Jane Crowe didn't plan her career. She worked at McDonald's while doing a double degree at Canterbury University. She's been managing people since she was 18.

Then she took a sales rep job at Janssen Cilag instead of a cigarette company. Started in New Zealand. Got posted to Beijing through J&J's International Development Program. Moved to Australia with two suitcases and no plan.

30 years later, Jane's the Vice President APAC for Cardinal Health. She's run organisations through crises, scaled teams across time zones, and learned what it really takes to lead at this level.

In this episode, Jane shares:

The Beijing moment: Six months into her posting in China, Jane sat in a hotel room watching a research group discuss athlete's foot through a glass wall. She spoke no Mandarin. She was accountable for the project. She went back to her hotel, sat on the floor, and cried. Then she got up the next day, found a Mandarin teacher, and gritted it out. "I wasn't going to let it beat me. The more you do, the more you know it's not gonna kill you."

8 interviews and the one question that mattered: Jane did 8 interviews for Cardinal Health. The then-Global Head asked about her career aspirations. Jane said: "When I'm 80, I want to be running the local bowls club." After he stopped laughing, he said: "What I tell my team is, after they've spent time with their family and their sport and their community, whatever's left is what they bring back into the business." That told Jane everything about the culture.

How to read culture in interviews: "An interview works both ways. Ask if you can meet with others in the organisation, not just senior leadership. Ask specific questions about how they handle things — how the organisation adapted through COVID, for example. That tells you how they treat their people."

Correct vs. right: "There's decisions that are correct, and there's decisions that are right. And knowing the difference between the two. I used to make correct decisions based on data. I'm now leaning more into what is right."

How she disarms people in interviews: "By the time the interviewee gets to me, we've gone through all the skills and attributes. I try to unpick them a little bit and get them to relax. I make them talk about family and sport. Anyone can fake the normal interview. I want to get to know who you are as an individual and what makes you tick."

The year of learning: Jane chooses one thing to focus on each year. One year was quality (ISO leadership course). One year was governance (AICD company directors course). One year was privacy and cybersecurity. This year? AI.

The stopwatch trap: "I see people running their career with a stopwatch. 'I've done this role for two years. Now what?' That's very linear. What about building a parallel career path through board roles?"

Board roles and giving back: Jane's held multiple unpaid board roles — vice president for a community transport organisation, president for a childcare organisation, and vice president for the MTAA. "I've learned more from those than I have from my paid work."

What's next: Jane's leading Cardinal Health's APAC region, launching new products in nutritional delivery (Kangaroo Omni) and compression (Kendall Smart Flow), and bringing their sustainable technologies business to Australia.

Jane's story is a masterclass in grit, resilience, and leading with your authentic voice.