You can feel it the moment your role changes: the work that used to prove your value now pulls you away from the work that actually is your value. We sit down with Megan Sweere, program director of Iowa State’s CyStarters accelerator program, to get honest about the leadership shift from doer to driver and what it really takes to lead through other people without burning out or gripping control even tighter.

Megan shares her path from corporate buying analyst to founder, what she learned from building a business, and how that experience shaped her as a leader when she was suddenly handed the reins of a fast-moving summer program. We talk about risk aversion, why changing direction is not the same as quitting, and how to build confidence after something doesn’t go the way you planned. If you’re an emerging leader, new manager, supervisor, or entrepreneur, you’ll hear yourself in this conversation.

We also get highly practical about leadership skills that create momentum: accountability that helps instead of nags, celebrating small wins when no one else is handing out gold stars, and delegation that develops people, rather than just offloading tasks. Megan explains how to lead teams with wildly different experience levels, why asking better questions beats pretending you have all the answers, and how vulnerability makes you more credible, not less.

If you want to grow as a people-first leader, listen now, then subscribe, share this with a colleague who’s making the jump to leadership, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.

About Megan

Megan is an Entrepreneurship program director and small business founder passionate about helping people and their new ideas grow. At Iowa State University, Megan manages the CYstarters summer accelerator, mentoring student founders from ideation to launch. She also own and operates Rosie Days Flower Farm in Ankeny, Iowa—so when she's not coaching startups, you can usually find her growing fresh, seasonal cut flowers for the local community.

www.rosiedaysflowerfarm.com

People side of leadership info

peoplesideofleadership@gmail.com

https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-people-side-of-leadership-with-ann-julie/

Follow Ann

http://www.annwrightsolutions.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-marie-wright/

Follow Julie

https://www.hrhotlineassociates.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-caspar-688a1bb/