Advancing Women in Leadership and Innovation with Laurie McGraw

Summary

---

Episode Overview

Title: Advancing Women in Leadership and Innovation with Laurie McGraw
Date: January 6, 2026
Host: Scott Becker (Becker's Healthcare)
Guest: Laurie McGraw, Chief Commercial Officer, Transcarent; Host, Inspiring Women podcast

This episode centers on the progress and challenges of advancing women in healthcare leadership, the power of mentorship and sponsorship, and actionable advice for both emerging and established leaders. Laurie McGraw shares personal stories from her extensive career in healthcare innovation and her ongoing mission to amplify women’s voices through her podcast, "Inspiring Women."

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Laurie McGraw: Career Background & Motivation

Timestamps: 01:11–03:04

• Laurie McGraw introduces herself as the Chief Commercial Officer at Transcarent, with over 30 years in healthcare and tech, including leadership at Allscripts and the American Medical Association.
• Reflects on being “one of very few women at important leadership tables” early in her career, noting “over time that has certainly changed and evolved and become better in terms of representation at the levels of leadership.”
• Launches the "Inspiring Women" podcast to address the slow pace of progress for women in leadership.

---

The "Inspiring Women" Podcast: Mission & Impact

Timestamps: 03:16–05:27

• Laurie explains her podcast’s origin: frustration with slow gender equity progress, inspired by the McKinsey & Lean In study.
• She interviews a diverse array of leaders—CEOs, founders, entrepreneurs, politicians, athletes, and health system executives—each with unique paths.
  • "No one’s story is the same... leadership shows up in many different forms." (Laurie, 03:56)
• The podcast aims “for the next generation of women leaders... to find new ways to break through sooner, faster, higher, more impactful than others who have come before them.”
• Laurie benefits as much as her audience: “As a host... I’m learning every day as well.”

---

Where to Find the Inspiring Women Podcast

Timestamps: 06:09–06:30

• Laurie McGraw makes it clear: “You can find Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw at www.inspiringwomen show anywhere you get your podcast, Spotify, Amazon, you name it.”

---

Advice for Emerging Leaders

Timestamps: 06:30–09:18

• Ask Early, Ask Big: “You can never ask for enough soon enough in your career... [early in your career] this is the time when people are eager to give you helpful advice, to give you support, to put you in places that give you the opportunity to get there.” (Laurie, 06:54)
• Leverage Support Networks: “There is an affinity across the most powerful tables for emerging women leaders... when women lead, we have a more equitable society and better businesses.”
• Solicit Feedback—Not Just Praise: “Ask for support. Learn from others. Learn what made somebody successful, what mistakes they might have made... not just the people who are going to give you the warm hug... but who will give you important, honest feedback.”

Notable Quote

“Some of the best learning moments that emerging leaders receive… [are] some of the harshest feedback ever, not said in unkind ways, but in ways that you can actually action on that you can figure out how to be a better voice in the room...”
— Laurie McGraw, 08:14

---

The Critical Importance of Asking

Timestamps: 09:18–12:20

• Getting Unstuck: Laurie elaborates why learning to “ask for what you want” is crucial, especially mid-career:
  • Early on, advancement may come from “being smart, from being hardworking, from taking on the hard projects.”
  • In mid-career, “you actually have to ask for those things. And many women find... they’re not being pulled forward because of just their great hard work...they’re still not being pulled forward.”
• Sponsors vs. Mentors: Success hinges on finding “sponsors, people who are... in those rooms that you are not in that are advocating for you.”

Notable Quote

“Usually what those women are talking about is how they asked for something unusual. They asked for a career move that might not seem obvious for them, but they asked for it.”
— Laurie McGraw, 11:38

• Practice Makes Perfect: Scott concurs, emphasizing the necessity of asking early and often to become comfortable and skilled at it, even if you’re turned down at first.

---

The Value in “No”

Timestamps: 12:55–13:43

• Laurie addresses the fear of rejection:
  • “So often when you ask for something, the answer is no. The answer is no. And people do not like saying no... But maybe I can do this one part of that thing. Maybe I can help you in some other way. And those additional benefits of a no are really extraordinarily helpful.”
  • “If you don’t ask, not only do you not get the no, you don’t get anything. You literally have no opportunity for anything.”

