World’s Greatest Leaders, Southwest Airlines, Parkland Students: Broadsheet April 19

April 19, 2018, 12:03 PM UTC

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! I’m in awe of pilot Tammie Jo Shults, Marissa Mayer speaks, and Fortune’s 2018 list of the World’s Greatest Leaders is out—and filled with inspiring women. Have a wonderful Thursday.

EVERYONE'S TALKING

 Taking the lead. Fortune's annual list of the World's Greatest Leaders launched this morning. I'm proud to say that this year's list is approaching gender parity, with women or groups of women accounting for 23 of our 50 honorees. Here's a sampling of the female leaders who made the cut:

#1. The Parkland Students: The nationwide protests led by Emma González and her Parkland classmates have forced the country to begin to confront our role in allowing gun violence to continue—and reminded us of the power and passion of youth.

#2. Melinda Gates: Gates, who shares the spot with her husband Bill, continues to fight tirelessly to end disease in the developing world. This year she also brought her attention to women's economic empowerment, both at home and abroad.

#3. The #MeToo MovementBroadsheet readers know as well as anyone the massive impact being made by the tide of women now speaking out about sexual harassment and assault. A movement without a leader or a figurehead, #MeToo belongs to all of us.

#7. Margrethe Vestager: In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the European commissioner for competition—and her tough but thoughtful regulation of Big Tech—looks smarter than ever.

#11. Mary Barra: No. 1 on our Most Powerful Women list, the General Motors CEO is the only female chief of a company with revenues of more than $150 billion, and roaring ahead with electric and autonomous vehicles.

Read the full list of 50 here: Fortune

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

 A heroine in the cockpit. Tammie Jo Shults, the pilot who guided Southwest Airlines flight 1380 to a successful emergency landing on Tuesday, was the unequivocal star of yesterday's news cycle. (The accident, in which one of the plane's engines blew out, left one passenger, Wells Fargo executive Jennifer Riordan, dead.) Shults, who was one of the first female fighter jet pilots in the Navy, remained calm and cool throughout the ordeal and made time to speak to each of the 148 passengers' whose lives she saved. Fortune

 Mayer returns? In her first interview since leaving Yahoo, Marissa Mayer talks about her experiences trying to turn that company around, what she learned about culture from scaling Google, and what she thinks about the current #MeToo movement in Silicon Valley. New York Times

 Haley vs. Trump. Nikki Haley and the White House are now in open conflict over the Haley's Sunday announcement that the president would impose fresh sanctions on Russia. On Tuesday, a White House official walked back the UN ambassador's statement, blaming “momentary confusion.” Haley fired back, saying she did not “get confused.” According to the NYT, "The public disagreement embarrassed Ms. Haley and reinforced questions about Mr. Trump’s foreign policy—and who speaks for his administration." New York Times

 RBG in the majority. Earlier this week the Supreme Court voted to strike down the key provision of a statute that allows the expulsion of certain noncitizens. "The ruling in Sessions v. Dimaya was notable for throwing a wrench into the federal government’s deportation regime," reports Slate, adding that it also marks another surprising milestone: the first time Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg assigned a majority opinion in her nearly 25 years on the court. Slate

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: GoldieBlox has hired Shawn Dennis as its first president. Dennis was most recently the head of brand and franchise development at DreamWorks Animation.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

 Mythbusters. A pair of business school professors from Georgetown and Harvard address three popular myths about how the sexes differ (think 'women are bad negotiators' or 'women can't tolerate risk') and explain how each of those false ideas are used to explain away issues like the gender pay gap and the paucity of women in top jobs. They also "offer alternative explanations for observed sex differences—explanations that point to ways that managers can level the playing field."  Harvard Business Review

 Star Wars woman. Victoria Mahoney, best known for her work on Queen Sugar and Grey's Anatomy, will serve as second unit director of the next Star Wars movie, Episode IX (the official title of the film, which will be directed by J.J. Abrams, hasn't been announced yet). She will become the first woman—not to mention the first black woman—to direct the first or second unit on any Star Wars film.  CNET

 Queen of Saturday morning. Elle talks to Joy Reid, host of MSNBC's AM Joy. With Reid at the helm, MSNBC recently beat out CNN in her Saturday-morning time slot for the first time in 16 years. Elle

 Roiphe repercussions. Former Harper’s top editor James Marcus says he was fired for opposing the publication of Katie Roiphe's cover story, which ran in February. As you may recall, the internet was up in arms at the beginning of the year over rumors that she planned to name the creator of the infamous Shitty Men in Media list in the piece. That woman—Moira Donegan—appeared to beat Roiphe to the punch when she outed herself in January. The Cut

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ON MY RADAR

Stormy Daniels is planning to donate $130,000 to Planned Parenthood in Trump’s and Cohen’s names The Cut

Uber whistleblower Susan Fowler backs California legislation to end forced arbitration  TechCrunch

Fed-up women are changing American politics  Time

Dads say they deserve parental leave—but only in theory  Bloomberg

QUOTE

I always knew Barbara was the most beloved woman in the world, and in fact I used to tease her that I had a complex about that fact. But the truth is the outpouring of love and friendship being directed at the Enforcer is lifting us all up. We have faith she is in heaven and we know life will go on—as she would have it. So cross the Bushes off your worry list.
Former president George H.W. Bush, on his wife Barbara, who died Tuesday at age 92

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