Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business: #48 Lynn Elsenhans

This week we introduce you to Lynn Elsenhans, the CEO and President of Sunoco. She’s #48 on Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business list.

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   Lynn Elsenhans  

   CEO and President

Sunoco

Previous rank: New
Age: 52

Elsenhans, named CEO in July, is the first woman to head a major U.S. oil company. Though the company is huge (revenues were more than $40 billion in fiscal 2007), net income fell 9%, to $891 million, and the market cap is only about $5 billion. Some analysts are expecting a strategy shift.

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Click here to read more on her:

=Strategic Shift is Expected from New Chief at Sunoco (The New York Times)

=An Interview with Lynn Elsenhans (Rice – The Magazine of Rice University)

 
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Picture Credit:  Sunoco

First Lady Michelle Obama & Mom: On Raising Smart, Confident Kids, Strong Marriages and Future Plans

From our friends at Essence.

A Mother’s Love: First Lady and Mom Cover Essence

Angela Burt-Murray, Essence

In their first interview together, First Lady Michelle Obama and her mother, Marian Robinson, sit down in the White House to speak exclusively to ESSENCE Editor-in-Chief Angela Burt-Murray about retaining their family values, what it takes to raise good kids, and being role models for the Black community. Read on for excerpts from the interview.

Mrs. Michelle Obama on what being First Lady means to her:
“It’s an honor and a privilege when you walk into the White House-at least I automatically felt a level of obligation. This is a big responsibility, a wonderful platform and I just want to make sure I take every advantage to serve as a role model, to provide good messages, to be a supportive mate to the President and to make sure that my girls are solid.”

Mrs. Marian Robinson on seeing her daughter step into this historic role:
“Well, to me, it’s overwhelming. I never doubted that she could do this. She is doing it with such grace and dignity. So I am just proud. I just hope she does what she wants to do. [Chuckles] Because the things that she wants to do are very important. They mean a lot to her.”

Mrs. Michelle Obama on finding balance:
“Unlike most women, I have a lot of resources: I have my mother living with me. The White House has a staff of people who are there to make my life easy. I don’t have a full-time job, although I work very hard in the role of First Lady. But I have a lot of resources. So I have been able to achieve the balance because I have the support I need.”

Mrs. Robinson on what her late husband, Fraser Robinson III, would say about this moment:
“You would not be able to shut him up! He would not be able to stand this. He would be beaming until you would just want him to stop talking. He bragged about Michelle and her brother, Craig, before they had even done anything. He always encouraged them, and when he talked about Craig and Michelle, you could just see a smile on his face whether it was there or not. He just enjoyed these two people.” More . . .

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Picture Credit: Timothy White and Stockland Martel

Getting Organized: 10 Strategies for Busy Moms

From our friends at CNN.com and Real Simple.

In this article, the author makes a very simple suggestion – Why don’t you manage your home like you manage your organization? Then, he shows you how to apply core business principles to the management of your life.

FYI – Patrick was recently named by Fortune as one of the 10 New Gurus You Should Know

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Ten Business Strategies to Organize Your Home

Patrick Lencioni, Real Simple

About 11 years ago, two big things happened in my life: My wife and I started a family, and I launched a consulting firm. For years I was much more successful at running my company than managing our family — probably because I was taking specific steps to improve my business, then going home and winging it.

Well, a few years ago, it occurred to me that this made no sense, and that my family was in fact an organization, too — the most important one in my life.

That realization was probably provoked by an innocuous (or so I thought) comment to my wife: “You know, honey, if my clients ran their companies the way we run this family, they’d go out of business.”

I’ll spare you the gory details of her response and just tell you that we eventually decided to figure out whether the tools and concepts I applied with my clients might help our home run more smoothly. I’m here to report that they absolutely did and might help you, too. (Don’t worry: None involve persuading a 10-year-old to endure the agony of a performance review.) Real Simple: How to make good decisions

1. Identify your core values. Companies define their core values because they provide a great framework for making all kinds of decisions. To apply this idea to your family, think about what common traits each spouse admires in the other. One of the things I love about my wife is that she is unafraid to speak her mind or stand up for her beliefs.

We wanted to pass that trait on to our four sons, so we made it a core value. (Our others are creativity and passion.) Then, when one of the boys was sent to the principal’s office for defending a classmate who was being bullied, we made it clear that he should be proud that he had stood up for a friend.

2. Establish a single top priority. If everything is important, nothing is. Too many companies fail because they spread their time and energies too thin. Answer this question: “In addition to our day-to-day responsibilities, if we accomplish one big thing as a family in the next few months, what should it be?” And then work on it. It could be anything from “Help Dad get healthy” to “Spend more time together as a family at home.” Real Simple: 14 shortcuts for everyday tasks

3. Keep your values and top priority visible. You don’t need an engraved plaque to remind you of what’s important. But it’s good to have a ready reference. My wife and I were out on a date around the time we were coming up with our family’s list of values and top priority. She borrowed a waiter’s pen and wrote them on the paper tablecloth. After dinner she neatly tore off that section and stuck it to our oven, where we could see it every day. More . . .

Digital Version of Real Simple Article

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