Forty Under 40: Clint Lazenby, 37

Clint Lazenby left the University of Arkansas with an international economics degree, but a study-abroad program proved most beneficial.
“What I walked away with is you can think the process drives the result,” he said, “and that would be a serious underestimation.”
Instead, Lazenby learned embracing cultural differences and nuances often is critical. That’s served him well progressing through a string of vendor-related positions.
These days, his charge is to “identify on a forward-looking basis what ConAgra needs to do to win in-country … and then align the organization to ensure we succeed.”
Lazenby’s success can be traced in part to the fact that kind of thinking meshes with his life philosophy. Interested more in the journey than the destination, Lazenby loves to travel and “dive into” new cultures.
He relies on maps instead of navigation systems, and prefers impromptu adventures to prepackaged ones. If that means handling the complexities of a car wreck in Mexico, so be it.
“To me, those are the same things that make good leadership,” he said.
Lazenby is passionate about giving back, too. He serves on a Walton Arts Center committee with a mission of “extending the arts in a way that every child can touch, or have an opportunity to be touched, by the arts.”