An Iron Lady of China-Xie Qihua

When I write on women in the business world, I feel proud and elated. These women have set their own horizon! And they are proven pave makers and torch bearers. 'The hand that rocks the cradle will rule the world!' These women have proved it literally. These women of grit must have had something as 'x' factor in them. Let's try to find out what these 'x' factors are? Xie Qihua, is another star woman in the business world. She rose to this position as the biggest steel manufacturer of China. She is highly optimistic about the future of this metal.


One should learn from Xie Qihua, how to keep away personal life from profession. She follows it very stringently. No questions on personal life during the interview. Xie is very happy to answer related to her work area. Especially about Baosteel Group, that has been her brain child.

Xie Qihua is a combination of simplicity, and business strategies. Xie is called as 'iron lady' also. She worked extraordinarily to bring Baosteel Group on international platform for steel. It is her 'no non sense' attitude which has worked for her always positively. Xie Qihua has many titles to her credit. Firstly she is a chair woman of Baosteel Group Corporation, and also she is President of China Iron and Steel Association. Her name has been listed in the 100 most powerful women in the world. She also has got the title as the most powerful business leader of China. Her authentic personality is not going to be unnoticed in the business world.

Xie Qihua comes from Shanghai, and that is her birth place also. Xie worked as a technician at the Shaanxi Steel Plant after completing her graduation. Though she is known as one the most powerful women of the world, her head lies on the shoulder still! Xie stepped into Baosteel in 1978. Then at that time the company was still under construction. Xie, was appointed as head of technical division, then she rose to the position of company President in 1994! Along with this responsibility she shared other unique responsibilities also.

Her unmatched business strategies have clicked most of the times, especially in clubbing Shanghai Iron and Steel Plant with Baosteel Group. She has struggled very hard to bring her Bao steel Group name and fame. Xie has an unquenchable thirst for steel business. She kept on trying to merge with more and more steel companies with Baosteel group. In 2004 Bao steel Group Signed a cooperation agreement with France's Arcelor. And also signed with Brazil for joint venture to build a steel plant. Today Bao Steel Group is considered as one of the top 12 Steel groups in the world producing over 10 million ton per year.

With Xie's continued efforts Bao Steel Group has made 309 positions this year. "Xie led the Shanghai Baosteel Group Corporation in setting record earnings and revenue and successfully pioneered a path in the trades traditionally dominated by men," said Fortune. Hail women power!

Geeta Rao

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Anne Lauvergeon- The star of business world

Anne born on August 2 nd 1959 is another star in the business world. She was positioned in the ninth place by Forbes magazine as the most powerful woman in the world. Being highly ambitious and hard working clubbed with acute intelligence, Anne is a powerful package of success!

I bow down my head with pride especially when I write about women in business world. Anne Lauvergeon is a French lady who has carved her own niche on international platform. Physics is her favorite subject! Anne started her career with an iron and steel industry in 1983. Immediately she guided European safety studies for the chemical industry. In 1995 she became a managing partner of Lazard, a banking sector.

Anne kept on climbing the ladder of corporate very successfully.Fortune Global 500 announced Anne as the second most powerful woman in the world in 2006.Anne Lauvergeon became CEO of Areva. Areva is a company that offers solutions for carbon-free power generation and electricity transmission. Areva, ranking as second to none is doing fantastic under the guidance of Anne. Its unique integration of fuel cycle has attracted the customers all over the world.75, 000 people are working in Areva. Areva supplies safer and cleaner energy at an affordable price to its clients throughout the world.

Anne thanks her stars for meeting the right kind of people at the right time. Business strategy, selecting the right people, trying to save the environment and meeting clients are her main focuses on daily base. Anne Lauvergeon’s mantra for her success is she ‘hates to lose!’ Such women leaders are an asset to the world. Three cheers to such encouraging women power!

By Geeta Rao

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Ireland- A perfect Combination of Beauty and Brains!

Readers,
when I as a layman look at successful people,I think what makes them so different? But at the very next moment I answer myself'   ' Yes, Everything!' Here I am trying to bring you the world's best business women and their biographies.This time I am presenting  Ireland! A model,actress turned business woman! She started working from the tender age.

