Whenever an earthquake or tsunami takes thousands of innocent lives, a shocked world talks of little else. I'll never forget the wrenching days I spent in Haiti last year for Save the Children just weeks after the earthquake.

If we could muster the same determination and sense of responsibility that saves a country like Japan – or a company like Xerox – then investing to save women and children who are dying in the developing world would be very good business.

People ask my mother whether she had any idea that I’d be CEO of a company some day, and she would say, ‘Absolutely not. Totally out of the realm of possibility.’ There was certainly nothing that would have been very predictable in my upbringing.

My dad was an editor and a writer, and that’s actually what I aspired to be.

Most of my career has been in sales. I spend 50% or more of my time with customers and employees, and I can’t wait for it to be more than 50%.

I’m at the gym at 6, so I’m usually in my office by 7:15. And I try to not schedule a lot of meetings before 8. So I’ve got that first hour to get myself organized for the day and to make sure that I’ve structured what I want to do.

We’re long past having to defend or explain why women should be on boards, given all the data that shows how companies with female as well as male directors perform better. It’s unfortunate when companies with a large percentage of women constituents don’t reflect that in their boardrooms.

Boards without women – blacklist those suckers. It’s 2011. They’ve had the time – it’s significant that they don’t have women.

If you’re a global company you are going to have jobs overseas. The reality is if we start taxing those jobs at a rate that makes them noncompetitive in those markets, the reality is that we’re going to lose business.

By the time I stepped down as Xerox’s CEO in 2009 – and as chairman in January 2010 – Xerox had become the vibrant, profitable and revitalized company that it still is today. What made the difference was a strong turnaround plan, dedicated people and a firm commitment from company leaders.