Postcards
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CEO apologies and other true confessions
'Tis the season for confessions. First comes denial -- every mortal's classic response in a crisis. But in times like these, any leader worth his or her lofty position and pay recognizes mistakes soon enough. True confession is the mark of a confident leader. So, what's your biggest mistake?
In the past week alone, we've noticed a positive trend: leaders fessing up. "GM has made mistakes in the past," General Motors MORE
Patricia Sellers - Dec 8, 2008 2:11 PM ETPosted in: airlines, apology, auto industry, banks, boards, Bob Rubin, CEOs, Citigroup, confessions, David Neeleman, Detroit, Failure, finance, FRank Rich, Frost/Nixon, General Motors, GM, Iraq, JBLU, JetBlue, Jim Collins, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, management, mistakes, politics, Postcards, Power Shift, Rick Wagoner, Saddam Hussein, Vikram Pandit, Wall Street, 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 ETPosted 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 ETPosted in: auto industry, Chrysler, Dow, Ford, General Motors, mitt romney, politics, Postcards, Power Point, stock market, Washington -
Wisdom of the ages
This morning I read about the Democrats' hush-hush plan to ease Senator Robert Byrd out of his powerful post as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Byrd is 90. What's most interesting here is who would inherit his job: Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. Inouye is 84.
Age is relative, as they say. We're living longer. Our minds stay stronger. And particularly these days, age may be an advantage.
Look around at who's MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Oct 29, 2008 3:00 PM ET -
Coopetition, frenemies and mergers in the making
This morning, I read about the potential merger of General Motors (GM) and Chrysler. Then I read about the benign rivalry of two divas of the blog world, Arianna Huffington and Tina Brown. Two stories that have nothing to do with each other? You would think. But actually, they do. They point to a new reality of the business world: Competition isn't what it used to be. Competition becomes coopetition. MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 27, 2008 5:14 PM ETPosted in: Ariana Huffington, Arianna Huffington, auto industry, banks, CEOs, Chrysler, Citigroup, Coke, consumer goods, Coopetition, Daily Beast, General Motors, GM, Goldman Sachs, Google, Hank Paulson, Huffington Post, Indra Nooyi, John Mack, Lloyd Blankfein, Martin Sorrell, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Muhtar Kent, Pepsi, Postcards, Roberto Goizueta, Roger Enrico, Silicon Valley, technology, Tina Brown, Vikram Pandit, WPP, Yahoo -
Corporate directors harder to find than ever
"Board searches are harder than ever. Ever!" The king of the Fortune 500 CEO headhunters, Tom Neff, said so over breakfast Wednesday morning at the Core Club in Manhattan.
Neff is U.S. chairman of Spencer Stuart, the firm that dominates the market for U.S. board searches. Spencer Stuart has recruited directors for giants like Wal-Mart (WMT), IBM (IBM), AIG (AIG), and General Motors (GM). In his spare time, Neff has conducted CEO MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jul 30, 2008 1:49 PM ET -
Power Point: Companies don't stumble; people do
"The companies acquired the usual encumbrances of success--among them arrogance and bureaucracy--and they devised new ways to fail as well. Or, precisely, their executives did. Companies don't stumble; people do. As Peter Drucker has said: 'Every failure is a failure of a manager.'"
-- Carol Loomis, Fortune senior editor at large, wrote this in a legendary 1993 cover story, "Dinosaurs?," about General Motors (GM), Sears (SHLD), and IBM (IBM). The article MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jul 3, 2008 2:26 PM ETPosted in: auto industry, Carol Loomis, CEOs, Eddie Lampert, Failure, General Motors, GM, IBM, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, management, Peter Drucker, Postcards, Power Point, Power Shift, Sears, Success -
GM vs. Toyota: The canoe race
Laura Seydel, Ted Turner's oldest daughter, typically barrages me with e-mails about environmental issues. But this morning, she sent a different kind: a "modern parable" about the fall of a great American car company. Have you read this story of the Japanese and American car giants squaring off in a canoe race? The story showed up on a few blogs last year. Now as General Motors (GM) stock trades around MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jul 3, 2008 11:46 AM ETPosted in: Alex Taynor, auto industry, canoe race, Ford, General Motors, GM, Laura Seydel, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, management, Postcards, Power Shift, Ted Turner, Toyota
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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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Every year Fortune and the U.S. State Department sponsor the Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership, which brings rising-star women from developing countries to the U.S. to work closely with participants of the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit - among them CEOs Andrea Jung of Avon, Ann Moore of Time Inc., and Ursula Burns of Xerox.
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