Kathleen Marie was born on March 20 1963. After working as model and actress she became CEO of her own company which was called Eponymous. A brand product marketing company,  well known in the world. Kathy is called as ‘Ireland’ also. John and Barbara were her parents. Ireland’s parents were working for charity. Ireland, being beautiful, attracted many people. An agent brought her to the lime light. From 1984, Ireland was seen in sports illustrated swimsuit issue for the next 13 years. She kept on appearing on multiple issues for a long time. She was again seen on the front page in 1994, that time she was pregnant!

Ireland also appeared on television and films. In 1993, Ireland put her signature on a line of socks. They sold like hot cakes in the market. Seeing the over whelming response she thought of opening her own establishment called ‘Kathy Ireland Worldwide.’  1994 she published videos on health and fitness. In 2004 she was marketing products from 16 manufacturers. She was enlisted in Forbes as ‘prototype for model-turned –mogul.’ Ireland wrote so many books for children and moms.

Kathy turned out to be a Christian as she took interest in reading the Bible at the age of 18 years.  She studied medical books as her husband is Dr. Greg Olsen. In 2007 Ireland spoke regarding eradicating the poverty on August 13 at the United Nations.  She had become a professional orator to give convincing speeches.  Ireland spoke beautifully and had hit the dart. Again in 2009 Ireland appeared on ‘Larry King’ show to discuss health issues of women. She had slightly put on weight by that time!


Author-Geeta Rao

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Melinda Gates- A Name to change the Lives of the less lucky!

I missed you so much my readers, all the time I was thinking of you! Any way I was time pressed hence was not in picture. Who is not jealous of this lady in the world? Am sure everyone is!  Am talking of Melinda, wife of computer wizard Bill Gates, a person changed the direction of the world! I feel how come these people became so extraordinary being so ordinary? Or answer lies in my question itself! Melinda got married to Bill in 1994 in Hawaii. After her marriage she left Micro soft for the nobler cause. For raising the family! Melinda and Bill Gates have three children.

Melinda thought she would rather help people around the world philanthropically. She opened Melinda charity, and is still working for it. She had very excellent education. Melinda being a top student in class, she obtained an MBA degree also. Her last position was Microsoft’s General Manager of Information Products. After this she got married and left Microsoft. Both Melinda and Bill Gates have donated $24 billion to the foundation. Bill Gates and Melinda have been showered by names, honorary degrees. They have all the good wishes of the beneficiaries. Bill and Melinda were named as Persons of the Year in 2005.

I feel Melinda likes to work behind the curtains watching the difference stringently. Melinda was also named as one of the most powerful women in 2008 by Forbes. Bill and Melinda are well aware of the slumping economy of the world. From 2008, Bill has started working full time in Melinda and bill Gates foundation. More in the next post… wait till then readers cheers..!

By Geeta Rao

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Wendi Murdoch – Queen of News Corporation Empire!

Women in business world are standing on their strong foothold. Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng were married on June 25, 1999. Wendi, a tall Chinese woman, quit the post to marry Rupert Murdoch a mogul of news agency and multimedia person.Wendi is confined to home only; though she doesn’t have any position officially she has a tremendous influence over NewsCorporation. On her advice, the company started partnership with cable companies in China.Murdoch, a hard core businessman, named his son Lachlan as CEO and second son James as chief executive of Star TV and has carved out Asia and the internet. Anna Mann, also has been connected to the company. Gradually Deng is becoming prominent in the family business. Business and women have a long cherished relationship.

Deng is a daughter of a factory director in China Deng came to US and mastered English, along with business school degree. Having left China as a teenager, Deng is now returning in grand style, as the wife and adviser of a global media baron. Wendi is an amalgamation of two cultures, she wants to grow business out if it. She is moving with perfect strategic steps. So Wendi is always victorious. Murdoch had to do all sorts of acrobats to set up business in China. Right from establishing rapport, trustworthiness etc  to do business. She accompanies Murdoch on his worldwide jaunts and stayed at his side when he received prostate cancer treatment last summer. Wendi Murdoch has become a diplomat on behalf of Newscorporation in China. Wendi did not seek business for women! She helped in expanding the empire.

Nowadays Wendi accompanies her husband stepson James in NewsCorp business meetings. She sometimes acts a trouble shooter indeed! The meeting got off to an uncomfortable start, at least partly because of the language barrier between the Murdoch men and their host, according to a participant. But Deng used her bilingual fluency to put everyone at ease. Wendi Murdoch stays with her husband in Manhattan. Deng was a relatively junior when she took an active role in planning Star TV’s activities in Hong Kong and China, according to former NewsCorp colleagues. She helped build distribution in China for its Channel V music channel, for example, and explored interactive TV opportunities for the company’s News Digital Systems arm. Wendi is an example of women in business world.

