Frances Hesselbein's life in leadership

• The "tipping point" in Ford's turnaround

  by Patricia Sellers

  The best bosses tend to be those who welcome bad news -- "Hit me with your best shot!" -- and keep hope alive.

  That balance is at the heart of the remarkable turnaround at Ford (F). Last week at the Yale CEO Summit, a gathering of corporate chiefs and other influentials led by Yale professor Jeff Sonnenfeld, Ford Americas President Mark Fields told a story that conveys how Ford MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Dec 20, 2010 12:32 PM ET
  Posted in: Alan Mulally, CEOs, Ford, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, Mark Fields, MBA, Netflix, Postcards, Reed Hastings, Yale CEO SUmmit

• The man who became Fortune's Businessperson of the Year

  by Patricia Sellers

  I have to admit that even among Fortune staffers, most of us predicted that Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs or Ford's (F) turnaround chief, Alan Mulally, would be selected as the magazine's Businessperson of the Year.

  What a surprise that No. 1 on the list is Reed Hastings, the founder, chairman and CEO of Netflix.

  Hastings is a great choice, actually. The 50-person ranking is about 2010's top movers and MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Nov 19, 2010 12:37 PM ET
  Posted in: Alan Mulally, Apple, CEOs, Ford, Netflix, Postcards, Reed Hastings, retail, Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs, technology

• Bill Ford and the Fortune 500 connect with entrepreneurs

  By Patricia Sellers

  At Ernst & Young's Strategic Growth Forum in Palm Desert, California, I'm with 1,700 entrepreneurs, investors and other business folks who, you would think, would prefer to schmooze with celebs like Google's (GOOG) Sergey Brin, Amazon.com's (AMZN) Jeff Bezos or other tech icons. It's odd that the Masters of the Industrial Universe are the stars here, sharing business and career lessons.

  At dinner Tuesday night, I sat with two MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Nov 11, 2010 10:16 AM ET
  Posted in: Alan Mulally, auto industry, Bill Ford, CEOs, Ernst & Young, Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum, Ford, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, Postcards

• Power Point: See opportunity, not fear

  "The future of transportation will be a blend of things like Zipcar, public transportation, and private car ownership. Not only do I not fear that, but I think it's a great opportunity for us to participate in the changing nature of car ownership."

  -- Bill Ford, Ford's (F) executive chairman, in the "The Best New Idea in Business," Fortune's cover story about Zipcar. Writer Paul Keegan tells how the nine-year-old car-sharing service MORE

  Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Aug 31, 2009 6:37 PM ET
  Posted in: auto industry, Ford, Postcards, Power Point, zipcar

• A vacation you can't refuse

  By Jessica Shambora

  It's Christmas week, always a quiet time at workplaces across the country. But this holiday is anything but typical. The quiet will stretch way beyond Christmas at many offices and factories this year.

  No surprise, the Big Three automakers are temporarily shutting North American plants, in numbers correlating to their varying degrees of peril. Chrysler closed all 30 of its plants for a month. General Motors (GM) followed suit MORE

  Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Dec 22, 2008 3:27 PM ET
  Posted in: auto industry, autos, break, Christmas, Chrysler, Cisco, Dell, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, holiday, management, Nokia, Postcards, shutdown, Silicon Valley, time off, Toyota, vacation, Whirlpool

• Power Point: Sacrifice and hang on

  "You think I would have gone through what I did the last two months if I didn't want to stay?"

  -- General Motors (GM) chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, reiterating today that he's determined to keep his job. In exchange for a $13.4 billion rescue package (which will come from the government's $700 bllion TARP fund aimed at banks and Wall Street firms), executives at GM and Chrysler agreed to limits MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Dec 19, 2008 6:39 PM ET
  Posted in: auto industry, autos, bailout, Chrysler, F, Ford, General Motors, GM, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, management, Postcards, Power Point, Rick Wagoner, Washington

• Power Point: Prepare for the inevitable

  "We have a chance of being hung with a softer rope."

  -- Denny Fitzpatrick, chairman of the California New Car Dealers Association, in the New York Times today.  A government bailout of the Detroit automakers looks increasingly likely, but that's not necessarily good news for Fitzpatrick, a Chevrolet-Hummer dealer, and his brethren. The big three -- General Motors (GM) , Ford (F) , and Chrysler -- have told Congress that they MORE

  Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Dec 9, 2008 5:20 PM ET
  Posted in: auto industry, autos, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, politics, Postcards, Power Point, Washington

• Where will the bailouts end?

  As the government commits more and more money to its multitudinous rescue efforts--of Bear Stearns, then AIG (AIG), then Citigroup (C) and its bank rivals, then Citigroup again, and now more money for Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE)--we wonder: Where, oh where, will these bailouts end? In Detroit, with General Motors (GM), Ford (F)and Chrysler securing their desperately needed billions? Alas, the road to shore up capitalism will MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Nov 26, 2008 2:01 PM ET
  Posted in: AIG, auto industry, bailout, banks, Bear Stearns, Byron Wein, Chrysler, Citigroup, fannie mae, Ford, freddie mac, General Motors, GM, investing, management, Morgan Sanley, Pequot, Postcards, stock market, technology, telecom, unemployment, Wall Street, Washington

• Power Point: Do it better next time

  "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."

  -- Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor (F). If only Mr. Ford could see this day when his company's stock has sunk to $1.26. That's a 26-year low. Ford's market cap is now a mere $2.9 billion.

  The leaders of the Big Three American automakers--Ford, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler--appeared on Capitol Hill again today to appeal for $25 billion MORE

  Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Nov 19, 2008 6:09 PM ET
  Posted in: auto industry, Chrysler, Dow, Ford, General Motors, mitt romney, politics, Postcards, Power Point, stock market, Washington