Have you ever bailed on a "seat at the table" moment because imposter syndrome convinced you you didn't belong?

This episode is basically a reality check for that spiral. If you've ever walked into a room of bigger titles, bigger experience, bigger confidence—and immediately started listing all the reasons you're "not enough," Megan Reilly's story will feel uncomfortably familiar (in the best way). She breaks down what imposter syndrome costs you, how to stop self-eliminating, and how to stay in the game long enough to actually grow—whether you're building a company, scaling a team, or just trying to lead without burning yourself out.

• A simple way to quiet imposter syndrome when you feel outmatched—so you stay in the room and find your value instead of fleeing.

• A scrappy growth mindset you can copy (no perfect plan required): how momentum, feedback, and "green lights" can guide your next move.

• A healthier approach to scaling in real life by recognizing seasons—so you can build something meaningful without feeling like you're failing at everything else.

Press play and borrow Megan's mindset reset for imposter syndrome—so the next time you get the opportunity, you take the seat and don't look back.

Check out:

• 10:00 – The imposter syndrome turning point
  Megan tells the D1 basketball walk-on story and the moment she quit—then reframes it into her core lesson: why imposter syndrome makes you walk away from rooms you've already earned entry into.

• 25:00 – From "side gig" to real business
  The shift from teaching dance as a flexible college job to realizing, "Wait, this actually works," and how trusting momentum (not a formal plan) led to massive growth.

• 50:00 – Scaling, seasons, and not doing it all at once
  A candid conversation about building a 70-location franchise while raising kids—and why recognizing life seasons is critical to sustainable leadership and sanity.

About Megan Reilly

Megan Reilly started as an entrepreneur at age 19 and over the last two decades has built an international franchise, received multiple offers on Shark Tank, started a top 12 podcast, and ignited crowds all around the country as a keynote speaker.

Megan is the creator and host of one of the Top 12 Parenting Podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Who Is Your Momma Podcast, where she speaks to the mothers of some of the world's most successful, CEOs, athletes, and entertainers. Megan speaks to organizations all across the country, sharing the lessons she has learned from more than 20 years as a thriving entrepreneur.

What if the expertise that makes your company valuable today could be replicated—or even surpassed—by AI within a year?

If you're running or leading a business, you're already feeling the pressure: AI disruption is moving faster than your operating model can adapt. This episode helps you understand why the ground is shifting so quickly, what it means for the expertise inside your organization, and how you can stay ahead instead of getting blindsided by competitors who adopt AI more strategically and more rapidly.

You'll walk away with clarity on:

• How AI is lowering the cost of expertise—and what that means for your competitive advantage.

• A practical way to rethink your business and operating model so you can adopt AI at an exponential pace, not a linear one.

• How to help your team embrace AI without fear by understanding new working modes like centaurs, cyborgs, and self-automators.

Hit play now to learn the specific mindset and moves CEOs are using to turn AI disruption into a strategic edge.

Check out:

This is where Karim explains the surprising path from crowdsourcing and NASA experiments to machine-learning breakthroughs—and why those early signals showed him AI would reshape business, not just technology.

A must-hear moment. Karim explains why AI isn't just another tool—it fundamentally changes what expertise means within a company — and why CEOs need to view their business as a "bundle of expertise" being rewired.

This section introduces centaurs, cyborgs, and self-automators—and what these modes reveal about adoption, resistance, identity, and where value will come from as AI accelerates.

About Dr. Karim Lakhani

Karim R. Lakhani is the Dorothy & Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He specializes in technology management, innovation, digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI). His innovation-related research is centered around his role as the founder and co-director of the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard and as the principal investigator of the NASA Tournament Laboratory. Karim is known for his original scholarship on open source communities and innovation contests and has pioneered the use of field experiments to help solve innovation-related challenges while simultaneously generating rigorous research in partnership with organizations like NASA, Harvard Medical School, The Broad Institute, TopCoder, The Linux Foundation and various private organizations. His digital transformation research investigates the role of analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) in reshaping business and operating models. This research is complemented through his leadership as co-founder and chair of the The Digital, Data, and Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard and as co-founder and co-chair of the Harvard Business Analytics Program, a university-wide online program transforming mid-career executives into data-savvy leaders.

Ever feel like you want to embrace AI, but it is moving so fast? What you just learned is already outdated—and you're worried your competitors might be pulling ahead while you're still figuring it out?

This episode is basically a reality check for you as a leader: AI isn't a "someday" thing anymore. It's here, it's democratized, and it's about to split industries into the "haves" who use it to accelerate growth and the "have-nots" who get left behind. If you're trying to grow a mid-to-large company, keep your team relevant, and avoid getting blindsided by tools your people are already experimenting with, this conversation meets you right where you are. You'll hear why AI-first thinking isn't hype—it's how you protect your business and unlock more creativity, speed, and capacity across every function.

By listening, you'll walk away with:

• A clear, CEO-level way to think about AI as a multiplier, not just an efficiency tool—so you can free your team from the mundane and push more energy into innovation and growth.

• Practical guidance on adopting AI without freezing up, including how to handle the very real fear of job disruption by leveling up faster instead of resisting change.

• Concrete, cross-functional use cases you can copy immediately, from smarter customer and HR communications to rapid code generation, finance/M&A insight spotting, legal review, and hiring support—plus the "hybrid model" mindset to keep humans in the loop where it matters.

Hit play now and steal these AI-first leadership moves so you can get ahead of the curve this quarter—not six months from now when the gap is harder to close.

Check out:

• 04:30 — "AI will split the world into haves and have-nots"
  Jim tees up the urgency, and Eric immediately reinforces that this divide is coming in months, not years.

• 12:00 — "AI as the 5th tectonic tech shift + democratization"
  Eric walks through the internet → PC → web → iPhone → GenAI progression, and why democratized access changes everything for CEOs.

• 27:30 — "AI-first mindset + real business use cases (HR, finance, legal, hiring)"
  The conversation shifts into practical deployment: AI-first workflows, hybrid human+AI supervision, and concrete examples like HR response automation, M&A insight spotting, and interview-transcript evaluation.

About Eric Vaughan

Eric Vaughan is a globally sought-after speaker and pioneer of AI-driven digital clones, leading IgniteTech's AI-first transformation and reinventing products, services and the workforce while shaping the future of enterprise AI. He's known for launching two innovative AI products in just ten months and steering the high-profile acquisition of Khoros. Eric founded and led three successful software companies and managed over 50 major M&A deals. He's also a regular writer, tech educator and passionate runner who has completed 50 marathons and more than 50 ultramarathons.