Equanimity has
been the hallmark of Tosh Barron's life, one filled with precipitous
moments and tests of character that might have overwhelmed a lesser
person. From her quiet, comfortable office at Xerox Corporation
headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, where she serves as corporate
vice president of business operations support, the plucky British
expatriate recounts her "life's ups and downs," as she puts it, with
humor and grace.
One of Barron's first setbacks came in the late 1960s, when she arrived in the United States as a young modern dancer from England only to discover that early-stage arthritis would prevent her from pursuing an artistic career. Barron put away her leotards and applied to HBS, thinking she might have a future in arts administration. "I was lucky that the School had the imagination to admit me," she laughs.
But a stint as an associate with McKinsey & Co. on a rural development project in Tanzania between her first and second years at HBS changed her life completely. Professionally, the excitement of the business challenges she tackled showed her that "arts administration wouldn't be creative enough," she says. On the personal front, she met two people whose lives would become inextricably linked with her own: HBS classmate Thomas C. Barron, whom she would later marry, and a Tanzanian woman named Rukia Hamisi, who would become an important friend.
Hired by McKinsey after graduation from HBS, Barron worked as a consultant for six years before joining Xerox as manager of multinational projects in 1979. Six years later, fate intervened again. Practically en route to the hospital to deliver her long-awaited first child, she received a telephone call: Rukia had been diagnosed with cancer and was requesting that the Barrons adopt her two sons in the event of her death. Eight months later, Rukia did indeed die, and Barron suddenly found herself the mother of three children - "two instant teenagers and a baby!" she says.
Despite the rigors of raising a new family that was also multicultural (with Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish roots), Barron continued to rise through the ranks of the Xerox Corporation, earning kudos in 1993 as a Business Week "Executive to Watch." Three years ago, she was named president of Xerox engineering systems.
But a string of personal events occurring in the last few years - among them, the death of her mother and of a close friend, and the serious illness of both her father and her husband - led Barron to opt for her current, scaled-down position at Xerox supporting the executive vice president of business operations. "While I dreadfully miss the people and the pace of my old job," she says, "having time to really think is a wonderful luxury."
One of the things Barron spends more time thinking about these days is her family, which is clearly the pride of her life. Kilandigalu, her eldest son, pursued American studies at Georgetown University, while Jamil attended Stanford and this fall entered the University of Rochester Medical School. Her "baby" is now eleven years old. "I want to spend more time with him as he enters his teenage years," she says.
At ease in a new office personalized with artwork from her beloved Tanzania, Barron ponders her future with characteristic calm. "Things just have a way of sorting themselves out," she smiles. "I don't dwell on the past. There is always so much more to learn. I even see the possibility of a fourth career ahead!"
by Nancy O. Perry
