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Recent Press Releases (U.S. and international) for magazine issues and staff changes may be found below. Please note that for many issues there exists only a highlights sheet, while for others there may also be a full press release. The cover of FORTUNE's current issue is pictured at right. Please contact the appropriate communications staff member with any questions.
Highlights of the October 2, 2006 Issue of FORTUNE
SPECIAL REPORT: MANAGING ON THE EDGE, by Geoffrey Colvin, page 76
The greatest challenge of our era? Get companies to change quickly enough to survive a world that's crazier and riskier than ever. Bill Ford finally joined the club just before Labor Day weekend. That's when he became that latest chief executive of a giant corporation to cop publicly to the most fundamental and alarming of business problems: His business model doesn't work anymore. The pressure on CEOs and boards is palpable—and executive turnover is on the rise. Managing amid the chaos has become the central problem for companies of every kind. It is a predicament that arises from the very nature of today's economy. And the solution requires a retraining not of skills but of mindset and assumptions. The biggest challenge has less to do with corporate strategy or management structures than with the nature of human beings and our instinctive reactions to change.
ALSO: RETHINK YOUR BUSINESS: Business models live shorter lives these days, but there are ways to get comfortable with chaos. A sampler: • Tough Talk : Force a conversation on how the company will have to operate differently to be successful two years from now. • Yellow Flags : Pay close attention to what your sharpest, most mobile customers are doing. • Remodel Early : Start changing your business model when you're most successful. • Abandon Yesterday : Maintaining what no longer works draws your most valuable resources away from your No. 1 job, creating tomorrow. • A New, Improved Story Line : Explain the company's changes within a larger context.
PLUS: FORD'S NEW MODEL, by Alex Taylor III, page 80 Does CEO Alan Mulally have a prayer of reviving the troubled automaker? Not if he can't master the strange and combative culture at Ford, which has consumed high-level outsiders in the past .
COVER STORY : CHAOS AT GOOGLE, by Adam Lashinsky, page 86 Spend just a few minutes on Google 's sprawling campus in Mountain View , Calif. , and you'll feel it right away: This is a company thriving on the edge. Google, age 8, is pulling in $10 billion a year in revenue and is worth about $125 billion, but the vibe is far more freshman mixer than profit-seeking firm. It's a place where failure coexists with triumph, in a way few outsiders appreciate and insiders don't seem to mind. “I want to run a company where we are moving too quickly and doing too much, not being too cautious and doing too little,” said Google's co-founder Larry Page. “If we don't have any of these mistakes, we're just not taking enough risk.” They have even hired a former consultant who's title might as well be Chief Chaos Officer. The inside story of disorder, disarray, and uncertainty at Google. Any why it's all part of the plan (they hope).
RAHM EMANUEL: PIT BULL POLITICIAN, by Nina Easton, page 102 In this issue, FORTUNE's new Washington , D.C. bureau chief, Nina Easton, introduces you to Representative Rahm Emanuel, who until now, has refused to cooperate for profiles. Emanuel, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is applying rugged business discipline to the Democratic Party's historic effort to wrest control of the U.S. House from the Republicans. Along the way Emanuel has widened his core of admirers—and made powerful enemies. During a July interview with Easton , Emanuel obliquely suggests that Howard Dean is nearly as big an obstacle as Karl Rove to a Democratic win . “Everyone is pulling their weight,” he says, with the implication that Dean—whose DNC has $11 million in cash, compared with the RNC at $43 million—is the exception. “Eleven of our challengers have nearly, or more than, a million dollars cash on hand. In 2004 it was zero. Zero. ” He shoots the last word out like a golden fireworks spray, letting it settle for effect before continuing. “I have no problem with building for the long term. But I don't know another way to win when the other side has $40 million. They got a cavalry. We need a cavalry.” If Emanuel does succeed in returning House Democrats to power for the first time in 12 years, it's a safe bet that this onetime investment banker will vault up the House leadership ranks and eventually be in a position to bid for the Speaker's title that Chicagoans once hoped would be held by their legendary Dan Rostenkowski. Hillary Clinton may or may not become the party's presidential nominee. Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi may or may not remain the GOP's favorite tetherballs. But Emanuel—now only 47 years old and in a safe district—is fast emerging as a new force in the Democratic Party. ALSO: CAN A TEAM PLAYER RESCUE THE REPUBLICANS? To fend off the Democrats' charge, House leader John Boehner stresses unity.
“ THIS IS OUR MONA LISA”, by Tyler Green, page 118 Ronald Lauder's acquisition of Klmit's “Adele” was the most expensive known purchase of a single work of art. But w ith “Adele,” Lauder and the Neue Galerie are making a grand gamble: Can a splashy, nearly unimaginable art acquisition turn an obscure museum into a must see destination? Can a single painting—even a $135 million one—lift a museum to prominence? ALSO: Five other paintings that changed museums. Museums that want to raise theirprofiles usually commission distinctive buildings. But great paintings can do the trick too.THE KIDS WHO SCAMMED WALL STREET , by Barney Gimbel, page 130Jeff Pajcin and Gene Plotkin, who met working at Goldman Sachs, allegedly ran the most brazen insider trading ring in years. They tried every trick in the book: stealing advance copies of Business Week , getting tips on deals from inside Merrill Lynch, training strippers to wheedle secrets out of bankers. Now the two friends will face off in court— against each other. P lotkin, who sat down with FORTUNE for his only interview to date , downplays his relationship with Pajcin. “We sat kind of close together in the back of the room,” Plotkin says of their meeting at a training session at Goldman. Now the two, along with 15 others, have been sued by the SEC for insider trading. Plotkin, Pajcin, and four others have also been indicted on federal criminal charges of insider trading and conspiracy. Plotkin maintains his innocence. Pajcin has pleaded guilty and is helping the government try to convict his friend. DepartmentsFIRST: Lessons of HP The tech giant's board games are more than just a fun tabloid saga: five salient lessons we can learn from Hewlett-Packard's adventures in identity theft. Take My Satellites—Please Why News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch is suddenly eager to deal DirectTV to old nemesis John Malone at Liberty Media. On the Radar Nasdaq's dance with the London Stock Exchange…Coal-fired controversy for TXU…Caution: Vonage selling ahead. IKEA's Push Into Groceries The Swedish furniture retailer moves beyond meatballs and lingonberries. DISPATCHES: The New Fuel Thing Test-driving GM's fuel cell “car of the future.” Field of Greens India is undergoing a second agricultural revolution. Crocophile Every so often a hideous shoe becomes a marketing phenomenon. But fashionistas can take heart: It will probably end in tears. COLUMNISTS: Media Bubble Viral marketing is an epidemic, but can it ever be a real business? Street Life The gusher paradox: A new oil discovery is great for drillers—but may be bad for us. Brainstorm Is GDP as a measure of economic health still useful? INVESTING: China 's Stock Boom The smart way to cash in on a red-hot economy. The China 100 Ranking the largest businesses. Spotlight: UnitedHealth Scandal dims a shining reputation. BUSINESS LIFE: London Calling: Fall Fashions The latest styles from Savile Row are anything but stodgy. Will they fly at work? Gadgets A new crop of ten-megapixel digital cameras gives serious amateurs reason to smile.
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