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Carla Cico, 41, the Italian-born CEO of Brasil Telecom (BT), ran in her first New York City Marathon in November. So did seven other BT employees—products of Cico's new company-wide fitness program. "It promotes discipline, preparation, focus, team culture," Cico explains. "We want to avoid the mind-set of the '90s, when so many telecoms went only for short-term results."

Since taking the reins at BT in February 2001, Cico has championed a long-term growth strategy. But she is also leading what she calls a cultural revolution, which has cut costs and boosted efficiency and which last year galvanized BT's 5,800 employees to bring in revenues of $2.6 billion—a 65% increase from 2000. According to Whitney Johnson, a telecom analyst at Merrill Lynch, Cico "pushes her managers hard and deploys her capital wisely."

Communication is an art as well as a business for Cico, who speaks five languages, including Mandarin. Raised in Verona, she took the career route of another famous northern Italian, Marco Polo, and went to China, where she managed ventures for Italian telecoms in the 1980s and '90s, an experience that honed her negotiating skills. Says Cico: "My parents taught me that if you have integrity, you should never be afraid to speak up."

—By Tim Padgett. With reporting by Sol Biderman/São Paulo

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