Name: How Veritiv Made it on the Fortune 500
Uploaded: 2016-06-14
Duration: 4 min 13 s
Description: CEO Mary Laschinger talks about the company’s big jump.

Mary, congratulations. Veritiv is now on the Fortune 500, for the first time ever. And you are one of the very few females running a Fortune 500 company. What's the key to your success? The key to my success over the course of time is really hiring a great team of people to help me succeed and the company succeed. And I focused first one what their value system ism their willingness to learn and grow because we can teach capabilities and technical competence. And so, it's all about creating a great leadership team. You basically started Veritiv from scratch. What do you think it took to be a successful leader as you're going through all of these changes and you're starting up a new company? One of the things that we did first and early on the outset was making sure that every employee knew who they were reporting to on day one. So that it took away a lot of uncertainty and then the second thing we started to do was build our culture based on values. And I felt that was critically important over the course of time because people want to be a part of something that they're proud of. And what's not to like about a values based company? And you're also created these cards That you passed around to every employee. Yes And I just want to speak about it. Shaping our success, our vision, our values, our competencies. And then in here you list about six values, integrity, our team and whatever. Why did you do this? Because it goes back to my early days when I learned that we need people engaged in the success of the company And in order for them to be successful take integrity for example it's one of our values is we need people to do what they say they're going to do in order for us to be successful and to be honest with our customers. People component which is a core value. We need people that want to be a part of our success and we need to train and develop them and hold them accountable. And so there were some key elements that I felt were critical for us to be successful long term that I also felt would resonate strongly with our employees. So I can tell you're very passionate. You've got a vision for the company, but beside this card what did you have to do to get other people motivated and to follow your lead? Well, it's by example for sure and we have to walk the talk, and demonstrate that we're serious about it and deal with issues when leaders are not serious about it. There are only 21 female CEOs on the Fortune 500, which means about 4 %. Yes. Of the 500 CEOs. There's a lot of angst about women getting into those higher executive ranks. What's your advice to women on how to get ahead? I think the best advice, and one that I've followed, is have self- confidence in yourself. You know, confidence in yourself. You don't have to be arrogant, but have confidence in yourself. And always think about what you're capable of doing and what you are doing and not make it, don't make being a woman the issue. Set your goals big and lofty. And keep going, and have the courage to keep moving. As you look back on your life, your years growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Yes. Then going to Kimberly Clark International Paper and now CEO of Veritiv. What would you say is the best leadership advice that you got along the way? To make the choice of whether you want a team of leaders or a leadership team. Because it's different. A team of leaders, people function independently and a leadership team, everyone works together for the success of the enterprise. And then you have to hire the people, the right people. That are willing to work and operate that way because you never do anything wrong as a senior leader. You always need people around you to help you succeed. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

How Veritiv Made it on the Fortune 500

Leadership

CEO Mary Laschinger talks about the company’s big jump.