Most CEOs want to be liked. But as Julie Szudarek shared with me on The Scaling CEO, being “nice” can blind you to underperformance and stall your company’s growth. The real kindness is accountability.
Julie is the CEO of Self Financial, a fintech on a mission to bring credit-building tools to over 100 million Americans. Her path to the corner office started with a college application essay declaring she would become a CEO, and she’s done it twice.
She scaled Groupon’s $2 billion international business, grew ATIDA into a seven-country pharmacy powerhouse, and now leads one of the fastest-growing mission-driven fintechs in the U.S. She knows what it takes to lead in chaos, regulation, and hypergrowth.
Leadership Is Earned, Not Given
Julie admits she misunderstood leadership early.
“Leading is really hard. Just because you have a title like manager, director, or CEO, people don’t just follow you because of that. It is a tremendous amount of work every single day.”
CEOs must remember: authority doesn’t create followers. Clear communication, motivation, and trust do.
Baptism by Fire at Accenture
Her first major test came at 22, when she was suddenly left in charge of a complex coding project she didn’t understand.
“I bought myself a FoxPro book… and I just got into it over the weekend… I put together an action plan and brought someone in to help. It was incredibly stressful, but we got through it.”
That experience gave her confidence she could tackle any challenge, a lesson every CEO must internalize to scale.
Move Fast on Two-Way Doors
At Groupon, chaos was the operating system. Julie learned the value of speed, tempered with judgment.
“It is great to move fast, but you have to be really clear on one-way and two-way doors. On two-way doors, you should move fast because if it doesn’t work, you can recalibrate. On one-way doors, you slow down.”
This framework helps CEOs decide when to act quickly and when to apply caution, especially in regulated industries.
Accountability Is Kindness
Julie warns that being a “nice” CEO often means avoiding tough conversations.
“Hard conversations in and of themselves can actually be a form of kindness. It’s just a more uncomfortable form of kindness that you need to get used to.”
Employees crave clarity, not vague encouragement. Accountability isn’t cruelty, it’s leadership.
Regulation as an Advantage
Julie has scaled in two of the most regulated industries: healthcare and financial services. Instead of seeing regulation as a barrier, she treats it as a moat.
“It’s about understanding what regulators are trying to accomplish… applying a reasonableness filter, documenting your choices, and building flexible solutions that work across markets.”
For CEOs, regulation can slow competitors who lack discipline. The ones who master it move faster.
AI From the Inside Out
At Self Financial, Julie isn’t waiting for AI to happen; she’s institutionalizing it.
“Everyone at the company has an enterprise license to ChatGPT. We have a centralized AI ops team and department champions who identify the top three opportunities in their function. Then we train and measure ROI.”
Her philosophy: AI must deliver measurable ROI, whether in efficiency, quality, or scalability.
Final Takeaway
Julie Szudarek proves that leadership isn’t about being liked. It’s about earning trust, holding people accountable, and creating clarity, even when it feels uncomfortable. Scaling requires discipline, speed where reversible, caution where permanent, and the courage to lead through regulation and disruption.
I’m Glenn Gow. I coach CEOs who want to scale by leading with clarity and accountability. On my podcast, I uncover the strategies top leaders use to grow bigger, faster and with confidence.
Listen to the full episode of The Scaling CEO with Julie Szudarek for practical lessons on accountability, leadership, and AI-driven growth.
