3 Lessons from a Billion-Dollar Leader

I recently listened to Lisa Ashby at the January meeting of Women for Economic Leadership and Development (WELD).  Lisa is a billion-dollar leader – she runs the Scientific Products division (a $1.2 billion division) of Cardinal Health.

What I was drawn to was Lisa’s conversational, inviting style – and I would imagine that is how she leads her team of about 200 people. It was also very evident she knew her business up and down, inside and out.

I’ll share with you 3 key points from her that she identified as critical to her success.

Ask for what you want. When you see something that might create a new career path or new business opportunity,  don’t wait around for it to happen. Go for it. ASK.  So many times we wait for people to notice something about us or to make the offer. But it’s not going to happen. It’s your responsibility to make it happen.

Choose. Be a decision maker, and choose what you want. And sometimes choosing means saying no to something that just isn’t the right fit. This applies whether you are a business owner deciding a new product path or narrowing your target market, or making your way along the corporate ladder.

Take risks. I think this one is a natural if you’re working on the first two. Taking risks is all part of it. It’s much easier to sit back and keep doing the same thing, but those who are most successful realize the value of calculated risk.  Not everything will be successful, but as Wayne Gretsky says, you miss 100% of the shots you never take.