Meg Whitman's first report card as CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) comes this afternoon when the company announces fourth-quarter earnings.
In the 60 days since she took the job, Whitman has settled on a strategy (keep HP in the PC business), worked to raise employee morale (terrible after three CEO ousters), and lifted the stock (up 12% since her appointment). But the former eBay (EBAY) chief, who lost her race for governor of California a year ago, has an enormous challenge ahead in reviving America's largest technology company.
"There is a bit of post-traumatic stress syndrome in the organization," she admitted at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit early last month, just days after she began the HP job. In a candid interview with Nina Easton, Fortune's Washington editor, Whitman compared HP to California--surprisingly, almost the same size by several key measures. But Whitman feels a lot more comfortable in one realm than the other, as she told us at the Summit.
Click here for the full transcript of the interview with Whitman at the MPW Summit.
Google's Dan Cross in Afghanistan Credit: U.S. Marine Corps
Veteran's Day is an ideal time to hear from one of those rare folks who combine corporate and military careers. Dan Cross, a software engineer at Google (GOOG) and a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps, took a leave to serve active duty in Afghanistan, came home a year ago, and brought back lessons that he couldn't have learned in MORE
Patricia Sellers - Nov 11, 2011 10:09 AM ET
Photo: John Hausner
I knew Lise Buyer when she was a hotshot technology analyst at Credit Suisse (CS) in the late 1990s, during the first Internet bubble. Since quitting Wall Street in 2000 to become a venture capitalist, Buyer has been low-profile--but she's active in the world of startups. She now runs Class V Group, guiding IPO-bound companies. I asked Buyer if she'd share her advice on Postcards. Today, the MORE
Patricia Sellers - Nov 3, 2011 12:43 PM ET
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has become the go-to adviser for aspiring young women in business. Her view, which she expressed in an on-stage interview with me at the recent Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit: "Women don't take enough risks. Men are just 'foot on the gas pedal,'" she said, adding, "We're not going to close the achievement gap until we close the ambition gap."
Indeed, Sandberg's own career path--from the U.S. MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 28, 2011 10:04 AM ET
Photo by Asa Mathat
Ginni Rometty is the next CEO of IBM, the company announced this afternoon.
With that news comes a stunning stat: America's two largest tech companies will be headed by women.
Meg Whitman, who built eBay (EBAY), became CEO of Hewlett-Packard last month.
H-P (HPQ) is No. 11 on the Fortune 500. IBM (IBM) is No. 18.
Both women spoke at the recent Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit. Rometty's main message MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 25, 2011 5:41 PM ET
I met Steve Jobs only once--back in 2007 when he came to Fortune to demo the iPhone. What a thrill when he walked into the conference room and took the empty chair next to mine. Over the next 90 minutes, the Apple (AAPL) founder and chief mesmerized Fortune's editors by previewing his game-changing product and his insanely creative mind at work.
That day, I saw proof, up close and personal, that MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 12, 2011 12:57 PM ET
Now that Sony (SNE) has optioned Walter Isaacson's soon-to-be-released biography of Steve Jobs, we're wondering who should play the late great Apple (AAPL) founder and chief on the big screen.
Noah Wyle played Jobs in TNT'S Pirates of Silicon Valley, and in fact, I visited that movie set back in 1998 and wrote this Fortune story about it. And last week, Wyle riffed to Fortune about the apprehension he felt MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 11, 2011 2:29 PM ET
While Steve Jobs' greatest legacy is Apple (AAPL), many people forget that the bulk of his wealth comes from Walt Disney (DIS), where he was the largest shareholder and an incomparable influence on how to delight and entertain kids.
"He did things because they were fun and cool," moviemaker George Lucas told me this morning, summing up Jobs' magic formula. Jobs' journey into the entertainment business began with Lucas, who sold him a MORE
Patricia Sellers - Oct 6, 2011 3:33 PM ET
Mark Zuckerberg has upped the ante in his dietary adventure. As we reported last May on Fortune.com, the Facebook CEO pledged that this year "the only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself." He started out by slaughtering a pig, goat and chicken. Now the Silicon Valley billionaire has expanded his menu. Zuckerberg has learned to hunt, according to people close to him. He got a hunting license MORE
Patricia Sellers - Sep 27, 2011 1:26 PM ET
"The Man Who Couldn't Speak," about Intel executive Sean Maloney, is one of the most rewarding stories I've done in my 27 years at Fortune. I met an amazing man, got to know an extraordinary family, and came to understand the heroic feat of recovering from a stroke.
I didn't have enough space in the current issue to tell the full story of this man who had beaten the odds already MORE
Patricia Sellers - Sep 26, 2011 1:55 PM ET
For the latest on the most influential women in business, philanthropy, government, and the arts, like us on Facebook. 
In a funny and candid interview, Google VP Marissa Mayer explains how she got to the top. Watch
Xerox CEO Ursula Burns shares how she once accepted a job with Dell but ended up staying with Xerox. Watch
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.
.
Fortune Most Powerful Women
Sheryl Sandberg:
Gina Bianchini
