Welcome to How Leaders Lead, where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world.

I break down the key learning so by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple that you can apply as you develop into a better leader.

That's what this podcast is all about.

And today's guest is Larry Merleau,

CEO of CVS Health. Larry is just an incredible leader, and when he took the helm of CVS in 2011,

they were doing about $100 billion in revenue. Now that's a lot of money. But guess what? Now they're doing almost $250 billion in revenue. Now that's a lot of money, but guess what? Now they're doing almost $250 billion in revenue. That's just a remarkable level of growth. But it's not the most remarkable thing

Larry has done. He also made the bold and honestly risky decision to remove tobacco products from CVS stores. And he did that even

though they accounted for $2 billion of revenue. He'll tell you the whole story, and it's incredible,

but I really want you to listen for why he and his team made that decision in the first place.

It came from a very simple statement of the

purpose of their company, literally eight words, and it changed everything for them. As leaders,

we all need the reminder. The best vision in the world ain't worth a lick if our team can't connect

with it and apply it each and every day. This conversation

with Larry shows us just how to communicate our big ideas in simple, compelling terms. So here's

my conversation with my good friend and soon to be yours, Larry Merlo. Well, Larry, I appreciate you being on this show so much.

And you know what?

I was, I know, I've been looking at your career.

You became CEO nine years ago.

And back then, CVS, I think, had a little over $100 billion in revenue.

And today, it's $265 billion.

You now have over 300,000 employees and you're number five on the Fortune 500 list.

And to think, you started out as a pharmacist.

...