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• Author: Nelson, Marilyn Carson
• Position: LEADERSHIP

'That's not the real story'

From How We Lead Matters: Reflections on a Life of Leadership by Marilyn Carson Nelson with Deborah Cundy. Copyright 2008 by Marilyn Carson Nelson. Published by McGraw-Hill (www.mhprofessional.com).

WOMEN MBA STUDENTS ARE HUNGRY to see models of female leadership--there are still so few. To address this need, I agreed to host a leadership series at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota called "Inside the Boardroom" in which I interview a female leader one-on-one.

I was fortunate to have as a guest Anne Mulcahy, one of the most lauded CEOs in American business, and for good reason. She did what several others before her had failed to do--turn around the beleaguered and iconic Xerox.

Anne was disarmingly candid during the interview, sharing thoughts and concerns that most CEOs keep to themselves. She was a refreshingly rare example of business leadership.

In her new role, there was a lot to clean up. Anne recounted the story about the day she settled the SEC lawsuit against Xerox. As a result, the company hovered on bankruptcy. She knew the settlement would make the news the next day and had braced herself for the fallout, but she never imagined the extreme effort it would take to respond to the media...