Postcards

Power Point: Lose the cats

"Advertisers have made it clear that they want a safe environment unpolluted by videos of cats on skateboards."

-- Jeff Zucker, CEO of General Electric's (GE) NBC Universal, in the New York Times. On Thursday ABC, owned by Disney (DIS), announced that it would begin showing its programs on Hulu.com, a joint venture established by NBC and News Corporation's (NWS.A) Fox. The move further casts the video site as the home MORE

Flexibility: the key to survival

Is it just me, or does the shrinking, staggering, self-flagellating Republican party seem a little like the big old corporations that are toppling into insolvency?

The GOP -- having lost Senator Arlen Specter to the Democrats yesterday -- and Chrysler, which filed for bankruptcy this morning, both seem to be institutions undone by their own rigidity. They, as well as Fortune 500 giants such as General Motors (GM) and Sears (SHLD) MORE

Power Point: Grow the tribe

"Being a Republican moderate sometimes feels like being a cast member of "Survivor" — you are presented with multiple challenges, and you often get the distinct feeling that you're no longer welcome in the tribe."

-- Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine in an Op-Ed piece in today's New York Times, referring to Senator Arlen Specter's flight to the Democratic party. Snowe's passionate argument is that her party could have avoided MORE

Global mentoring program kicks off in DC

I'm on the run in Washington, following meetings at the White House yesterday and a spectacular "Most Powerful Women Evening With..." dinner that Fortune hosted on Monday night in the Benjamin Franklin Room at the State Department. We had eight U.S. Senators with us--including our speakers, Senators Barbara Boxer of California and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas--and scores of women leaders, a touch of royalty (HM Queen Noor, who is MORE

Power Point: Find support to do what you want

"In every culture we care too much about what others think. That's what the women's movement was about, creating a community that allows you to articulate what you want. But you will always face the challenges of others' expectations."

--Anne-Marie Slaughter, director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department during a gathering on Monday. Slaughter and several other women leaders from the State Department met with 32 rising stars from MORE

Recruiting for scandal-scarred corporate America

By Stephanie Mehta, Fortune assistant managing editor

I caught up this week with a former boss, John J. Keller, who just joined recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International as a senior client partner from rival Spencer Stuart. There, he recruited Dan Hesse to become CEO of Sprint (S) and Ed Mueller to become chief executive of Qwest (Q), among others.

For all his accomplishments as a recruiter, John will always be a recovering journalist: He MORE

One secret of J&J's success: Diversify within a single industry

by Jessica Shambora

For this year's Fortune 500 issue, senior writer Geoff Colvin and I had the chance to look inside one of the list's most enduring performers: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). The New Brunswick, N.J.-based health care giant is notoriously media shy, but in the midst of the economic doom and gloom, the company decided it was time to tell its 123-year story of success. What a story that is. MORE

Power Point: Greed is back

"Like everything on Wall Street, they're starting to sin again."

- Brad Hintz, financial-services industry analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein, in a front-page Sunday New York Times story about executive pay at the big banks.  Paychecks and bonuses are ballooning again. They're on track to match 2007 levels, before the market meltdown began. Crisis, what crisis?

Signs of spring

We took a day off! After producing three issues of Fortune back to back -- three in three weeks -- Andy Serwer gave us a free Friday. (Thank you, boss!)

What a day to be out of the office. Perfect sunny, blue-sky day in New York, temp in the mid-70s. I had a lunch scheduled and decided not to cancel it.

I'm glad I didn't. It was a fun and fascinating lunch with Hannah Burns, MORE

Power point: Fund the future

"If you fail to fund the future, all you'll be left with is a really lean company trying to churn old ideas into new business."

--Xerox (XRX) CEO Anne Mulcahy in the Fortune 500 issue, out this week. In a piece authored by Mulcahy she tells readers not to cut back on innovation: "In the cost-cutting discussions we're having right now – and there are many – I remind my team MORE