Some may say Cathie Black was doomed to fail. From the very moment New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced he was putting the former media executive at the helm of the nation's largest public-school system, parents, teachers and even students were up in arms. Most of the uproar was about Black's lack of experience in education. Sure, as the former president and publisher of USA Today and chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, she had experience managing large ...

As the chairwoman of South Korea's Hyundai group, Jeong-eun Hyun faces business challenges few other executives can imagine. Subsidiary Hyundai Asan has led efforts to build economic ties between the North and South, so Hyun is not only managing a multinational through a recession but also through global tensions over the North's nuclear program. Hyundai Asan has invested $272 million in North Korea, in projects like the Kaesong Industrial Park and tours to Mount Kumgang. Hyun traveled to North Korea ...