Ursula Burns Quotes

I do not want to be a long-term CEO.

I'm in a different position than most CEO's. I'm a founder. I'm not a hired CEO. Now, I can be fired by the board, but most CEO's are hired by the board.

Abby Johnson has agreed to become Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity, reflecting a further step forward in our leadership succession plan. Abby will retain her role of President, and I will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board.

CEOs can stay too long.

There is a difference between hiring a CEO and turning over control of the business.

The industry has to learn how to do CEO succession well. If your definition of success is Intel or Microsoft or HP or IBM, that's not a good track record, and yet they are the most successful ones.

In business, sometimes you have to change the CEO in order to change the direction of the company.

I think every responsible public board at every board meeting should be discussing succession. And, of course, Walmart has a very mature board: our chairman Rob Walton and other members. So succession is an ongoing. I think when I first joined the board of directors, it was discussed then. And it's discussed at every board meeting continually.

I'm the C.E.O., nominated by the shareholders. If they're not happy, I have to take the consequences.

The executive moves we are announcing today will strengthen American for the long-term future and reflect well on the depth of the Company's management team.

The question was, in a sense, at Princeton Review, how much value was I adding as a public company CEO. I was adding less than other people might've... I think you want to move on when you've given your best work and then feel that you're not going to add as much value moving forward.

On Friday I was in Washington for a meeting with Administration officials. In the course of that meeting, they requested that I 'step aside' as CEO of GM, and so I have.

I'm going to continue doing my thing and work my butt off to add value for shareholders and as long as they and the board see fit to keep me in this role, I feel enormously privileged to serve.

Being a CEO still means sitting across the table from big institutional investors and showing your leadership and having them believe in you.

I find myself using the word 'executives' now.

I think there's few cases in history where the C.E.O. steps down and is also the founder and reports to someone and that works.

When I took over the family business, it had already been a publicly traded company for 20 years. During one of the first annual meetings I attended, one shareholder stood up and advised me and everyone in attendance that I should resign.

Deciding whether or not to bring in an outside CEO is one of the most gut-wrenching decisions that a founder will ever need to make.

It's very easy to criticize the CEO of the market leader.

I've always been of the view that two-term presidency rule is a pretty good one and CEOs shouldn't overstay their welcome.

I am fully supportive of the strategy and leadership team at Valeant.

It's my experience at Fiat and, now, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles that when there is a very strong CEO, it's a good thing to be chairman.

I am the CEO of HCL Corporation, and, of course, a large part of my time does get spent in HCL Corporation, whether it is in actively managing our investments or perhaps even the governance and accountability and really seeing the strategic direction forward for HCL Corporation.

Too often, companies focus on systems and structures that facilitate cultural change at the mid-management level, overlooking problems closer to the top.

When we look at really good high-performing companies abroad, they are always at the back of an extremely high-performing board, and that is something which is very lacking in this country.