LAURA ALBER loves Williams Sonoma. Like, really loves it. Sure, many Fortune 500 CEOs would say the same of their companies. But Alber's devotion to the $8.7-billion-inrevenue home furnishings retailer from growing its global business to studying French porcelain borders on fanaticism. "It's my heart," she says. In fact, she likens it to a spouse. When asked if she would ever consider another CEO job, she quickly answers no. "I'm not looking for a different husband either," she said to laughs at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in October.
In fact, Alber's 13-year tenure as Williams Sonoma CEO has outlasted many marriages. She's now the longest-serving female chief executive in the Fortune 500.
The Gap Inc. alum joined San Francisco-based Williams Sonoma in 1995 as a senior buyer for its Pottery Barn brand. She got the top job in 2010. At 42 years old, she became only the fourth CEO of the now 67-year-old retailer named after founder Chuck Williams and the location of its first store, Sonoma, Calif.
Since then, Alber has grown topline revenue at the retailer by $5 billion. She's capitalized on its advanced e-commerce operations and leaned into its well-defined aspirational aesthetic. The release of Williams Sonoma's over-the-top holiday catalog has become a tradition akin to Starbucks' red cups-as has the internet's subsequent hater's guide, a satire of the catalog that's made it all the more famous. (This year's potential wish list items include a $1,499 faux Christmas tree.)
Denne historien er fra December 2023 - January 2024-utgaven av Fortune US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra December 2023 - January 2024-utgaven av Fortune US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Norway's Nicolai Tangen Runs the World's Biggest Sovereign Fund. Can He Leverage its Assets to Change Business for the Better? - Nicolai Tangen, the Norwegian founder of London hedge fund AKO Capital, was picked by Norway's central bank to be the next CEO of its gargantuan oil-and-gas-financed investment fund, whose value had soared above $1 trillion.
Oslo, with its neatly painted houses and serene waterfront, is not known for high drama. But in 2020, Norway’s capital erupted in controversy over one spectacularly wealthy investor, a splashy event in Philadelphia—and the biggest sovereign wealth fund on the planet.
KKR's $1 trillion gamble
The co-CEOs of KKR have a radical strategy to supercharge growth—and chart a path far different from that of their mentors Kravis and Roberts.
Inside one of Silicon Valley's most mysterious venture capital funds
Iconiq Growth, which has long avoided the spotlight, recently closed a $5.8 billion startup war chest.
The rise and fall of Jump Crypto
A secretive trading firm got itself a crypto arm and a 25-year-old whiz kid to run it. Then came the $40 billion Terra disaster.
The troubled Tyson heir
The youngest Fortune 500 CFO was set up to run his family’s $21 billion chicken empire. His erratic behavior could change that.
The startups betting you can quit GLP-1s and stay thin
Some weight-loss companies are marketing Ozempic and Wegovy as a short-term holy grail. Doctors say it doesn't work that way.
The Amazon Way has its midlife crisis
Jeff Bezos’s famed management rules are slowly unraveling inside Amazon. Can they survive the Andy Jassy era?
Tech AI's Hidden Biases May Be Influencing What You Think. Here's What Should Be Done to Stop It - In less than two years, artificial intelligence has radically changed how many people write and find information.
In less than two years, artificial intelligence has radically changed how many people write and find information. While searching for details about Supreme Court precedent or polishing a college essay, millions seek help from AI chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude.In his newly published book, Mastering AI: A Survival Guide to Our Superpowered Future, Fortune AI editor Jeremy Kahn explores this new tech-infused reality and what should be done to avert the inevitable pitfalls. In the following excerpt, he focuses on the little-recognized problem of subtle bias in AI and the potentially profound influence it can have on what users believe.
A Return of the Entrepreneurial Spirit- As Japan finally emerges from a long period of slow growth, soy sauce producer Kikkoman continues its global advance.
In February 2024, the Nikkei Stock Average in Japan surpassed the record high that it set in 1990. To some, this peak signified that the country could finally put the "lost decades" of deflation and anemic growth behind. Yuzaburo Mogi, honorary CEO and chairman of the board of Kikkoman, is cautiously optimistic about this milestone. With a generational shift in motion, he sees Japan's leadership regaining some of its old dynamism and entrepreneurial spirit.
The AI Hangover- For thirty-five years, Fortune has been tracking the world's largest companies in our Global 500 ranking.
For thirty-five years, Fortune has been tracking the world's largest companies in our Global 500 ranking. We recently sat down with the head of Sequoia Capital, Roelof Botha, at our Brainstorm Tech conference in Park City, Utah, and at greater length for this issue's cover story. As he told Fortune's Michal Lev-Ram: "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." To learn how he's guiding the firm to sort winners from losers amid the noise and hype, see page 60.
