Sandra E. Peterson

As a woman, this is one of these areas where you have to walk a fine line: the classic, 'Are you soft and squishy, and you hug everybody, and you're a cheerleader?' versus, 'Are you the hard-nosed you-know-what female dog?'

I consciously make an effort to get to know some of the women who may be in the middle of the organization - they're not at senior management levels - and try to figure out whether there's a new opportunity they can take on that enables them to shine and succeed in a way they may not have in the past.

I don't believe in management by fear. I also won't sacrifice the future of a company for a quarter.

If you look at my career, I've taken on a lot of risky roles.

I don't need to spend hours in meetings, because I can have a two-minute conversation with a colleague who is pretty damn smart and who knows how to get the job done. And, if he needs my help on something, he'll let me know.

If I'm sitting in an office, I'm not doing my job.

One of the things I've learned is people are smart, and they understand what should be done. They understand what the challenges are, but they're not always able to have their voices heard.

I always remind my team to take a step back and ask themselves, 'Why are we doing this?' For us, 100% of the time, it is to better serve our patients, consumers, and customers. This is a great question to come back to when your team is losing focus; it reduces stress and mobilizes people to get excited about the collective possibility.

Build an environment that empowers your team to take risks. Set metrics for what needs to be achieved and measure against them to track progress along the way. If targets aren't being met, challenge your team to reassess and come back with a new strategy. And create a culture where people are awarded for challenging the status quo.

People need to go back and remember what it was once like to lead businesses in emerging markets.

When I was not working, when our children were little, our life was all about our kids and our relationship. We didn't spend tons of time going off and spending time with friends and going on vacations alone.

I always remember what's the most important thing - my kids.