Shane Emmons:
Leadership Beyond the Code
Going from coding solo to managing 30 engineers overnight was a crash course in leadership for Shane Emmons. He quickly learned that success wasn’t about technical perfection—it was about fostering collaboration, aligning vision, and reducing fear-based decision-making
Bio
Shane Emmons is the Founder and CEO of Swept.AI, a company challenging the way we think about the management of artificial intelligence. With 25 years in the tech industry, Shane brings decades of deep expertise in data science and modeling, combined with 15 years of hands-on experience as a startup engineer and executive. His journey through the startup landscape includes early failures, 9-figure successes, and every waystation in between.
An active voice in technology discourse, Shane shares his rich insights through blogging and LinkedIn, focusing on critical issues such as AI ethics, organizational design, and technology and businesses strategies. At Swept.AI, he is at the forefront of developing advanced systems for validating and supervising AI agents, setting new benchmarks for ROI, reliability, and transparency in the field.
Shane’s leadership style is profoundly influenced by ‘teal’ thinking, which prioritizes adaptability, shared purpose, and self-management, a mindset cultivated under the mentorship of his long-time coach and friend, Dr. Keith Merron.
Topics
- The transition from individual contributor to executive leadership
- Why technical skills don’t make you a great leader
- The role of fear in decision-making and how to manage it
- How to lead through influence instead of authority
- The importance of context-sharing in leadership
- Lessons from managing an already-established team
- How volunteering can develop leadership skills
- Breaking down big goals to reduce stress and increase success
- Why leadership is more about communication than execution
- Learning to navigate office politics as a technical leader
Guiding Questions
- What was the biggest challenge when you moved from engineer to executive?
- How did your perspective on leadership change after managing a team?
- Can you share a moment when you realized leadership wasn’t just about technical skills?
- You mentioned fear plays a huge role in leadership—how did you learn to manage it?
- What strategies helped you transition from “doer” to “influencer” in your company?
- How do you approach making decisions when team members have different incentives?
- What’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned about managing people?
- Why do you believe volunteering can be a great leadership training ground?
- How can leaders create a culture that allows for small failures without fear?
- What advice would you give to someone moving from technical expert to business leader?