Postcards

How the power players do it - by Fortune senior editor at large Patricia Sellers

Power Point: Appreciate the journey

August 3, 2009: 6:56 PM ET

"If you spend your whole life focused on getting from here to there, then you won't enjoy the trip."

- Sallie Krawcheck, suggesting that her move to Bank of America (BAC), announced today, isn't about chasing the golden rung--the CEO job there--but rather about fulfilling a desire "to get back in the fray."  I've known Krawcheck, who had an unpleasant parting with Citigroup (C) last fall, for many years. And though I don't doubt her ambition to rise to the top level, I think she's more motivated to be a role model for her industry--in her case, managing investors' wealth--than to be a big-bank boss, which isn't very fun these days anyway. Who would want to be BofA CEO Ken Lewis, after all? The candidates are nevertheless lining up. For more on who they are and on Krawcheck's reemergence, read "Behind Sallie Krawcheck's move to BofA."

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About This Author
Pattie Sellers
Patricia Sellers
Senior Editor at Large, Fortune
Executive Director of MPW/Live Content, Time Inc.

Fortune senior editor at large Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Marissa Mayer: Ready to Rumble at Yahoo," "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), and "Remodeling Martha" (Martha Stewart). She has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" package every year since its launch in 1998. Pattie is Executive Director of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business and beyond. She oversees MPW programs that enable women leaders to extend their influence and empower the next generation—such as Fortune MPW Entrepreneurs and the Fortune-U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. Beyond her Fortune duties, she is also developing Live Content across Time Inc. Pattie grew up in Allentown, PA, graduated from the University of Virginia, and started at Fortune in 1984. Her blog, Postcards, is about how power players lead, manage others, and navigate their careers.

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