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Leadership shows up in many different forms.” (Laurie McGraw, 03:56)
• “You can never ask for enough soon enough in your career.” (Laurie McGraw, 06:54)
• “Some of the best learning moments... [come from] the harshest feedback ever, not said in unkind ways, but in ways that you can actually action on...” (Laurie McGraw, 08:14)
• “If you don’t ask, not only do you not get the no, you don’t get anything.” (Laurie McGraw, 13:20)

---

Episode Timeline (Selected Timestamps)

• 01:11 — Laurie introduces her background in healthcare and technology leadership
• 03:16 — Mission and format of the Inspiring Women podcast explained
• 06:09 — Where to find Inspiring Women and podcast details
• 06:52 — Advice for emerging leaders: ask early, seek feedback
• 09:38 — Importance of sponsoring and asking mid-career
• 12:55 — The learning and opportunities hidden in being told “no”

---

Takeaways

• Representation of women in leadership has improved but remains an urgent work in progress.
• Actively asking for roles, feedback, and support—especially early in one’s career—outpaces waiting for recognition or invitations.
• Genuine mentorship and, more importantly, sponsorship, are key for career mobility, especially mid-career.
• Facing rejection is a developmental opportunity; “no” often leads to creative or partial opportunities and future yeses.

---

For listeners and aspiring leaders, Laurie’s episode underscores the necessity of confidence, persistence, and community at every career level. Find more inspiration and practical stories at Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw.

Transcript

[A]

This is where healthcare leadership comes together. Becker's 16th annual meeting brings more than 3,500 hospital and health system executives and nearly 800 speakers to Chicago, April 13th through the 16th. This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former President George W. Bush. For the agenda and event details, visit Beckershospitalreview.com and click on the Events tab in the upper right, click. Looking forward to hosting you in Chicago.

[B]

This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by a brilliant leader, Lori McGraw. Lori's had a long and fantastic career and she spends a lot of her time now on her own podcast in her own leadership efforts. In the core of her most recent effort, and it's been for several years now, is highlighting inspiring women leaders. We tend to love following Lori and what she's doing. Lori, can you take a moment and introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background and career?

[C]

Certainly. And Scott, thank you so much for having me today. So, yes, so I am Lori McGraw and today the work that I do, I'm the Chief Commercial Officer at transcarrant, a company that is on the forefront of AI and providing a personal health and care experience for people across the country and that comes from a 30 plus year career in healthcare and technology and innovation. I built an electronic health records company, allscripts, with Glenn Tullman, chief executive there. He's the current chief executive of transcarrent, so he asked me to come help him here and I did many years at the American Medical Association. Some of the work I'm most proud of with that association, very powerful, working on behalf of physicians across the country and as part of all of this work that I've done over the many years in healthcare, as a leader, as a woman, as an executive, I have found that I'm used to in the early days being one of very few women at important leadership tables. And over time that has certainly changed and evolved and become better in terms of representation at the levels of leadership. But over a few years ago I just felt that the progress was not strong enough. So in addition to my background in the professional work, Scott, I started this podcast called Inspiring Women to help address those areas of women in leadership.

[B]

Thank you. And talk a little bit about the Inspiring Woman podcast and some of the people we've had on and some of the encouragement or inspiration that you've gotten from that.

[C]

I'd be glad to. And I can talk a lot about this. So I started Inspiring Women, we're going on five years. I started it at a time where I had just read the latest Women in the workforce study by McKinsey and the Lean in Organization and again, steady progress, but just not. Just not fast enough. Just not fast enough after all of these years of leaning into it. And so what I do is I speak to incredible women leaders. There are many of them. I put their voices out there so that others who are aspiring to leadership can hear the many different ways that women lead and how they get there. I speak with CEOs, I speak with founders, I speak with entrepreneurs, I speak with politicians. I speak with health system leaders. I speak with people in all the different areas. Athletes, just people who are at the peak of their performance or early stage, just breaking out. What I hear from women consistently is a lot of variation in terms of how they got. No one's story is the same, and that's of course not surprising. But the reality is that leadership shows up in many different forms. And my objective with inspiring Women is for the next generation of women leaders that they don't have to relearn or redo or go through hardships that may have been there before, but allow them to find new ways to break through sooner, faster, higher, more impactful than others who have come before them. So it's been a labor of love in terms of putting out this weekly podcast, but as a host and the person who gets to speak to all of these incredible women, I'm learning every day as well.

[B]

Thank you. And Lori, when you think about lessons for emerging leaders, you've got your own incredible experience as a leader yourself. And you've worked with Glenn Tolman, seven Wire Ventures, some of the brightest people that I've ever come across, and you've led. And then you also get a chance to talk to all these leaders, inspiring women leaders. I'm going to ask you the first big question. Then they ask you to highlight for people where they could find the podcast and to make sure they've got the exact name and where they could find it. Want to ask you to do that first and then last you to do that at the end as well. Exact name of the podcast and where people could find it. Then I'll get into my next question.

[C]

On leadership so that people can find Inspiring Women with Lori McGraw at www.inspiringwomen show anywhere you get your podcast, Spotify, Amazon, you name it, you can find it. Inspiring women with Lori McGraw.

