你或许听说过这个数字：财富500强的CEO中只有19位是女性。这个数字令人悲哀，但它并没有全面反映大公司中女性管理层的总体情况。在美国企业界的最高层管理者中，有些女性高管管理的子公司规模非常庞大，如果从母公司单列出来，完全可以轻松跻身财富榜单。

    一个例子就是今年成为山姆会员商店（Sam's Club）CEO的罗兹•布鲁尔。山姆会员商店目前的年销售规模为540亿美元。假如它不是沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）的一部分，这样的营收规模可使布鲁尔跻身财富50强CEO。

    上周《财富》杂志的最具影响力女性峰会上，布鲁尔和来自星巴克（Starbucks）的等量级选手米歇尔•加斯与《财富》杂志高级编辑詹妮弗•雷因戈德畅谈如何经营两家全球最大的企业，以及如何处理与老板的关系等问题。

    布鲁尔表示，这和担任平常的CEO没有太大差别。“山姆会员商店的好处在于它独立经营，因此我有机会进行创业，在一种文化中发展另一种文化，”她说。“但我也非常尊重母公司的文化。”

    与此类似，当星巴克的霍华德•舒尔茨请加斯掌管欧洲、中东和非洲业务时，她说，舒尔茨是这么说的：“这块归你了。想怎么做，就怎么做吧。”

    加斯说，这番对话源于互相信赖和尊重——外加星巴克空前的海外扩张冲动。“（[舒尔茨）说：‘‘我正在重组公司，星巴克的未来事实上就是国际增长，’””加斯在Laguna Niguel酒店告诉与会的众多女性企业家们。她说，这是“他第一次把一位直接下属送到海外。”

    You may have heard it before: Only 19 Fortune 500 chiefs are women. That's a sad statistic, but it doesn't tell the whole story of women leaders in big business. Within the highest ranks of corporate America there are female execs running units so large that, if separated out from their parent company, they would easily score a place on Fortune's list.

    One example is Rosalind Brewer, who became the CEO of Sam's Club this year. On its own, Sam's is a $54 billion business. If it weren't part of Wal-Mart (WMT), those revenues would make Brewer a Fortune 50 CEO.

    At Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit this week, Brewer and fellow power player Michelle Gass from Starbucks (SBUX) talked with Fortune senior editor Jennifer Reingold about what it's like to run two of the world's largest businesses -- and still have a boss.

    Brewer says it's not that different from being a regular CEO. "The good thing about Sam's Club is that it's run autonomously so I have the leverage to be entrepreneurial, to develop a culture within a culture," she said. "But I do have a lot of respect for the overriding culture."

    Similarly, when Starbucks's Howard Schultz asked Gass to take control of its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, she said he put it this way: "It's yours. Do what you want."

    That conversation was made possible, Gass said, by their trust and mutual respect -- plus the unprecedented push at Starbucks for international expansion. "[Schultz] said, 'I'm reorganizing the company, the future of Starbucks is really about international growth,'" Gass told the crowd of women gathered in Laguna Niguel. She said it was "the first time he shipped a direct report of his literally overseas."

    谈到老板、沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）CEO麦道克，布鲁尔说：“麦道克和我之间的关系很有意思。”进入沃尔玛刚刚5年的布鲁尔相对而言还是一个新人，麦道克向她寻求一位旁观者的视角。他们有很多时间在一起工作。高管委员会每月拿出一整周的时间开会，从周一早上8点一直到周六的中午。布鲁尔和麦道克每两周还有一对一的会议。布鲁尔说：“他不会错过这些会议。”即便是麦道克不在美国，他们也会举行会议。

    “每位管理者都与他们的CEO有独特的关系，”加斯表示。她说，舒尔茨尽力实现多元化员工组合的最大潜力。谈到自己的下属时，加斯将指导和培养视为“日常工作”，特别是对女性员工。“我们在整个公司有很多、很多女性员工，我们的运作方式能激发人们的积极性和参与度，这一点令人骄傲。”

    布鲁尔对职场上冉冉上升的未来之星有什么建议呢？想清楚你希望的领导方式。“我希望自己当初能花更多的时间了解自己是谁，因为当CEO每天都是挑战，”她说。信心是最重要的。“那么多人希望跟在你的身后向前走，因此你说的每句话都必须慎重，”布鲁尔说。“如果你给出的指令只要求某一部分人前进，结果肯定无异于踩踏。”

    Of her boss, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke, Brewer says, "the relationship between Mike and me is an interesting one." With five years at Wal-Mart, Brewer is a relative newcomer to the company, and Duke looks to her for an outsider's perspective. And they spend a large chunk of time together. The executive council meets monthly for a full week -- Monday at 8 a.m. through Saturday at noon. Brewer and Duke also have one-on-one sessions every two weeks. Says Brewer: "He does not miss those." They conference even if Duke is out of the country.

    "Every leader has a unique relationship with their CEO," Gass said. Schultz, she says, does his best to bring out the best in a diverse set of employees. As for her own reports, she sees mentorship as her "day job," particularly with women. "We have many, many female employees throughout the company, and I view it as an honor to operate in a way that can inspire and engage."

    Brewer's advice to those up-and-comers? Figure out how you want to lead. "I wish I had spent more time getting to know who I was, because it's a challenge every day as a CEO," she said. Confidence is paramount. "You have so many people that just want to march behind you that you can't lightly what you say," Brewer said. "Because if you give them partial marching orders it's like a stampede."