有最优秀的团队，不可能比这更好的团队。我们会一直在你身边，而这就是一个公司需要的东西。”
Wooden教练的女儿Nan对Burns表达了祝贺，此外还有亚瑞投资公司（Ariel Investments）董事长Mellody Hobson，过去几届伍登领导力奖获得者，其中包括美国运通(Amercian Express)董事长兼执行长Ken Chenault和百事可乐的Indra Nooyi。
“我十分敬佩你在工作上的成就，我很自豪能有你这么一个好友”Nooyi 说。Chenault赞扬Burns的品格：“她非常务实，总是鼓舞他人”他观察到“她既能接受现状，又敢于挑战”
带着真诚的祝贺，院长Olian称Burns是“世界CEO中永恒的摇滚巨星。”
周二的颁奖礼还包括了两位对Wooden教练知之甚多的运动员对他的致辞。Ann Meyers Drysdale是奥运银牌获得者，还是大学女子篮球的开创性人物，曾带领UCLA获得1978年的AIAW国家冠军。她说道：“他的门永远都是打开的。他是老师，他也是如此看待自己的。每一天，他争取变得更好，认真对待每一个人。”
NBA冠军Keith Erickson是Wooden教练1964、1965年获得头两个NCAA冠军的球队中的一员。Erickson回忆道，教练上课总是从穿上袜子等这些小事开始。这个前运动健将说道：“如果你能将小事都做好，你最终就能做好大事。”
Xerox chairman and CEO Ursula Burns received the 2015 John Wooden Global Leadership Award from the UCLA Anderson School of Management Tuesday before an audience of nearly 500 invited guests gathered at the Beverly Wilshire.
In a video interview screened during the gala event, Burns, the eighth recipient of this annual award, described her humble beginnings as the child of a single mother in a New York City housing project — and the humbling experience in 2009 of being invited to lead the company she joined as an intern 30 years earlier.
Dean Judy Olian introduced Burns by comparing her values and life’s inspirations with Coach Wooden’s. Where Wooden was singularly influenced by his father, Burns looked to her mother for the wisest advice and most upstanding example. “I’m sure Coach would have approved of this year’s recipient,” said Olian. “Ursula’s mother reminded her and her siblings that where you are is not who you are.”
Burns was interviewed on stage by Maggie Wilderotter, executive chairman of Frontier Communications, who serves on the boards of Xerox Corporation and other private and nonprofit organizations. As Burns’ “boss,” Wilderotter helped select Burns for the Xerox helm and is in the best position to know how capably she has led and transformed the company. Wilderotter asked her about her role models, prompting Burns to grin at her boss and say, “This is the ultimate kiss-up.” Wilderotter paused and then quipped, “All right, bring it on.” After the laughter died down, Burns replied seriously, “Maggie can always find a way to build a bridge between what people can do best.”
Burns also delved into her early education, explaining that when she was young she really had no industry role models that looked like her or embodied her experiences. A star math student, she attended an all-girls’ Catholic school and later went to an all-male engineering school.
“I found role models in people I admired because they did things so differently from the way I did, or who did things a lot like I did,” Burns said. She said the most important quality of leadership is authenticity. “You have to bring your whole self to work,” she said. It was Anne Mulcahy, Burns’ boss before Wilderotter, who steered Burns away from the “Don’t let them see you sweat” ethos of big business. “Your team needs to know you’re concerned about the same things they are,” Burns said.
Burns told Wilderotter that when making decisions, “Very rarely do I go back to my office and do analysis. You have people who are credible speaking to you, people you can trust. These things make it possible for me to make good decisions. Most of my time is spent making sure we can all fit together as a team. Not all companies work well together, because they don’t have the right fit.”
Risk is a reality in leadership, she said. Burns led the $6.4 billion purchase of the business process outsourcing company Affiliated Computer Services, an example of taking chances or “leaning over the edge,” as she put it. “The simpler thing would have been to stay close to home and stick with photocopying,” she said.
On the future of Xerox, Burns said, “History matters and relationships matter. Making a decision as you go forward, you need to think about whether the person you partner with will be there for you … for good or for bad. We are here for the long term. We have the best people to do what we do. You can’t get a better team of people on your side. We will be with you from the beginning to the end, and that’s what you need as a company.”
Coach Wooden’s daughter Nan also expressed congratulations, as did Ariel Investments president Mellody Hobson and several past Wooden award honorees, including CEO and chairman of American Express Ken Chenault and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo.
“As much as I admire you on a professional level, I am proud to call you a close personal friend,” Nooyi said. Chenault praised Burns’ character: “She is pragmatic and she also inspires,” he said, observing her “willingness to take on the status quo and make tough calls.”
In the spirit of candid congratulations, Dean Olian called Burns “a perennial rock star in the world of CEOs.”
Tuesday’s awards ceremony also included tributes to Coach Wooden by two athletes who knew him well. Ann Meyers Drysdale, a U.S. Olympic silver medalist and a pioneer of collegiate women’s basketball who led UCLA to the AIAW national championship in 1978, said, “His door was always open. He was a teacher; that’s how he looked at himself. He wanted to be a better person every day and treat people with respect.”
NBA champion Keith Erickson played on Coach Wooden’s first two NCAA Championship teams in 1964 and ’65. Coach started with a team lesson in putting on socks, of all things, Erickson recalled. “If you do the little things right, they turn into good big things,” the former athlete said.
