Anne Mulcahy: How my 'dead-end' HR job made me a better CEO

In the 1990s and early noughties the perception that future business leaders did not ‘waste their time’ in HR was more prevalent than it is now.  

However, Anne Mulcahy, former VP HR (1996 to 1997) and CEO (2001 to 2009) of Xerox, has cited her time in the function as essential to her progression to Chief Executive.

In an interview with Forbes, Mulcahy said this of her first senior leadership role at firm: “The position was historically under-rated and bureaucratic—and, frankly, that reputation was earned.”

She also said her friends had warned her about the “corporate dead-end.”