Monday I told you the first criterion to make Fortune’s annual Most Powerful Women list. This is the second: the health and direction of the business that the woman executive oversees. Example: Susan Arnold, President of Global Business Units at Procter & Gamble , is the highest-ranked non-CEO on the current MPWomen list. At No. 7, she’s even a notch above Oprah. How so? Arnold not only made her name managing P&G’s jewel — its richly profitable beauty business — she also oversees all of the global business units of a $76.47 billion company. And P&G is growing as the U.S. economy craters.

Diane Greene was unusually high on our list last year at No. 22, since 2007 revenues of VMware , the company she headed, were only $438 million. But VMware’s stock market value when we published the MPWomen list last fall stood at $32 billion, giving her a boost. Everything changed last week when the CEO of EMC (VMware’s parent) fired Greene (see last week’s post). VMware’s market value is now $15 billion.