Postcards
Former Sara Lee CEO on her stunning recovery
December 21, 2012: 9:38 AM ETAt the height of her career, Brenda Barnes famously quit her big job at Pepsi to be with her kids. Years later, a massive stroke nearly killed her--and her daughter returned the favor.
Ever since I interviewed former Sara Lee (HSH) CEO Brenda Barnes and her daughter, Erin, at this year's Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, people have been urging me to publish the video of our on-stage conversation.
I'm happy to share this exclusive interview here, during the holidays, because Brenda and Erin offer wise advice about where we super-strivers should place our priorities.
Brenda Barnes was the most powerful woman in the consumer packaged-goods industry in the '90s when she quit her senior post at PepsiCo (PEP) to go home to her family. She famously sparked the having-it-all debate--and went on to raise three great kids. Then she became a role model for dropping out and coming back successfully. She did it by joining a slew of prominent boards--Avon (AVP), the New York Times (NYT), Sears (SHLD), Starwood Hotels (HOT), and Lucasfilm, now part of Walt Disney (DIS). Stacking up that board experience, Barnes attracted the favor of recruiters and snagged the top job at Sara Lee, which she led for five years until 2010.
This was when a massive stroke ended Barnes' corporate career. And it could have ended her life. But something amazing happened. Barnes' daughter Erin, who had been nine years old when her mom quit the Pepsi job for her, graduated from Notre Dame the very week her mother had her stroke. Erin decided to quit the job she had lined up at Campbell Soup (CPB) so she could help her mom recover. Barnes came back to life beyond anyone's expectations. Together, Brenda and Erin redefined power and success.
You can read my exclusive story, The Rehabilitation of Brenda Barnes. And over this holiday season, cheers to our families and everyone who is there for us when we really need them.
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The rehabilitation of Brenda Barnes
The former CEO of Sara Lee was one of the most powerful women in business before she suffered a stroke that curtailed her career - but gave her a life.
FORTUNE -- In May 2010, Sara Lee CEO Brenda Barnes was at a Tuesday-night training session at a gym in suburban Chicago. She stepped away from the bench press, dragged her left foot, and collapsed to the floor. She couldn't get MORE
Patricia Sellers - Sep 24, 2012 5:00 AM ET -
Sara Lee CEO Barnes' letter about her stroke
Brenda Barnes, who suffered a stroke in May, is permanently stepping down from her CEO role at Sara Lee (SLE).
Today's announcement resolves part of the deep mystery that has swirled around Barnes' recovery and Sara Lee's future. As for the latter, the board has begun a search for a new CEO -- and reportedly retained Egon Zehnder International to lead it, though the company hasn't confirmed the recruiter's identity. As MORE
Patricia Sellers - Aug 9, 2010 3:52 PM ETPosted in: Brenda Barnes, CEOs, consumer goods, FORTUNE MPWomen, Personal Power, Postcards, Sara Lee -
Sara Lee CEO Brenda Barnes recovering from a stroke
Sara Lee CEO Brenda Barnes delivered the news herself this morning: "I suffered a stroke a few weeks ago, and I am now in the process of recuperating," she said in a statement released by the company.
The news is shocking, not just because Barnes is only 56 years old. She has always looked and seemed younger than her years. And while she always has taken her job seriously, she has MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 14, 2010 3:33 PM ET -
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 -
Power Point: Actively manage your career
"My advice to young people is set your own course, do great work, actively manage your career to meet your personal ambitions, and make the tradeoffs that are right for you. Remember that no one will care about your career more than you."
- Brenda Barnes, chairman and CEO of Sara Lee (SLE), told me this in an email on Monday, as we prepared to send Fortune's Most Powerful Women in MORE
Patricia Sellers - Sep 23, 2008 12:11 AM ETPosted in: Brenda Barnes, CEOs, consumer goods, FORTUNE MPWomen, Most Powerful Women, Personal Power, Postcards, Power Point, Sara Lee -
Power Point: Reach deep for the truth
"You need the truth to make the right decision. So what I've done is always go three, four, five layers deep in an organization. Get people comfortable talking to you."
- Brenda Barnes, chairman and CEO of Sara Lee (SLE), which announced a $695 million fourth-quarter loss this morning. Annual revenues rose 10% to $13.2 billion, but Sara Lee got hit by writeoffs and rocketing wheat prices in the latest quarter. MORE
Patricia Sellers - Aug 7, 2008 11:33 AM ET -
How to be a Fortune Most Powerful Woman: Step 4
Here's the fourth and final criterion for making the Fortune Most Powerful Women List: social and cultural influence. It's certainly more difficult to measure than revenues or profits, the health of a business, or even the arc of a woman leader's career. But vast social and cultural influence is precisely why Oprah Winfrey ranks No. 8 on our list. Her company, Harpo, is privately held and nowhere near the size MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jul 17, 2008 12:03 PM ET
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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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