It’s hard to be hopeful. Turmoil in the financial markets is spreading geographically and psychologically. The Dow closed down 508 points today. At last week’s Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, we heard plenty about stress and sleep deprivation — starting with Warren Buffett’s comments on a clearly exhausted Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. Sallie Krawcheck, who is leaving her high-level post at Citigroup , and Barclays Capital vice chairman Barbara Byrne told their fellow women leaders about the weight they lost through these torturous weeks.
As experts compare today’s troubles to the 1930s, it’s helpful to remember that back then, various safety nets didn’t exist. There was no swift action from the Fed. There was no FDIC. And there was no Treasury Secretary as proactive as Paulson. (Nor were there effective anti-depressants and other drugs to get us through this mess!) These are just a few reassuring points to come out of the Most Powerful Women Summit. A few other random bits of hope:
Buffett professed his faith in the government folks on the spot: “I hope whoever is elected keeps Hank Paulson on,” the Berkshire Hathaway CEO said. “I have enormous admiration for what he’s doing.” Buffett, the world’s most successful investor, also expressed admiration for FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair. This week, she’s taken flak for her role in the Citigroup vs. Wells Fargo battle for Wachovia , but Buffett said she “stands above” most any CEO and “she won’t get a golden parachute when she leaves.” (Click here for yesterday’s Postcard post that will link you to various Buffett video segments.)
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi showed how, amidst gyrating commodity costs, consumer-goods managers deliver healthy profit increases quarter after quarter. Nooyi, who is No. 1 on Fortune’s 2008 Most Powerful Women list, also talked about tackling the obesity epidemic. As PepsiCo’s volumes have gone up over the past decade, the calories that the company puts into the global marketplace have actually gone down dramatically. Credit goes to innovation with diet drinks, Baked Lays potato chips, and replacement of trans-fats. PepsiCo rates executives according to “human sustainability scorecards” and ties compensation to the scores. As Nooyi told us, if every food company did this, imagine how much healthier the world would be.
Our panel called “The Internet 10 Years Later” (a reprise of a panel at our very first MPWomen Summit) delivered positive signals for growth. Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior noted that “every second on earth, four babies are born and 20 mobile devices are sold.” The session — including Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker, former eBay (CSCOHTTP://MONEY.CNN.COM/QUOTE/QUOTE.HTML?SYMB) chief Meg Whitman, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg — revealed other interesting stats: China recently surpassed the U.S. in Internet usage. And though the U.S. has lagged in mobile Internet usage, Apple’s and Google’s focus on mobile suggests that the U.S. will lead in that market.
The Summit’s closing panel, “The Road to the White House” had Citi CMO Lisa Caputo (on one hour’s sleep, she said) interviewing two ace political journalists — Time‘s Karen Tumulty and Fortune‘s Nina Easton — plus Obama national finance chair Penny Pritzker and Meg Whitman, who is co-chairing the McCain campaign. The panelists believe that voter turnout could reach 80% in November, vs. 64% in the 2004 Presidential election. That level of commitment to revive the U.S. might be the most encouraging sign of all. – Jessica Shambora
