ESCAPING MIDDLE-MANAGEMENT HELL
Have You Outgrown Your Job?, by Anne Fisher, page 46A generation of younger workers can’t get ahead—because the boomers above them won’t budge. Twenty-, thirty-, and even forty-something managers are in trouble. Fifteen-hour days have become the norm. Unthethering oneself from one’s BlackBerry is, in many fields, considered high treason. All this might not be so terrible if that big promotion—the one that catapults an up-and-comer out of middle-management hell and into the senior ranks-were around the corner. But increasingly, younger workers are finding that no matter how many hours they put in or how much their bosses rave about their work, they’re just plain stuck. An entire generation is bumping against something no amount of youthful vigor can match. Call it the Gray Ceiling. One 36-year-old finance manger states: “I’m under so much pressure here, but the rewards just aren’t coming. I have to get out.”

AND…FORTUNE tells you how to break through The Gray Ceiling.
Look for growth
Go abroad
Downsize
Get a mentor
Find a mess to fix
Run your own show

COVER STORY
The Long, Strange Resurrection of New Orleans: A surreal tale of mismanagement, incompetence, political cowardice...and rebirth, by Charles C. Mann, page 86
FORTUNE has a proud, 76-year tradition of extraordinary in-depth reporting on the biggest social and political issues. For this 17-page special report, we sent best-selling author Charles C. Mann, to the city more than seven months ago, and invited him to take all the time he needed to immerse himself in the bizarre start-and-stop New Orleans recovery efforts and lay bare this amazing saga of ineptitude and hope. Now, one year after Hurricane Katrina, FORTUNE tells the story of a ravaged and dysfunctional city that's finally clawing its way back—little thanks to city hall, the state house, or the White House. “I struggled to understand this calamity and its aftermath,” says Mann, author of 1491. And he succeeded.

Intel’s Worst Nightmare, by Roger Parloff, page 60
The top lawyer for AMD, the No. 2 Microprocessor maker in the world, says his company has been the victim of unfair tactics at the hands of an unscrupulous monopoly. So Tom McCoy is striking back with an epic antitrust lawsuit designed to be Intel’s worst nightmare. “Our customers were telling us,” says McCoy, “ ‘The only thing that prevents us from buying more technology from you is the fact that we don’t think we can withstand the punishment Intel will put on us…”
ALSO…How AMD Made it a Fight, by David Kirkpatrick, page 64 Better chips and an expanded product line put its longtime archenemy on the defensive.

The Colvin Interview: Talking Shop With a Marketing Master, page 73Best Buy’s CMO, Michael Linton, and FORTUNE’s Geoffrey Colvin explore the joys, challenges, and opportunities of reaching customers in a fragmented age. “We have two streams of fire: ready, aim, fire, which is the marketing we know. The other is ‘ready, fire, aim.’ That is, things we don’t know but we believe we have to at least try so we stay current and fresh and new in the marketplace,” says Linton. ALSO…The View From the Top of Circuit City…a Q&A with CEO Phil Schoonover.

Departments
FIRST Barbarians at the Top Flush with cash, private-equity firms are going on a spending spree. The deals are huge and the money keeps pouring in. Odds are it won’t end well. 60-Second Briefing Why Nielsen has the networks quaking. Patent Review Goes Social The problem: shoddy patents. The solution: Wikipedia? On the Radar Grasso goes to trial, a big test for Carlos Ghosn and Nissan, and why Target’s numbers matter so much. Big “WoW” Vivendi gets an unexpected boost from videogame World of Warcraft. Question Authority Arianna Huffington, queen of blogs, talks about her brand and the ’08 race for president. How I Work Cisco’s John Chambers—“a voice person”—videotapes messages for employees. DISPATCHES Can AOL Keep Pace? After four let’s-fix-this-puppy plans in as many years, the old dial-up service is still searching for traction. The latest idea: Be free. COLUMNISTS Media Bubble Music lesson: A maverick manager asks, Who needs record companies? Brainstorm The ethanol boom is starting to cut into the world’s grain supply. Street Life Tom O’Malley still finds easy money in oil. INVESTING Yahoo Hangs Tough CEO Terry Semel details his plan for battling the likes of Google, YouTube, and MySpace. Bonds on Steroids Star fixed-income fund manager Dan Fuss has topped the stock market over the past 15 years. BUSINESS LIFE Grapes of Math Can high-tech tools help make better wine? Some Silicon Valley refugees think so. We put them to the test. Gadgets A great new tool for backyard astronomers; a better iPod in your auto.

 

For further information please contact:
Susan Brown Williams
212-522-0133
susan_williams@timeinc.com

Phil DiIanni
212-522-6282
phil_diianni@timeinc.com

 

 

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