In 2000, after she had served 13 years as a city administrator in Atlanta, an Olympics organizer, and a private consultant, Mayors Jackson and Young encouraged Franklin to run. City Hall was under investigation by the FBI, a probe that resulted in the indictment of 10 of the previous mayor's employees.

"I was discouraged by the lack of public trust that seemed to be pervasive," she says. "It was in the black community, the white community, the newcomers, young people, older folks. There was a sense that government couldn't do it right."

But she was also growing uneasy with the career advice she was continually giving to young women--advice she was not following herself. "I was telling all these young women . . . that you could do anything you wanted to do. And we hadn't had a woman" as mayor, she said. "I finally convinced myself that I had an obligation to break through the barrier."

At first she was unsure of herself; she was nervous speaking in public, and she trailed her opponents in name recognition early on. But eventually she raised $3.2 million and ran on a reform platform. She released copies of her income tax returns and posted campaign contributions on her website. Her campaign slogan was simple: "You make me mayor, and I'll make you proud."

"When she got out on the campaign trail, she really grew," said Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, who has known Franklin for more than 30 years. "She came into her own."

Some Franklin staffers call her a visionary. But she rejects the label, replying that she has just been around longer than most of her staff. Franklin says her former bosses, Jackson and Young, "could both see into the future," but she, instead, sees herself as a "driver for change . . . I push things through." She stays intensely focused on issues, building alliances with city leaders, and once she latches on to an idea she says it's a matter of crafting a clear message.

"You know where she stands, and she'd tell you in a moment," says Lewis. "It's not a lot of small talk. She wants to get to the point and deal with issues."

Nowhere is that drive more evident than in the more than two dozen public-private task forces she has started, which have brought in more than 75 private firms to help shape policy with city officials. "She is a skillful negotiator, mediator," says Lewis. "She's a bridge builder."

Task forces are nothing new, but Franklin says the key to making her blue-ribbon panels a success has been simple: Follow the recommendations. "If you were going to take your time as a private citizen or as a professional," she says, "we were going to work with what you recommended."

After Franklin spent two years speaking about the sewerage system, business leaders started asking her how they could help. The referendum to refurbish the system received the backing of three quarters of Atlanta's residents. Her task force on the sewer issue has been a template for reform on issues such as homelessness, improving public schools, and restoring fiscal integrity to the city. "Her response is always, 'What is the right thing to do, and then we'll manage the politics of the situation,' " says Pete Correll, CEO of Georgia-Pacific, who is chairman of the Atlanta Committee for Progress.