By Patricia Sellers
A lot of dazzling stats came out of the Global Forum -- the Fortune/Time/CNN's confab that was held these past few days in Cape Town, South Africa. Africa's GDP growth rate is double what it was in the '80s and '90s. That healthy growth is well-balanced -- two-thirds of it comes from outside the resource sector. Meanwhile, consumer buying power is rising steadily: Africa has more middle class MORE
Fortune - Jun 29, 2010 1:30 PM ET
By Patricia Sellers
You've probably heard of inclusive capitalism. That's the call for companies, in all their decision-making, to consider what's good for society.
Photo: Asa Mathat
There's also creative capitalism. That's Bill Gates' rallying cry for a new economic system where, as he said in a 2007 speech at Harvard, "market forces work better for the poor."
Now Neville Isdell, the former CEO of Coca-Cola (KO), is floating another name for MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 28, 2010 11:02 AM ET
By Patricia Sellers
Power comes any way you can get it. Says Graca Michel, the only woman in the world who has been married to two country presidents: "My weakness is, I'm attracted to strong people -- people who challenge me. People who are better than myself."
Photo: Asa Mathat
For the former First Lady twice over, whom I interviewed at a Fortune Most Powerful Women breakfast at the Global Forum in Cape Town, MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 28, 2010 8:41 AM ET
by Jessica Shambora
Yesterday morning a group of 22 college women gathered at the Time & Life building in New York City for breakfast. Not surprisingly, they were abuzz with chatter. But the topic du jour wasn't the next Twilight film, or the latest reality show gossip. What got these women going at such an early hour? Math and science.
"I don't get to talk about science with other girls very often," MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jun 23, 2010 11:34 AM ET
by Patricia Sellers
I constantly remind myself how lucky I am, as an editor at large at Fortune, to meet amazing people pretty much every day.
Yesterday I arrived in South Africa. It's my first visit here, and it's beautiful. Later this week, I'll be in Cape Town with Bill Clinton, Katie Couric , Charlie Rose, former Viacom (VIAB), CEO Tom Freston, former Coca-Cola (KO) CEO Neville Isdell and such stars of MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 22, 2010 3:11 PM ET
Last week, two former CEOs who once topped Fortune's Most Powerful Women list won hotly contested California primaries. Carly Fiorina, ex-Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) now battles Democrat Barbara Boxer for her U.S. Senate seat, while Meg Whitman, who built eBay (EBAY), faces off against Jerry Brown for a chance to rebuild the teetering Golden State. Fiorina's and Whitman's wins signify the Year of the Woman, as many say, but the rise of MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 17, 2010 10:48 AM ET
by Patricia Sellers
You thought that peer pressure ended in high school?
Not so. This is the method that Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates are using to challenge America's billionaires.
This morning, Fortune broke the story that Buffett and the Gateses (MSFT) are calling on the other wealthiest in the land to give half of their personal net worth to charity. "The biggest fundraising drive in history" is what my colleague, MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 16, 2010 2:01 PM ET
Sara Lee CEO Brenda Barnes delivered the news herself this morning: "I suffered a stroke a few weeks ago, and I am now in the process of recuperating," she said in a statement released by the company.
The news is shocking, not just because Barnes is only 56 years old. She has always looked and seemed younger than her years. And while she always has taken her job seriously, she has MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 14, 2010 3:33 PM ET
Startup fever is in the air.
Well, it was this morning, at least, when too many people packed too small a room in Manhattan's Soho to hear women entrepreneurs and other experts talk about launching businesses.
Most at the breakfast were young (Next to me: a poised twentysomething who told me, first thing, that she works for a big health care company and "I want to quit my job.")
The best advice came MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 11, 2010 12:24 PM ET
by Patricia Sellers
Today, two former No. 1's on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list will learn whether they have big new careers ahead -- in politics.
One is Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay (EBAY), who looks likely to win the Republican nomination for Governor. And then she'll go head to head against Democrat Jerry Brown, who has seen and done it all in California (including served as Governor). The other is MORE Patricia Sellers - Jun 8, 2010 10:52 AM 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
