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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.
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Highlights of the October 1, 2007 Issue of FORTUNE
SPECIAL REPORT: LEADERSHIP 2007 LEADER MACHINES, by Geoff Colvin, page 98 Of the many powerful forces driving companies to develop leaders more effectively, the most important is the world economy's long-term shift from dependence on financial capital toward human capital. Even given the credit crunch, money for investment is more abundant than ever. It isn't the scarce resource in business anymore; human ability is. Hewitt global-practices leader Robert Gandossy, who oversaw FORTUNE's Top Companies for Leaders study, says, "Organizations need talented people a lot more than talented people need organizations." Even if that weren't true, companies would still be beefing up leadership development for a more immediate reason: The best young employees are hungry. Running leadership programs can be expensive, but no CEO seems to doubt their value. You don't build leaders on the cheap, and you don't just bolt a development program onto existing HR procedures. Indeed, the biggest investment involved may be the time of the CEO and other executives. This is the business of building leaders and the young crop of talented grads is ready for it. FORTUNE details just how the champs are doing it. THE TOP COMPANIES FOR LEADERS, page 109 The corporate world has its work cut out for it. With commerce no longer bound by national borders, and competition for talent becoming increasingly fierce — and getting fiercer — companies are searching for fresh ways to inspire, nurture, and empower a new generation of global leaders. FORTUNE works with human resources consultants Hewitt Associates and the RBL Group to create a ranking of the world's companies that do the best job of developing strong leaders. The corporations that top the list are those that are finding creative ways to push employees by using real-life experience, or are tailoring classic methods — such as mentoring and lecturing — for a globally dispersed workforce. Over 550 companies around the world were surveyed to uncover the firms with the most effective leadership development practices. FORTUNE brings you the results from the study, which include the top 20 global companies, regional rankings from North America to Asia, insights into leadership training from the best firms, and tips from several exceptional leaders. BREAK FREE!, page 119 When compared with the momentous changes we've witnessed over the past half-century in technology, lifestyles, and geopolitics, the practice of management seems to have evolved at a snail's pace. While a suddenly resurrected 1960s-era CEO would undoubtedly be amazed by the flexibility of today's real-time supply chains and the ability to provide 24/7 customer service, he or she would find many of today's management rituals little changed from those that governed corporate life a generation or two ago. But could the practice of management change as radically over the first two or three decades of this century as it did during the early years of the 20th century? Gary Hamel, author of The Future of Management, believes so. Like many great inventions, management practices have a shelf life. In his new book, renowned management guru Hamel explains how to jettison the weak ones and embrace the ones that work. FORTUNE brings you excerpts from the book. MYSPACE STRIKES BACK, by David Kirkpatrick, page 128 If there's a consensus in technology, it's that the next big thing after Google is social networking. People of all sorts are joining this kind of website because you really can have more fun online — and sometimes even get more done — when you're doing it with others. Now there's starting to be real money in the business, as every major consumer advertiser realizes that if you can engage effectively with these newly networked hordes, they become agents of your brand. Last year MySpace was on the lips of every teenager. Now Facebook is growing faster, is usurping the buzz, and thus has Tom Anderson, president of MySpace, tied into knots. Though Facebook is gaining momentum, MySpace — Rupert Murdoch's social-network play — is the most trafficked website in the U.S.: It registered 45 billion page views in July, according to comScore Media Metrix. And it's getting stronger. Comparing MySpace and Facebook is inevitable because of their dominance in the business, but their differences are profound. FORTUNE details this fast-growing face-off. THE REAL MACQUARIE, by Bethany McLean, page 138 All around the world governments have been selling off infrastructure like toll roads, not necessarily because they want to but because they don't have a choice: They need the money. The same is true here in the U.S. Enter Australian firm Macquarie Bank. The "Macquarie model," as both believers and skeptics call it, is now spreading around the world. Macquarie has funds listed everywhere from the New York Stock Exchange to the Singapore exchange. In total, the firm now manages A$225 billion, roughly half of which is devoted specifically to infrastructure; in the past 17 months, a fresh A$34 billion poured into its coffers, almost 80% of which came from outside Australia. If the general public doesn't know the name "Macquarie" yet, Wall Street certainly does. Some 20% of its stock is owned by North American investors, including mutual fund giant Fidelity. U.S. pension funds such as the Illinois State Board of Investments are handing Macquarie money to manage. And powerful firms from AIG to Goldman Sachs are following in its footsteps. Macquarie has made infrastructure funds a smoking-hot investment class. But the way it finances its deals has short-sellers circling. FORTUNE reports on the affects of