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difficult," laughs Cornish. “It was . ' ·   V A ,. ~ -’ PQ;}      
hard to stay warm. My mom couldn’t ’   "’Z_   ‘ Q Q ,· ri I "  ¥"v , _  
believe it, because I always get cold _· ·   ~:.  * _‘· ll ` ry" 'Vin   .,_..
reall easil , and there I was in minus -··. , ·‘·‘; I', ` •   ‘ , ," , » V, ' A ·   "' {ji: 'J
20 dg/gree weather, hiking through ng`.; - 7- ll ° `   '  __1;,  
five feet of snow trying to find wood   LT`.-__· ` ·    
so we could have a fire .... It was g_zé£;`* if .. i ·.,QQj;f’:“{-.£1§@,Q
only a week, but it was a long week.”   Q '#—·— -; -,  
Her most extreme trips? That   1 B F 4 =-Qi f_Tf?"’;_i·¤;-
award oes to canoein 90 miles "`·""%?_??K A '_ ·.. I T  
above tghe Arctic Circleg and her  ;;.     , ' A };;,;.j;;]-kQ__??- _
30-day voyage on the Omo River,       `  ‘:` Q  
where she says she met isolated eth- ;¢-   be ` s -   I`, I
nic tribes and had to cautiously navi-   w Hifi ;_ xs _. ST , .  
gate through waters that were home     I     _ QL.};   _  -i " `Y?  1  
to very territorial hippos.   _   j   ‘ ·      §
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Business Challenges       5,     i _· ?`?:?`£?j*:-7*5 E
Professionally, Cornish has not   i-"Q , .- "` ··;.       j    V  * ‘ :__ _ §
shied away from challenges, either.   -      i if .‘       E
During her time as an instructor and 5*;* %]’.~__ ;,$$§   . A n ‘·,._ " _ . T      3 ` f   * t;
manager with Outward Bound,when  -.  __   ‘   ·`§   _ V " ;_‘ — _‘--   in ` `t"%_‘.·   E E
;1ilii§)€L;1;1n1§:§§iggggggcgggqg On atrlp to Lapland ln 2005, _Llz Cornlsh, center, ls flanked by her trlends and former
f . th th d d adventure _guldes Betsy Qalgllesh, lelt, and tludy Futoh, at the Tjaktja Pass 0n the Kung-
mm mmpamcs B B mcrgc .°r sleden Trall about 200 mules above the Arotlo Clrole ln northern Sweden.
undergone other leadership transi-
tions — on weeklong adventure trips Working with the children was the risks can be the single biggest road-
as a bonding tool, Cornish realized most rewarding part,” Cornish says block to a burgeoning career.
something that surprised her: she of her time in Kenya. “We got the In researching the book, “One
liked business. vaccination rate from way less than of the things I noticed about the
“I realized thatI had had miscon- 50 percent to over 90 percent, which women who were very successful
ceptions about what business is . . . is better than this country. It was versus the ones who plateaued more
I really enjoyed many of the bright, very rewarding." prematurely was that the women
committed and caring professionals For some, skirting volatile hippos, who were wildly successful always
who attended our programs," she says. kayaking the Arctic, and surviving made the braver decision,” she says.
That realization led her to seek subzero weather on a dogsled may “Women usually have an internal de-
an MBA, which she earned from sound risky, but not to Cornish. bate team saying, ‘Well, should I do
the University of North Carolina “I don’t think of it as risky, because this, should I not?’ ‘Should I ask for
at Chapel Hill in 1985. Since 1986, once you know the rules, and once the promotion, take the raise, take
Cornish has lived and based her you understand how to do things, the risky assignment?’ Those women
work out of California, except for then you just play by those rules,” who were the most successful always
the two and a half years that she and she says. “In the natural world,I chose the braver decision."
her ex-husband, a physician, ran a think risk is often what you perceive After years of working as a leader-
rural health clinic in a small village it to be." ship and organizational consultant
in Kenya, itself an adventure. At the It’s a message that she shares for and seminar facilitator, Cornish
time, malaria was claiming the lives women in the business world as well. — who has worked for clients such
of many infants there. as Birkenstock, Apple, the U.S. Navy
“It’s exciting. It’s depressing. It’s Sharing Secrets 0fTlleir SllCCeSS and PricewaterhouseCoopers — got
rewarding. It’s frustrating. Working If there’s one thing Cornish has the idea to write a book about help-
in a situation like that is the personi- learned in her work with women in ing people “stick a landing within
fication of every emotion .... business, it’s that being afraid to take their new jobs," she says.
While Cornish’s plan was originally
to write a general book about the
first 100 days of a new leadership
position, she quickly changed her
agenda to focus on women’s first
100 days after noticing key
differences during her interviews
with men and women corporate
executives regarding how they
tackled their jobs.
14 KENTUCKY ALUMNI