ForbesWoman is a new section for professional and executive women. Enter your email below to start receiving ForbesWoman news and updates.  Irene Rosenfeld doesn't usually have time for chit-chat.  As chief executive of Kraft ( KFT - news - people ), she has been busy for almost three years running America's largest food company and successfully steering the $42 billion (revenues) company through the downturn.  Thanks to cost-cutting measures and consumers trading down during the recession, Kraft has been relatively insulated from the global financial crisis. On Aug. 4, the company beat expectations with its second-quarter results. Rosenfeld says her company's key to success lies in its ability to understand the needs of today's frugal shoppers.  But on the morning of June 3, Rosenfeld, who wanted to become president of the United States as a child, carved out time from her busy agenda to talk to ForbesWoman about her greatest challenges--and successes--on the job, essential leadership qualities and her love for, you guessed it, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.  Forbes: What has been your greatest accomplishment as CEO of Kraft?  Irene Rosenfeld: Rewiring the organization--it has been the underpinning of everything else we've done.  It started with getting the right people. In the course of my first year, I changed over half of the top two levels of management. Some of them were new to Kraft; some of them were new to their positions. It was necessary to do this in an effort to jump-start the organization and put the employees on a new growth trajectory.  The second part was ensuring we had the right structure. We had been a highly centralized organization, which led us to be slower than we needed and, more importantly, not responsive enough to local market conditions.  And the third piece was getting a simplified set of metrics in place that are well-aligned to shareholder value: organic revenue growth, operating income growth and cash flow. As a consequence, we had a tremendous increase in our performance overall. I am particularly pleased in terms of cash-flow improvement.  What has been your biggest challenge?  Ensuring that the key leaders are well-aligned on the objective of changing our trajectory and changing the performance of the company to a position of sustainable growth, while putting the right people in key jobs to essentially support and execute against that agenda has been the greatest challenge, but I think the greatest success as well.  It's always challenging to get those out of the way who are in the way of those who are doing well.  When will we see more woman CEOs?  I can't comment on whether we will see more women, but I certainly believe that there is enough evidence that increased diversity of leaders can be quite successful in delivering on shareholder value, and I feel good about the evidence and the progress that has been made there. But most importantly, there is going to be an increased sense of accountability to the leaders of the organization for delivering returns to shareholders, and CEOs are well-positioned to increase that commitment.  What's the most important quality in a leader?  "Servant leadership" is the most important aspect of a successful leader--the recognition that I am here to help the organization accomplish its objectives rather than they are here to meet my needs. Once you recognize that, you are able to engage the hearts and minds of your followers, and they are able to just deliver the kind of results that you are looking for.  As a leader yourself, what do you think you could improve?  Patience is probably my most challenged virtue [laughs]. I have a great sense of urgency, and I [need to] work hardest at just accepting the fact that sometimes things can't happen as quickly as I would love them to.  What do you do in your free time?  I have many interests. There are very few sports that I do not play.  Do you have a favorite athlete?  I have enormous admiration for Martina Navratilova. She created a standard and a record that is hard for anybody else to come near, and I think she has been an inspiration to all of us who have known her.  What is your favorite Kraft brand?  Macaroni & Cheese [is] at the top of my list. I am a very heavy user.  What you see is what you get.  Click here for more coverage of the world's most powerful women.
When she was made CEO of Kraft three years ago, Irene Rosenfeld initiated changes at the company that are now helping her steer the American food giant successfully through the downturn.