How Alia Lamborghini built a high-performance culture within Yahoo DSP

Imagine leading a team where drive and accountability are the standard, not the exception. 

That’s the high-performance culture every leader dreams of. And that’s the kind of culture Alia Lamborghini has cultivated at Yahoo DSP as the SVP of Global Revenue.

I recently had the pleasure of hosting Alia on Reveal: The Revenue AI Podcast — and trust me when I say that she’s seen it all. She “lucked into” (her words!) the ad tech space by joining advertising.com in 2002, which was acquired by AOL two years later. Then she joined a startup that specialized in mobile advertising, and that startup — through a circuitous route of further acquisitions, investments, and divestments — eventually became Yahoo DSP.

Along the way, Alia became an expert “hand-raiser,” taking on every opportunity she could get her hands on and treating her career like stamping a passport. She broadened her experience with everything she took on and, on Reveal, she shared invaluable insights she picked up about leadership philosophy.

One of the most striking aspects of Alia’s leadership is her relentless dedication to building a high-performing team — and this commitment begins with the standards she sets for herself. Alia operates with a sense of accountability and an unwavering drive to deliver results, both of which set the tone for her team.

When it comes to getting results from her team, two principles that Alia has implemented at Yahoo DSP stuck out to me. The first is to assume positive intent and build great relationships.

“We do a lot of work on communication style internally, which I think from a sales perspective you have to be able to communicate carefully,” she says. “I think there’s a direct correlation between revenue results and how well the team can work together and collaborate.”

The second is to have a “currency of innovation” — creating tight bonds between product and sales to ensure alignment. That means gathering feedback from customers and sharing it with the product team. It means attending client advisory board council meetings together. And sometimes it means product people joining sales calls:

“We joke because, you know, product and engineering need to do product and engineering work — they don’t need to go on sales calls with me,” Alia says. “But it’s so valuable when they do.”

One of the most fascinating concepts Alia shared during our conversation was her idea of the “autonomous elevens.” These individuals deliver outstanding results and do so with minimal oversight, embodying both independence and excellence. They have “an internal drive and a personal integrity.”

And within the category of salespeople who have that drive, the “elevens” are the ones who take their commitment that extra step. “Tens are great. Show me the people who overachieve,” Alia says. “If you wake up at 3:00 in the morning thinking about what you didn’t do, or the email you didn’t send, or a better way to do that, and you write a note down — that would be the behavior of an autonomous eleven.”

While finding those individuals to join your team can be its own challenge, this is where Alia’s previous recommendations around building relationships and calling in favors come in very handy.

“I’m always recycling old contacts to say, ‘Did you work with this person? How closely did you work with this person? What kind of work did you do with this person?’” she says. “Even in your day-to-day, you can work fairly closely with a person but not be in the trenches with them on a project, and it’s hard to understand how they operate. So I think the best interview version of that is the external, the backchanneling.”

At the core of Alia’s leadership is her belief in ownership — the idea that every team member is responsible not just for their work but for the team’s overall success. This culture of accountability fosters pride in achievements and a shared commitment to excellence.

Her focus on building a high-performance culture has not only propelled her team to success but also created an environment where individuals thrive. By combining personal accountability, collaborative innovation, and a commitment to continuous improvement, Alia has set a gold standard for leadership in the revenue space.

For leaders looking to elevate their teams, her approach offers a roadmap: model the behavior you expect, foster a culture of openness and feedback, and empower your “elevens” to reach new heights. In doing so, you’ll drive results and create an environment where everyone can thrive.

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