Postcards
Power Point: Be agile in uncertain times
June 26, 2009: 6:54 PM ET"Right now, nothing is more important than a nimble, agile leader, who is comfortable with ambiguity and figuring it out as they go along."
--Avon (AVP) President Liz Smith, in a discussion led by Pattie Sellers at NYU today. The panel, which also included Cece Sutton, Morgan Stanley's (MS) new retail banking president, was hosted by Forte Foundation. (To view video of the dialogue, click here.)
Smith and Sutton, both on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list, talked about how the global recession has altered what they seek in the talent they recruit. Smith values flexibility and a certain comfort with not knowing what tomorrow will bring--because more than ever, who can predict? Management, she said, has become "less strategic planning than scenario planning: 'If this, then what?'"
It's also more important than ever to be "completely transparent in order to take your people along on the journey," Smith said. Sutton agreed, adding: "People who are successful now are great operators: Know the business and be in the weeds." --Jessica Shambora
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Power Point: Opt for risk over inaction
"The price of inaction is much higher than the price of making a mistake."
-- Meg Whitman, who was CEO of eBay (EBAY) from 1998 until she retired this past March. Whitman said this at the 1999 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit while speaking on a panel about the future of the Internet with Morgan Stanley (MS) tech analyst Mary Meeker and Joy Covey, then CFO of Amazon.com (AMZN). The panel MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Oct 1, 2008 8:26 PM ETPosted in: Amazon, AMZN, CEO, CEOs, eBay, Facebook, FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Summit, FORTUNE MPWomen, Joy Covey, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, management, Mary Meeker, Meg Whitman, Morgan Stanley, Most Powerful Women, Most Powerful Women Summit, MPWomen, MS, Postcards, Power Point, Sheryl Sandberg, technology -
Most Powerful Women: The list about the list!
We've spent the last three months slicing and dicing the accomplishments and career histories of the most powerful women in business -- far too many facts and figures to fit into our Most Powerful Women package in the magazine. Here are 10 intriguing facts that we couldn't find space for in print:
Youngest woman to ever appear on the list: Marissa Mayer, VP of Search and User Experience at Google (GOOG). MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Sep 30, 2008 12:11 PM ETPosted in: Andrea Jung, Anne Mulcahy, Avon, AVP, Brenda Barnes, Carol Meyrowitz, CEO, CEOs, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, CS, DD, Diane Greene, DuPont, Ellen Kullman, Erin Callan, Fortune Most Powerful Women list, FORTUNE MPWomen, Google, Harpo, Heidi Miller, Indra Nooyi, Irene Rosenfeld, JPM, JPMorgan Chase, Katie Benner, KFT, Kraft, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, LEH, Lehman Brothers, Marissa Mayer, Meredith Whitney, Morgan Stanley, mp, MPWomen, MPWomen list, MS, Oppenheimer, Oprah, Oracle, PEP, Pepsi, PepsiCo, Postcards, Proct, Safra Catz, Sallie Krawcheck, Sara Lee, SLE, Susan Arnold, Susan Chambers, TJX, Ursula Burns, VMW, VMWare, Wal-Mart, Xerox, Zoe Cruz
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Fortune Most Powerful Women
Sheryl Sandberg:
Gina Bianchini
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
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
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.
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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.
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