Postcards

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

Top 10 quotes from Brainstorm Tech

July 28, 2009: 12:09 PM ET

by Patricia Sellers and Jessica Shambora

We took a break from posting our daily Power Point--Postcards' quote of the day--last week, but we collected more than a few good ones at Fortune Brainstorm Tech in Pasadena. Here are our 10 favorites,  from the mouths of media moguls, tech titans, Tweeters and more.

"It's not really my thing. I don't go to the dentist. I don't do things that cause me to emote." -- IAC (IAC) chairman and CEO Barry Diller, talking about why he's not on Twitter.

"We want to be like Ron Howard." - Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, noting that he doesn't want his two-year-old company to turn out like childhood actors "who grew up all freaky."

"I shut down a website everyday because I send too much traffic from my Twitter feed." - actor Ashton Kutcher, who has 2.9 million followers on Twitter.

"You can get so focused on expanding your current business model that innovation slows down." - eBay (EBAY) CEO John Donahoe, on how the e-commerce giant stumbled.

"You can't play catch up. The gig in the on-line world is how to capture new behaviors." -- News Corp. chief digital officer Jon Miller, on how he aims to revitalize MySpace, which has lost ground to Facebook.

"I've learned more about my daughters on their Facebook pages than I did while I was raising them." -- Walt Disney (DIS) CEO Bob Iger.

"I don't think I could get my wife to say that about me, so I don't think I could say that about a business partner." -- AT&T (T) CEO Randall Stephenson, on whether he's completely satisfied with his company's relationship with Apple (AAPL).

"[We're taking] what used to be a goofy gimmick [and turning] it into great platform for storytelling." -- Dreamworks (DWA) CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, on 3D technology.

"Real value in a world of infinite choice is someone making choices for you." -- NBC Entertainment (GE) co-chair Ben Silverman, four days before disclosing that he's leaving to partner with IAC's Barry Diller on a new venture.

"The Internet puts people like politicians out of business." Former Governor of Vermont and chairman of the Democratic National Party Howard Dean, explaining how new tools on the web like Twitter have disrupted the political game.

Did you notice something missing from this Power Point list? Women. We had some top women in tech with us at Brainstorm--Google's (GOOG) Marissa Mayer, Ning CEO Gina Bianchini, Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior--but guys dominated the stage and uttered the most provocative lines. Calling Carol Bartz! The Yahoo (YHOO) CEO, along with a tremendous lineup of leaders, will be with us at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit this coming September.

Fortune's Most Powerful Women
Fortune's Most Powerful Women For the latest on the most influential women in business, philanthropy, government, and the arts, like us on Facebook.
Guest Posts
Fortune Most Powerful Women Fortune Most Powerful Women The rolodex that redefined power
Profile in The Washington Post
Sheryl Sandberg: Sheryl Sandberg: Don't leave before you leave
COO of Facebook
Gina Bianchini Gina Bianchini The Steve Jobs route to building a startup
Founder of Ning and Mightybell
Video
CEO Marissa Mayer on God, family, and Yahoo In her first public interview since taking on the CEO gig at Yahoo, Marissa Mayer outlines her priorities both in and out of the company. Watch
Former Sara Lee CEO on her stunning recovery Brenda Barnes famously quit a big job to be with her kids. Years later, a massive stroke nearly killed her--and her daughter returned the favor. Watch
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.

Email Pattie Sellers | Welcome to Postcards.
Subscribe: RSS feed | email newsletter
MPWomen go Global

The Fortune/U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership brings rising-star women from countries around the world to the U.S. for three-week mentorships with participants of the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit - among them Ursula Burns of Xerox, Laura Lang of Time Inc., Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, and Tory Burch.

Read more

Current Issue
  • Give the gift of Fortune
  • Get the Fortune app
  • Subscribe
Powered by WordPress.com VIP.