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Patricia Woertz- A Woman With Determination In Business!

Patricia is known in the field of business and women. She showed the world that there is nothing like ‘business for women’ in this world! You need to rub shoulders with men to prove the mettle.
Her handling of team and strategic plans were excellent, Impressed with her financial insight in handling the job, Chevron invited Woertz to join its San Francisco office and work with strategic planning. In 1989, Woertz was appointed finance manager of Chevron Information Technology Co. and by 1991 had been named head of strategic planning. She stood apart as a business woman in the world. Holding a degree in hand she was preparing herself as a woman and business international.
Woertz took early retirement and left Chevron in February of 2006 to pursue other opportunities. By April, Woertz had been scooped up by Decatur, Illinois-based ADM, one of the world's largest farm-commodities processors. ADM takes products from farmers—like corn, wheat, and soybeans—and turns them into such products as chocolate, corn sweeteners, flour, and soymeal, among other things. Woertz, however, was brought on board to help ADM boost its corn-based ethanol business. As oil costs continue to rise, ADM is betting on the alternative fuel ethanol. ADM is the largest producer of ethanol in the United States and has been making it since the energy crisis of the late 1970s.
Speaking to Fortune , one former ADM manager acknowledged that Woertz had a tough job on her hands as only the eighth CEO in the company's 104-year history. In addition, the company had been run by a member of the Andreas family for decades. "By God, if you only knew the culture there. Bringing an outsider, a woman no less, into a company that's a bastion of lifers and good ol' boys—I can't tell you how huge a change that is.”
One of Woertz's children, Paula Lucchini, seems to be following her mother into the corporate jungle. After graduating with an engineering degree from the University of San Diego in 2005, she joined Chevron, stepping right into the male-dominated workforce her mother has spent her career navigating. Patricia clearly showed the world that business and women can go together to make the world better! She is a woman in business with dedication and determination.
Woertz believes her success is a direct result of her willingness to move around, take on new challenges, and find solutions. "I had a very pragmatic upbringing," Woertz noted in an online article Are such women inspiring others? I think women executives around the world are very small in number but the most powerful!  What matters is quality not quantity!

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Patricia Woertz- A Pat On Back As A Business Woman!

Patricia.A. Woertz was born on March 17,1953, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She held so many powerful positions in the most powerful companies. Patricia was named as one the ten most powerful women in the world by Fortune magazine in 2000. Many of them think business and women can’t go together. Patricia is a woman in the business.
Presently Patricia is with food-processing giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. as President and Chief Executive officer. She is one of the ten most powerful women executives In the USA, with 36 billion revenue. ADM is a giant company, never before had hired a female in such a top post. Patrcia is a packed power house among the executives. Patricia cut her teeth for the past 29 years in the male dominated oil business. Patricia plainly states that she was hired on the basis of her performance and not because she is a woman. Like this she joins the line of women in business.
Her father was heading up a home-construction and development company, and mother was a librarian, inclined towards education. Patricia and her brother were taken on tour to see the corporate and industrial America. She studied the place for women in business.
" Her mother’s thoughts were corner stone in chiseling personalities of Patricia and her brother. Definitely there was a seed of inspiration sown there," says Patricia proudly. Further she says, “I have always enjoyed seeing how things are made.”
It was sheer her love for mathematics played magic in her life. Her love for math drove her ultimately to corporate world "If there was any one interest that might have signaled my future in business, it was probably that I liked math. I loved its complexity. I loved taking apart a really hairy problem, understanding its components, and then solving it." She acknowledged that running a corporation involves the same skills, just on an elevated level.
Patricia graduated from Pennsylvania state university in 1974, as an outstanding student. She is a combination of brain, beauty and ambition! She dreamed that one day she might become a partner in an accounting firm. Little did she know she possessed the business acumen to go even farther.
Woertz married and had three children, including a set of twins. Her husband, a logistics consultant, was supportive. Though Woertz is now divorced, she acknowledges her former husband's support helped open up her career path. "At one point, we sort of said to each other, 'Gee, somebody's career is going to have to take priority,'" she recalled to Fortune . In the end, the couple followed her career plans. She is a woman holding business international.

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