{"id":199,"date":"2017-11-20T10:25:39","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T15:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/?p=199"},"modified":"2026-03-12T15:47:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T19:47:48","slug":"leaders-on-leadership-jeff-jacobson-bs-81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/2017\/11\/20\/leaders-on-leadership-jeff-jacobson-bs-81\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaders on Leadership: Jeff Jacobson, BS \u201981"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Xerox CEO discusses company culture, leadership and family values<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Jeff Jacobson, BS \u201981, CEO of Xerox<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every year, we print 50 trillion pages \u2014 with Xerox<\/a> and CEO Jeff Jacobson<\/a>, BS \u201981, standing at the forefront of the document technology and digital printing industry. Since taking the helm in January, Jacobson has overseen the company\u2019s largest product launch in its 111-year-history. He\u2019s driving Xerox through a strategic transformation and investing in new technologies, including direct-to-object printing, smart labels and printed electronics.<\/p>\n

Before Xerox, Jacobson served in executive roles at Presstek and Eastman Kodak Co.\u2019s Graphic Communications Group. Along the way, he developed a leadership style that values and creates leaders at all levels of an organization. At Xerox, he\u2019s even instituted a reverse mentorship program that pairs top-level executives with millennials, so they can learn from one another and the execs can stay current with trends and technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeaders should be cheerleaders with substance. What knowledge can we impart that others don\u2019t already have?\u201d he said during the Leaders on Leadership Speakers Series, hosted by the UB School of Management\u2019s Center for Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness on Nov. 9.<\/p>\n

Read on for an excerpt of Jacobson\u2019s wide-ranging conversation with Brandon Glasgow, a second-year MBA in the School of Management.<\/p>\n

BG: How do you create a culture of leadership within Xerox?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JJ: Company culture is all about leadership, and that\u2019s not just from the CEO or my direct reports. In fact, I tell them, \u201cIf the only leaders in this company are the top 11 people on the organizational chart, we\u2019re in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peer leadership is the most powerful type of leadership you can have. When I really want something done, I can send it from my office and know people will do it. But instead, I\u2019ll call leaders in our field organizations or research-and-development centers, ask for their help sharing the message and get their buy-in. That\u2019s the best way to do it because then there\u2019s this groundswell of support.<\/p>\n

What tools do you use to communicate with or motivate your 35,000 employees?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gwen Appelbaum<\/a> told me, \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anybody respond to an email as fast as you.\u201d That\u2019s part of it: Being responsive and leading from the front. People will only follow someone if they believe in who they are as a person.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, I\u2019m a conductor. My job is to look out at the orchestra, make sure I have the best people for their parts and make sure we\u2019re all playing together to create that symphony.<\/p>\n

When I became CEO, I sent a Xerox pin to every employee and asked them to wear it. I usually wear mine on my breast pocket because I want them to keep it close to their heart and remember: They are Xerox. Xerox is not just a brand name; all 35,000 of us make up Xerox and touch the customer in some way<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>What motivates you as a leader?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For me, it\u2019s fear. Fear can imperil you, or it can motivate you to get up in the morning.<\/p>\n

And, winning motivates me. I would not have been able to go to college without UB\u2019s low tuition costs, and in my neighborhood, we all came from those same means. I didn\u2019t know what money was, and that was a good thing because now money doesn\u2019t motivate me \u2014 winning does.<\/p>\n

But the greatest thing that motivates me is that I\u2019m responsible for 35,000 people, whose lives depend on paying their mortgage, their rent, their children\u2019s education. That\u2019s what drives me.<\/p>\n

What is the best advice you\u2019ve received on leadership?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my era, the greatest leader is Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric. In his first book, Straight from the Gut<\/em>, he said, \u201cI might not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but I’m pretty good at getting most of the other bulbs to light up.\u201d<\/p>\n

I received an industry award in 2003, when I was with Kodak Polychrome Graphics. Before the event, I was fixing my son\u2019s tie, and he said, \u201cDaddy, how many people are at your company?\u201d And I said, \u201c4,000.\u201d \u201cDoes that mean you\u2019re the smartest out of 4,000 people?!\u201d I said, \u201cNot even close, Mike.\u201d Leadership is about helping people get to places they\u2019d never get to alone.<\/p>\n

What are the most significant challenges CEOs face today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The greatest challenge for all companies is encouraging people to not be risk averse. How do you encourage people to truly play to win? I always say: Provided you don\u2019t bankrupt the company on a bad decision, we\u2019ll be stronger company if you get up, swing the bat 10 times and miss a few, than if you\u2019re perfect, one-for-one. There\u2019s the phrase \u201cparalysis through analysis\u201d \u2014 we can\u2019t afford that.<\/p>\n

What advice can you give students who want to be future CEOs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Play the long game. Money will always be there. We\u2019ve been married 32 years, and I don\u2019t think I made what I\u2019d call decent money until we\u2019d been married about 13 years. For my first six, seven years of marriage, I worked a second job.<\/p>\n

I also never thought I\u2019d have an operating career. After graduating from law school, I was going to practice labor and employment law with a firm. When I resigned, the chairman of my company, who was five levels above me, came down to my office and said, \u201cI think you\u2019re making a huge mistake.\u201d He asked me to give him one year \u2014 and take a position up in Canada. My wife \u2014 who had just put up with four years of law school, three hours of sleep and never seeing each other \u2014 was behind me. So, another great lesson is, if you\u2019re going to be successful, it\u2019s a lot easier if you have the right partner. Irene has encouraged me every step of the way.<\/p>\n

Do you give your kids leadership advice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll tell you a story: When Irene had a significant birthday a couple years ago, my son, who\u2019s 24, stood up and made a toast. He said, \u201cThank you for always doing it for me, not doing it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a lesson I took into business. I love to be around people, so it was hard for me to tell people the truth when they weren\u2019t doing a good job. You have to have those conversations in a constructive way, in the same tone of voice we\u2019re speaking and \u2014 very important \u2014 you can\u2019t let them leave your office until you\u2019re sure they\u2019re OK. It\u2019s OK for them to lick their wounds for a bit, but don\u2019t let them leave despondent; tell them, \u201cI\u2019m doing this for you, not to you,\u201d and follow up the next day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year, we print 50 trillion pages \u2014 with Xerox and CEO Jeff Jacobson, BS \u201981, standing at the forefront of the document technology and digital printing industry. Since taking the helm in January, Jacobson has overseen the company\u2019s largest product launch in its 111-year-history. Continue reading Leaders on Leadership: Jeff Jacobson, BS \u201981<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115,3],"tags":[44,4,45],"class_list":["post-199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-speakers","category-leadership","tag-alumni","tag-leadership","tag-xerox"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1116,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions\/1116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/school-of-management-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}