"You won't become a general unless you become a good first lieutenant."
-- Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and retired four-star general, in the Best Advice issue of Fortune, now on newsstands. This "barracks wisdom," Powell says, was passed down from the old reserve captains to the young infantry officers at Fort Benning in the form of a fable: A young officer asked a general what it took to MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jun 30, 2009 5:52 PM ET
On Friday I told you about Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer's riff on Bing and Yahoo. I asked him: How much market share do you need to gain in search to not need to do a deal with Yahoo (YHOO)? Ballmer called my question "back-handed" and went on to give a really interesting answer. Check out the video or my Friday Postcard if you missed the Microsoft boss's take on MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 30, 2009 2:07 PM ET
Billy Mays was here at Fortune in early April, after a story about the pitchman appeared in the magazine. (The writer, Brian O'Keefe, penned this tribute to Mays today.) I sat in on the session and took away a few nuggets of wisdom from the guy who earned his fame pitching OxiClean stain remover ("Powered by the air you breathe!") and ImpactGel in-soles ("It's like walking on a cloud of MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jun 29, 2009 7:49 PM ET
"I left a legacy of shame. It is something I will live with for the rest of my life."
-- Bernie Madoff at his sentencing in a Manhattan courtroom today. He received 150 years in prison. According to Fortune's Nick Varchaver, who was at the sentencing, Madoff explained his crime the same way he did when he pleaded guilty in March: ""I couldn't accept the fact that, for once in my MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jun 29, 2009 6:40 PM ET
I had breakfast today with some extraordinary college students -- all women, all majoring in the sciences. That alone makes them extraordinary. After all, women constitute 46% of the U.S. workforce today. But women hold only 26% of the jobs in engineering science and technology. Fewer than 10% of American engineers are women.
The young women whom I met this morning are trying to change that, and we're cheering them on. MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 29, 2009 2:27 PM ET
"Right now, nothing is more important than a nimble, agile leader, who is comfortable with ambiguity and figuring it out as they go along."
--Avon (AVP) President Liz Smith, in a discussion led by Pattie Sellers at NYU today. The panel, which also included Cece Sutton, Morgan Stanley's (MS) new retail banking president, was hosted by Forte Foundation. (To view video of the dialogue, click here.)
Smith and Sutton, both on Fortune's MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jun 26, 2009 6:54 PM ET
by Patricia Sellers
As speculation ever swirls about Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT) joining forces to give Google (GOOG) a better run for its money in search, one party in the on-and-off negotiations has been notably evasive this week. "If we ever have a deal with Microsoft, it will be announced publicly and until we do, we have nothing to say," declared Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz at the company's shareholders meeting MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 26, 2009 3:50 PM ET
"All content consumed will be digital...social...and interactive."
- Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer, predicting the death of print yesterday at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. After Ballmer, in a talk to 1,000 or so ad and media folks, floated this prediction about the world within 10 years, I interviewed him on stage. Stay tuned to Postcards these next few days. I'll share some of what the always boisterous Ballmer said, about Bing MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 25, 2009 8:30 PM ET
By Jessica Shambora
We struck a nerve yesterday. Our post about a study on consumer perceptions and use of generic drugs ignited a firestorm of comments.
That firestorm came from all directions. Some readers attacked Big Pharma. Others blasted the generic manufacturers. Some commenters hit both.
Dan from Hiram, Maine said, "After drug companies obscenely cranked up drug prices over the past 5 years, a generic drug at 30-50% price reduction is still vastly MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jun 25, 2009 5:38 PM ET
"I believe, this is my own marketing philosophy, that you degrade your brand value if you're saying, this is not worth but half. At some point people go, 'I guess it's not really worth what they charge.' "
-- Rick Hendrie, senior vice president for marketing at Uno Chicago Grill, in Wednesday's New York Times. Uno Chicago Grill, currently offering a $9.99 pizza meal deal, is embroiled in a discount showdown with MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jun 24, 2009 6:15 PM ET
For the latest on the most influential women in business, philanthropy, government, and the arts, like us on Facebook. 
In a funny and candid interview, Google VP Marissa Mayer explains how she got to the top. Watch
Xerox CEO Ursula Burns shares how she once accepted a job with Dell but ended up staying with Xerox. Watch
Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). Since its launch in 1998, Pattie has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" cover package.
A specialist at dissecting larger-than-life personalities, she has also profiled former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack, and countless CEOs.
Pattie co-chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big brand companies.
In Pattie's blog, Postcards, she provides insight into the lives of super-achievers through commentary, career advice, and Guest Posts by CEOs and other leaders.
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Fortune Most Powerful Women
Sheryl Sandberg:
Gina Bianchini