this trend. DECONSTRUCTING TIME WARNER, by Richard Siklos and Stephanie N. Mehta, page 153 It's no secret that Time Warner Chairman and Chief Executive Dick Parsons is getting ready to wrap up an eventful, nearly six-year stint running the planet's biggest media company, and that President Jeffrey Bewkes's era is near. But instead of celebrating Parsons' corporate stewardship, frustrated investors are grumbling that Time Warner (FORTUNE's parent) is today trading slightly below where it was when he took over in May 2002. Now, even before Bewkes has the top job, the stock's malaise has some wondering whether the 18-year company veteran, who was anointed as Parsons' likely successor two years ago, can really lead Time Warner's beleaguered shareholders to the promised land. Calls to break up Time Warner have ranged from a chorus to a low rumble but have never gone away. It's a safe assumption that Bewkes's ascension is secure. And there's little doubt that the hard-driving former head of the company's Home Box Office unit will attempt to remake the company in his own image: lean, energized, granularly focused on results, unsentimental, and slightly obsessive. It's far less sure that Time Warner in two years will look much the way it does today, a rambling collective of some of the world's best-known media brands in film, TV, and magazine businesses; the country's second-biggest cable-TV system; and that Rubik's Cube of big Internet companies, AOL. FORTUNE asks: Will Bewkes keep Time Warner together? Does he want to? A CONVERSATION WITH THE CHAIRMAN, page 162 Alan Greenspan's memoir, The Age of Turbulence, pulls back the curtain on the mysteries of the Fed, holding forth with his trademark wonky curiosity about statistics and the appreciation of human nature that he learned from author Ayn Rand. In an interview with FORTUNE Managing Editor Andy Serwer, the legendary Fed chief gives an up-to-the-minute diagnosis of the financial situation, his outlook on housing prices, a prescription for the coming Medicare crisis, and his take on the Bush administration's virtues and vices.
CAN SUSAN SCHWAB SAVE FREE TRADE?, by Nina Easton, page 172 Sue Schwab, President Bush's trade ambassador, is on a lonely crusade to fight the rising tide of protectionism. The stage is set for a titanic fight on Capitol Hill. The main targets of dispute are agreements with four countries — South Korea, Peru, Panama, and Columbia — that promise to open new markets for agriculture, machinery, financial services, and other industries. More important, the outcome will signal to the world the direction America plans to take in writing the rules for a globalizing economy that promises riches for U.S. companies but uncertainty for U.S. workers. Schwab understands the stakes. But can one woman, working for a lame-duck administration, make a difference? So far she has exceeded expectations. Part of the explanation is that Sue Schwab is getting the chance to campaign for a cause in which she passionately believes. But close friends know that her crusade to change the world is driven in part by something else: She's also getting a chance to open a new chapter in her life, moving past the troubles of a marriage she couldn't save and a husband's descent she couldn't prevent. Everyone has his own way of dealing with pain, but for Sue Schwab it has meant 250,000 miles of global shuttling to rescue trade talks, reassure anxious trading partners, and woo wary Democrats. FORTUNE tells the story of how Sue Schwab is finding her footing again. CLASSIC ROCK SAVIORS, by Katie Benner, page 180 The digital age has done a number on the music business, but old rockers — from Rush to Rod — have brought millions back into the world's concert halls. And for the bands, life's never been better. "Let's face it," says Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell, "we all have to make a living. What do they want us to do? Go gently into that good night? Hell no!" FORTUNE brings you a look, in pictures and words, at some of the year's tours. LUXURY SPECIAL REPORT LIFE AT THE TOP: THE FAST LANE, page 81 In the third of this four-part series FORTUNE reveals how fall fashion takes on a whole new meaning with outrageously cool custom cars, seriously stylish auto-inspired gear, racing real estate and much more. DEPARTMENTS FIRST: The New Land Grab Private equity firms and hedge funds are snapping up cheap land in markets where real estate has gone from boom to bust. Wall Street Turns 20 A sequel to Oliver Stone's classic tale of 1980s excess is in the works. So, what's up with Gordon Gekko? PepsiCo's Broadway Bet The soda and snacks giant is putting its market research onstage. DISPATCHES: You Got Served She's blunt. She's flashy. And customer-service chief Sue Nokes is T-Mobile's secret weapon in a cutthroat industry. India's Pizza Wars Two American fast-food giants, Pizza Hut and Domino's, are duking it out in a hot market. COLUMNS: Teamwork Meet the new steel: the ArcelorMittal team responsible for an advanced high-strength steel for the auto industry. The Deal Sorry, folks, Blackstone isn't gaming the tax system. Value Driven Trust our open markets. Essay What makes history happen? The first of a three-part series on the nature of power. INVESTING: Cash In on the Rebuilding Boom Congress and state and local governments are allocating billions of dollars to beef up bridges, roads, utility lines, and other aging infrastructure in coming years. We found four companies poised to benefit. Dodging the Mortgage Bullet Franklin Templeton's Chuck Lahr saw the signs of trouble brewing in the mortgage market and moved a lot of his fund's money overseas. Here are three stocks he likes now.
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CONTACT: Katy Reitz
Erin Clinton
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