Yorba Linda, California Sep 12, 2026 (Issuewire.com) - A standard, not a slogan
George Carralejo has spent more than 20 years in healthcare sales, including five years as Senior West Region Sales Director for CooperSurgical in the fertility space. Across that time, he has built a personal standard for how he expects himself and his teams to operate. He is now putting that standard into words publicly, so his teams and peers know exactly what to expect from him.
"I don't think leadership should be a mystery," Carralejo said. "People do better work when they know the standard up front, not when they have to guess at it."
The standard itself
Carralejo's approach rests on a small number of commitments he applies to his own work first.
Process over outcome. Carralejo focuses on short-term, process-oriented goals rather than distant targets. He believes that consistent small wins compound into the larger results a region needs.
Calm under pressure. When plans go sideways, Carralejo breaks the problem into steps instead of reacting to the full scale of it at once. He expects the same from the people he leads.
Self-discipline before skill. Carralejo has said that self-motivation and attention to detail matter more than any single competency, because competencies can be taught but discipline has to come from the person.
"You can train someone on a product or a process," Carralejo said. "You can't train someone to want it. That has to already be there."
Why he is announcing it now
Carralejo said he wanted to put this in writing because a standard that only lives in someone's head is hard for a team to hold itself to.
"If I expect a certain level of effort and communication from my team, I should be willing to say what that looks like out loud," Carralejo said. "It keeps me honest too."
He also said the standard applies to how he measures his own performance, not just his team's.
"I measure success by whether I gave my best effort, not by whether every number landed exactly where I wanted," Carralejo said. "That doesn't mean the numbers don't matter. It means I'm not going to pretend effort and outcome are the same thing."
How he plans to apply it
Carralejo said the standard will show up in three practical ways going forward.
First, he plans to keep goal-setting conversations short-term and specific, rather than centered on annual targets alone.
Second, he intends to walk through setbacks with his team step by step, rather than treating a missed number as a verdict on the whole quarter.
Third, he plans to keep reading and studying leadership on his own time, treating his own growth as part of the job rather than separate from it.
"Everything I do is about trying to improve," Carralejo said. "The more I work on myself, the better I get as a leader. The professional results tend to follow."
What this means for his teams
Carralejo said the point of naming the standard is not to add pressure but to remove ambiguity.
"When people know what's expected, they stop wondering and start working," Carralejo said. "That's better for them and it's better for the business."
He said he expects to be held to the same standard he is setting, and welcomes that.
"If I'm asking for discipline and calm under pressure, I need to bring that first," Carralejo said. "Otherwise it's just words."
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About George Carralejo
George Carralejo is a business executive and coach based in Yorba Linda, California. He serves as Head of U.S. Sales Juno Genetics in the fertility space and has spent more than 20 years in healthcare sales. A former Division I athlete at California State University, Fullerton, Carralejo works with organizations and individuals to help them reach their potential in business and in life.
Contact:
[email protected]