[B]

Thank you very, very much. Let me bring you back to our next leadership question. You've had a great leadership career. You also have a chance to visit with so many inspiring women who have had fantastic leadership careers. Take a moment and give us. What advice would you give to emerging leaders trying to have a satisfying and impactful career?

[C]

So some of the best advice that I hear from others, you can never ask for enough soon enough in your career because when you're at that early stage in your career, when you put on the table something very significant that you might aspire to, this is the time when people are eager to give you helpful advice, to give you support, to put you in places that give you the opportunity to get there. That doesn't mean you're going to get to that next grand place you might envision for yourself immediately, but you're putting your mark out there that this is the place that you want to get to. And the number of people who are eager to support you is a lot. And it's not just the people that you're in touch with. There are many people are always looking for the aspiring leaders that are out there. And there is an affinity across the most powerful tables for emerging women leaders because we all know there's not enough of them out there. And we also, most are well versed that when women lead, we have a more equitable society and better businesses. So put the, put the big, big grand visions out there. The second thing I would say is to ask for support. Learn from others. Learn what made somebody successful, what mistakes they might have made that you can learn from. And not just the people who are going to give you the warm hug and make you feel good about what you're doing right now, but the people who will give you important, honest feedback that allows you to grow from it. Some of the best learning moments that emerging leaders receive in their careers. This certainly happened for me on multiple occasions where some of the harshest feedback ever, not said in unkind ways, but in ways that you can actually action on that you can figure out how to be a better voice in the room, not just complaining about something, but how to put a solution in place. Little things like that that make all the difference and allow people to move again forward, faster.

[B]

Thank you. And take a moment on taking the bigger shot at the plate or asking for what you want that is so hard for so many people to do, whether men or women. But talk about why doing that earlier rather than later sets you up for longer term success.

[C]

Yeah. So it is one of the things that is true for anyone as an emerging leader is at the earlier stages of your career. You are going to be promoted and recognized faster, sooner from being smart, from being hardworking, from taking on the hard projects. And that is fairly, fairly universal. And when you get to more, you know, later stages or even mid stages of your career, it is, it is not just that you're smart, you're working hard, you're being pulled forward, you actually have to ask for those things. And many women find that in the more mid stages of their careers, they're kind of surprised that they're not being pulled forward because of just their great hard work, because they're doing all of the, you know, under, you know, background, deep, deep work after hours and whatnot, and they're still not being pulled forward. It's at those mid stages where you actually have to ask for it, where you have to find sponsors, people who are not, who are in those rooms that you are not in that are advocating for you. And for many women, they find that that's a surprising time in their career and they might stagnate, they might, you know, just not be advancing forward. If you are experienced at asking for things at earlier stages of your career, you're less likely to be stuck in that middle stage and you'll be able to advance further. And if you talk to women, you know that just some of the most powerful, most senior leaders that are out there, they have found ways, and I do ask these questions. How did you make sure you didn't get stuck, stuck there? How did you make sure that you did not be known as only the client success leader, only as the operations leader when you aspired to actually be the chief executive? And usually what those women are talking about is how they asked for something unusual. They asked for a career move that might not seem obvious for them, but they asked for it. And they asked for it at a stage because they had asked for other things before that stage where they asked for the bigger things. So those are the types of things that I think are small, very actionable things that people can do that again, allow them to advance forward faster.

[B]

I think the advice is so right on and so perfect. And I almost add onto that thought because sometimes when you're asking for the big thing, you don't get it. But it takes experience in asking for things till they start to fall your way, till you start to get them. And if you wait till later to start to ask for the bigger things, you don't get that experience and training and even asking for those bigger things that leads to those bigger opportunities. So I think the advice of getting comfortable Asking for those things early is such great advice.

[C]

It's so hard. Just one other point there. So often when you ask for something, the answer is no. The answer is no. And people do not like saying no. It's hard to say no. And so if the answer is no, most often it is no right now or no right to the whole thing. But maybe I can do this one part of that thing. Maybe I can help you in some other way. And those additional benefits of a no are really extraordinarily helpful. But if you don't ask, not only do you not get the no, you don't get anything. You literally have no opportunity for anything.

[B]

I think that is right on, and there's obviously a balance on how you do it and how you work with it. But I think the advice is so right on, and obviously it's grounded in your experience and all the experience of people that you've talked to and you've had yourself this extraordinary leadership career. Laurie, I want to thank you again for joining us on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I always love getting a chance to visit with you, and we're huge fans of what you do on the Inspiring Women podcast and what you're doing at Transcurrent. Congratulations, Scott.

[C]

Thank you so much.