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CEO says: Dexcom's Jake Leach never asked for a promotion, he volunteered
Who: Jake Leach, president and CEO of Dexcom (the glucose-monitoring company), in an interview with Fortune published 7 November 2026.
What he said: On looking beyond your own job: "It's like getting outside your swim lane." On how he got ahead: "It's all about hard work. There's no shortcut."
Context: Leach started as a teenager washing lab equipment at insulin-pump maker MiniMed for $10 an hour while saving for community college. He joined Dexcom in 2004 when it had about 30 people, became CTO in 2018, COO in 2022 and CEO this year. He says that in 22 years at Dexcom he never asked for a promotion; instead he took on the less glamorous assignments others avoided and asked what was right for the company, not just his own team.
What it means for you:
- In a new job, volunteering for the unglamorous, cross-team work is one of the fastest ways to get noticed by people outside your manager.
- Write those wins down as they happen. "Took on X outside my role, result Y" is strong material for a resume, a review or an interview answer.
- Early in a career, the skills you build matter more than the title. Leach's first job was cleaning lab equipment in the industry he later led.
Source: Fortune, 7 Nov 2026