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Xerox And The Vision Quest

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Xerox and the Vision Quest Com 665 Travis Rondeau Central Michigan University 2015 In the early 1990’s, the Xerox company leadership implemented Native American leadership practices in order to improve the company’s culture and gain competitive advantage. One of these practices was the vision quest. These vision quests gave time for employees to be creative and think of ways to redesign Xerox products. This retreat centered on Native American customs of belonging and working as a group. Each community has its collective memory of past events and its common knowledge of the behavior of people within that immediate history. Over decades of community life, a leader emerges as the community recognizes in his or her continual activities a sense of consistency, commitment to the community, and wise decision-making" (Carr-Ruffino, 2014, p. 303). The Xerox vision quests allowed for the employees to leave the workplace, become a community, focus on process improvement and lead the company in a better direction. The vision quest, while not a sanctioned religious activity, boasts a strong affiliation to its Native American roots and merely the name can easily draw a religious connotation. Mission Statement Xerox has a rich heritage based on customer-focused and employee-centered values. These components help the organization to deliver both profitability and growth. The mission statement for Xerox is, “ To become change agents and innovators - using

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