I'm an optimist. Always have been. So take with a grain of salt--or sugar, perhaps--these signs of hope across the board:
1. Maybe print isn't dead. My new Kindle 2 makes me think that even though we may not be reading magazines and newspapers on paper a decade or two from now, long-form stories and beautiful page design can endure. (My Monday Postcard, "Amazon: Thinking beyond the Kindle," stirred debate about whether Amazon's (AMZN) e-reader is worth the $359 price. I say: Yes. I'm saving a lot already on newspapers and books. My cost for Book 1 of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series: $6.04.)
2. E-books could help educate the world. On Tuesday, Marie-Josee Kravis, buyout king Henry's wife, stopped by with Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, who heads the Afghan Institute of Learning. Dr. Yacoobi has built dozens of education and health centers across Afghanistan and won this year's Kravis Prize for non-profit leadership. As we sat in my Fortune office, I downloaded a book in less than 60 seconds ("Buy The Lords of Finance," Kravis suggested. So I did). "That's amazing!" said a wide-eyed Dr. Yacoobi. And we sat there contemplating how one Kindle per school might help educate poor children the world over. Once, that is, Amazon gets Kindle functioning internationally.
3. Spring is here! It's gloomy in Manhattan today, but my Postcards colleague, Jessica Shambora, told me this morning that she saw yellow flowers sprouting in Central Park.
4. The fittest survive. Walking down Broadway to work today, I noticed the bright lights of Zara at 66th and Broadway. The hot Spain-based apparel retailer is replacing Circuit City--shuttered and bankrupt--which replaced Tower Records, another dinosaur. Retail evolution continues apace.
5. The bull is back. Who knows? But let's enjoy the biggest four-week rise in the Dow in more than 70 years.
6. There's life after being fired. Jim Donald, ousted early last year from his CEO perch at Starbucks (SBUX), is keeping plenty busy speaking, teaching, consulting, and more. His Guest Post, published Wednesday, has attracted more traffic than any other Guest Post we've run--except for Walter Stoiber's "The Great Depression, as I remember." My 91-year-old Uncle Walt's inspiring piece is Postcards' best-read Guest Post ever.
7. Jobs are out there. Read Jessica's "Here's where to find a job," posted yesterday.
8. Rock stars do good. Last night I spent a bit of time with the board of Bono's Product RED: Bobby Shriver, former Viacom (VIAB) CEO Tom Freston, Kleiner Perkins partner Juliet Flint, RED CEO Susan Smith Ellis, and the U2 frontman himself. Can I just tell you that Bono, beyond working hard to eradicate global poverty, is a genuinely nice guy? That nice-guy professionalism helps him attract VIP supporters--Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, to name two--and it also helps his rock-star longevity. Freston (who built MTV and is now working with Oprah as well as Bono) pointed out last night that the Beatles were together for less than a decade. U2 is 33 years old and as strong as ever.
9. New York baseball lives on. Tonight the Mets play their first game, against the Red Sox, at brand new Citi Field--naming rights acquired by Citigroup (C) before the big bank collapse. Tonight's even more historic first game: the Yankees vs. the Chicago Cubs to christen the new Yankee Stadium.
10. The weekend is finally here. Enjoy the games, get rest, and recover!
My Fortune colleague Geoff Colvin writes in our March 2 issue that a few companies--DuPont (DD) and Colgate-Palmolive (CL) and McDonald's (MCD), to name three--are working overtime to preserve their brand equity in this downturn. Instead of discounting, they are, in some cases, actually raising prices.
Another company loathe to cut prices: Starbucks (SBUX). As I've noted on Postcards, CEO Howard Schultz told me last year that the smartest decision he MORE
Patricia Sellers - Mar 3, 2009 2:31 PM ET
Since Tom Freston got blown out of Viacom (VIAB) - ousted by hard-to-please chairman Sumner Redstone in 2006 - he's been doing lots of things that other ex-CEOs wouldn't fathom getting into. Working with Oprah Winfrey and Bono. Making films in Afghanistan, where he once lived. Funding humanitarian projects in Kabul and southeast Asia too.
You can read about all this in my profile of Freston in the current issue of MORE
Patricia Sellers - Feb 11, 2009 1:43 PM ET
"Not that materialism is going to go away, but people are looking to be better global citizens and live their lives in better balance."
-- Former Viacom (VIA.B) CEO Tom Freston, who Pattie profiles in the new issue of Fortune. To Freston's point, he's now helping Oprah Winfrey develop her new cable TV network, OWN, and working with U2 frontman Bono on his global humanitarian efforts. Does Freston still get calls MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Feb 5, 2009 7:17 PM ET
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz needs less optimism and a stronger dose of reality in his brew.
Monday's fourth-quarter earnings report -- net income down 97% to $5.4 million on revenues of $2.5 billion, which were up 3% -- missed expectations. Same-store sales, down 8% in the United States and 7% globally, were worse than Wall Street predicted. Moreover, $170 million in restructuring costs to close 600 U.S. stores, as detailed by management MORE
Patricia Sellers - Nov 11, 2008 12:12 PM ET
I waited 45 minutes to vote this morning. A breeze, I guess, compared to those people standing in line for hours. At 8 a.m., I walked into my Starbucks on Manhattan's Upper West Side for a free tall brewed coffee -- the retailer's Election Day promotion -- and walked straight to the counter. No line. The store filled 20 minutes later. Obviously, Americans are running about one hour late today. MORE
Patricia Sellers - Nov 4, 2008 1:55 PM ET
Have you noticed that Starbucks' (SBUX) stock has popped up from its seven-year low? Last Monday the shares were trading below $10. Then they got a boost last Wednesday when CEO Howard Schultz noted that he saw a slight upturn in store traffic in October. The stock has outperformed the broader market rally and is now trading just below $13.
Another reason for the nascent recovery: A Starbucks promotion at Costco MORE
Patricia Sellers - Nov 3, 2008 3:24 PM ET
"How do you navigate through this? The key is to not make the short-term decision that would subordinate the equity of the brand."
- Starbucks (SBUX) CEO Howard Schultz yesterday, when I chatted with him in New Orleans. Here with 11,000 Starbucks managers--or "partners" as he calls his employees--he was preaching the dangers of discounting and the value of social responsibility, especially when employees as well as consumers are feeling down MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 30, 2008 4:29 PM ET
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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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