Brain: Mary Brainerd

In the Twin Cities, Charlie Zelle (Jefferson Lines CEO; Itasca Project; former Guthrie board chair), Tim Welch (McKinsey partner), and Lynn Casey (CEO, Padilla Speer Beardsley).

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard and The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen.

Listen more than you talk.

My former boss at HealthPartners, George Halvorson (now CEO at Kaiser Permanente).

Early on, I thought leadership was about individual performance.

I spend time with family and friends. Read, bike, cook, do Pilates, speed-skate.

Only if it helped on the stuff I’m brain deprived on now. Like anything mechanical, how a piece of technology actually works, how to repair anything at all if my husband is not home.

People smart—that will help you get street smart and maybe business smart as a byproduct.

Duke Ellington and George Gershwin.

Yes. Like a mandatory coupling with ethical behavior, fairness, respect, and good will towards others.