I'm a black lady from the Lower East Side of New York. Not a lot intimidates me. Ursula Burns blackeastintimidate Change image and share on social
I'm less concerned about whether being a good corporate citizen burnishes a company's reputation. That's just an added benefit. I believe it's a responsibility, and there is no negotiating on responsibilities. Ursula Burns addbenefitburnish share on social
I went to an all-girls Catholic high school. The three things that they focused on were reading, writing, and arithmetic. My goodness, this is a novel idea in this modern society. I was really good at all three of these things. I was particularly good at math. Ursula Burns arithmeticcatholicfocus share on social
My mother was amazing. I guess, in our community, if you wanted to get by you had to work hard. So she cleaned offices. She did everything that you could imagine. We were really poor. But she would say, 'Where you are is not who you are.' Ursula Burns amazecleancommunity share on social
CEOs resign when the internal dynamics of the company and the external dynamics of the company actually come together to say it is appropriate. When the internal dynamics ask you whether you have a replacement. I think the transition from CEOships have also become cartoonish. Ursula Burns cartoonishceoceoships share on social
I realized I was more convincing to myself and to the people who were listening when I actually said what I thought, versus what I thought people wanted to hear me say. Ursula Burns convincehearlisten Change image and share on social
My perspective comes in part from being a New York black lady, in part from being an engineer. I know I'm smart and have opinions worth being heard. Ursula Burns blackengineerhear Change image and share on social
The world is full of opportunities - every day there's something new that you can do. For example, you could make dirty water potable. Why does anyone not have potable water? Because it's a problem that hasn't been solved yet, but it can be. Ursula Burns daydirtyfull share on social
Race and gender definitely came up, occasionally, in my life at work. But the bigger challenge that I had was age. I took roles earlier in my career than people expected, and so a lot of what I got was, 'Do you actually know enough to do this?' Ursula Burns agebigcareer share on social
Fresh out of college, you tend to join a company because it's a job. But, you tend to stay because it becomes a career; you start to feel at home. In the beginning of your career, you're focused on you: 'I like this place because I'm doing rewarding work; they take good care of me; the people are nice; there's runway for me,' etc. Ursula Burns begincarecareer share on social