28 Jun Leaving a Legacy | Jeannine Rivet
Jeannine Rivet, retired Executive Vice President of UnitedHealth Group, reveals the secrets of climbing the leadership ladder through her remarkable seven-decade career journey. Her transformative decade by decade insights offer a roadmap for professionals seeking sustainable career growth without burnout.
The Foundation of Lasting Leadership Success
Before climbing any leadership ladder, you need a solid foundation. Jeannine built her career on four essential pillars:
- Family – providing love and ethical grounding
- Faith – offering spiritual guidance for difficult decisions
- Friendships – creating a support network through challenges
- Values – serving as a compass for complex situations
Her five core values work synergistically:
1 Integrity | 2 Compassion | 3 Relationships | 4 Innovation | 5 Performance
When you master the first four, performance naturally follows.
Your Twenties: Building Courage and Following Instincts
The foundation years teach crucial lessons about leadership courage. Jeannine’s pivotal moment came as the only woman in a physician-dominated quality committee meeting.
Instead of retreating from hostility, she strategically volunteered to take meeting minutes, a role no one wanted but one that gave her significant influence. This experience taught her that “she who holds the pen rules.”
Key takeaway: Leadership requires calculated risks and speaking up when others remain silent.
Your Thirties: Mastering Professional Presence
As your career progresses, focus shifts from individual contribution to broader influence. Jeannine learned that professional presence isn’t about commanding attention; it’s about showing up authentically and consistently.
Essential skills for this decade:
- Building new relationships while maintaining existing ones
- Establishing professional credibility
- Refusing to accept unacceptable behavior
Your Forties: Leadership vs. Management
The middle career years bring significant growth opportunities. Jeannine’s forties marked her transition from operational management to strategic leadership, teaching her the difference between confidence and arrogance.
True confidence involves being authentic, humble and collaborative while making decisive decisions. Furthermore, this decade taught her about work-life harmony rather than perfect balance, making intentional choices about where to focus energy.
Your Fifties: Strategic Leadership and Intentional Living
Peak performance years bring maximum responsibility and the wisdom to handle it. Jeannine’s innovative approach during overwhelming demands included letting her daughters schedule monthly quality time together.
Critical strategies:
- Schedule what matters most
- Develop systems for important relationships
- Engage in community service and board work
- Balance executive responsibilities with personal needs
Your Sixties: Transitioning to Wisdom Sharing
Mature careers shift toward knowledge sharing and mentoring. Jeannine realized that “wisdom is what we learn after we know it all”, understanding that early career confidence often masks knowledge gaps.
This decade brings clearer understanding of legacy and impact. Following Audrey Hepburn’s philosophy of having “one hand for helping yourself and the other for helping others,” leaders focus more intentionally on developing others.
Your Seventies: Living Your Legacy
Retirement doesn’t mean the end of impact; it means a different kind of contribution. Jeannine’s seventies involve continued board service, mentoring and strategic advisory work.
The profound realization: legacy creation happens every single day, not just at career’s end. Every interaction, decision and relationship contribute to lasting impact.
Timeless Leadership Principles
Throughout her journey, several principles remained constant:
- Mentorship matters – both receiving and giving guidance
- Values-based decision making provides consistency and authenticity
- Continuous learning must remain a priority throughout your career
- Legacy awareness should guide daily choices
The Legacy Question Every Leader Must Answer
Drawing inspiration from Linda Ellis’ poem “The Dash”, Jeannine challenges professionals to regularly assess whether current actions align with desired legacy.
Her practical advice:
- If you love what you’re doing, continue with passion
- If uncertain, take time to assess and adjust
- If unhappy, make necessary changes—unhappiness isn’t sustainable
Conclusion
Climbing the leadership ladder successfully requires more than ambition. It demands a strong foundation of values, courage for calculated risks, wisdom to learn from experiences and commitment to help others.
Jeannine’s decade-by-decade framework shows that leadership development is a continuous journey of growth and contribution. True leadership isn’t about titles. It’s about inspiring others while staying authentic to yourself.
By following your instincts, maintaining your values and focusing on daily legacy creation, you can climb the leadership ladder without getting dizzy or falling off.
About Jeannine Rivet
Jeannine Rivet is a distinguished healthcare executive and leadership mentor who served as Executive Vice President of UnitedHealth Group for 28 years before retiring in 2018. Beginning her career as a registered nurse, she rose through the ranks to become one of the most powerful women in business, helping transform UnitedHealth Group from a small organization into a global healthcare enterprise. A passionate advocate for mentoring, Rivet has been developing leaders for over 30 years, starting with the very first Menttium 100 cohort and continuing to mentor professionals today. She currently serves on multiple corporate boards and foundations and continues to share her leadership wisdom through speaking engagements, inspiring professionals to build meaningful careers grounded in integrity, compassion and authentic leadership.