In this concise interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts Amanda Schleede, CEO of Vital Circle, a woman‑owned, Chicago‑based company that provides clinically‑led daily COVID‑19 symptom tracking and proximity‑based contact tracing for organizations. Amanda explains how Vital Circle’s technology focuses on capturing the duration, date, and distance of contacts without invasive data collection, and she humorously counters privacy concerns by noting that everyday smartphone usage is more invasive. The conversation shifts to leadership, where Amanda emphasizes the importance of aligning a team with the organization’s mission, vision, and values, and she stresses the need to make tough hiring decisions—removing misaligned employees early to protect group momentum. She advocates for vulnerability in leadership, sharing that admitting uncertainty and learning from failures builds trust within teams, illustrated with anecdotes about her developer Paul and designer Lenny. Amanda also recommends three fellow health‑tech leaders—Paul Roepke (CEO, Project Sparrow), Benny Matthews (founder, Orion 3), and Brad Lawson (CEO, Fern Health)—as potential podcast guests. The interview concludes with a personal story about her first job managing a Dairy Queen in high school, highlighting early leadership experience and family humor, and provides contact information for Vital Circle via its website and LinkedIn.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
So hello, Professor Pete. My name is Amanda Sladey. I am the CEO of Vital Circle. Vital Circle is a clinically led COVID-19 daily symptom tracking and contact tracing company founded obviously during the pandemic. We are a woman-owned business founded and headquartered here in Chicago, and we provide leaders with the data and analytics they need to mitigate the risk of potential exposure and spread of COVID-19 in their population.
Well, Amanda, it is a pleasure to have you on the show, and I suppose you're probably a little bit busy with COVID A little bit, a little bit. Oh, great. Question number 2: What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
So that was a really good question when you sent it to me, and I was thinking, I was like, God, I was like, there's so many things I could talk about. But I will be honest, the biggest thing that brings smiles or makes me laugh is when I have conversations with clients or potential clients around contact tracing. It amazes me the questions that I get about it. You know, oh, it's Big Brother, you're recording us, all that other fun stuff. You know what I always like lovingly say to people? Your cell phone is actually more invasive than the technology that we use. I mean, how many times have you had a conversation with somebody about, you know, some new product that's come out market, and then the next day you open up and in your Google feed you got that product advertised, or in your Facebook feed? So, you know, I always lovingly say to people that, you know, for us, we look at proximity contact tracing as, you know, wanting or, you know, lovingly say, I don't care where your contact happens. I just care about knowing that it happens. And so, you know, for us, we focus on just knowing the duration, date, and the amount of distance for the contacts. Again, don't care if it's at the line at McDonald's, don't care if it's in conference room A, B, or C. So it's always funny for me when people are like, well, you're recording my conversations. You know, you know exactly what I'm having for lunch every day. And I'm like, seriously don't care. I mean, I care, but I seriously don't care.
Yeah. And I totally agree about the phone and the web and everything all connected and stuff. It's always crazy how you think, okay, how come they know about this when I just was talking to, as you said, with a friend or you clicked on a particular link and now you're just getting bombarded. So absolutely it's way more. Yeah, very good point. Question number 3, I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read? Wow.
I mean, number 1, I think it's exciting that you have that book, and I'd like a copy. Is it available on Audible?
Ah.
You know, I think the biggest thing is looking at your mission and vision and, to some extent, values of your organization and making sure that the team that you've built around your organization believe in that mission and vision. And I really, I believe that that's really the base and the structure of putting any type of organization or human beings together, you know, focused on, you know, an endpoint or a goal. And I think a lot of times as leaders, we look at it more from a financial standpoint. And I think, you know, I'm not saying that finances aren't important. I'm not saying that money doesn't drive people. That's not what I'm saying. So don't quote me on that. But what I'm saying is, I think You know, when you have a unified mission or vision with regard to your company and the team that you've hired and that the team you created and put around you follows and believes in that mission and vision, you're going to be way more successful than if you're, you know, forcing it down their throats. You know, and I think the other thing that's really important for leaders, and I've talked about this on other podcasts, is identifying those people who are just not on the same path as you. And making that hard decision to pull off the Band-Aid sooner than later, because I think waiting and thinking, oh, we'll get this person on board, or this person will come along, but they're really a great CPA, or they're really good, whatever their position might be, it actually is detrimental to the rest of the group and really having that focus forward movement.
Yeah, I totally agree with you. You have somebody that's the wrong person in the wrong seat, and it's just— yeah, I like what you say about ripping the Band-Aid off because it's just going to prolong the agony if not. So it's great insight. Question number 4, other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice would you give to other business leaders?
So this is another good one. I think it's vulnerability. And when I say vulnerability, it's not crying in front of your team, although I think every company should have a crier. But I think it's being vulnerable as a leader. You know, learning from not only your wins, but also from your failures or your losses. You know, as a leader, raising your hand and saying, you know, I don't have the best decision, or I don't have the best idea behind this. Because I believe if you've built the right team around you and the right individuals, they're going to be there for, you know, the long term, and they're going to have the same path of growth as you. And for, you know, for me to be able to say, you know, say to my developer Paul, I have no idea how to do this, but this is what I want to do. And he can come back to me and say, you know, this is a bunch of hooey, we're not going to do it, it's a waste of time. Or be like, oh my God, this is a great idea, here's how you do it. You know, I think that just builds trust in your organization and within your team. Because quite honestly, even though my title is CEO, doesn't mean that I have all the answers. And it doesn't mean that even the answers that I have are always going to be right. So I think it's about being vulnerable. I think it's about owning up to not making the right decisions and kind of raising your hand and saying, hey guys, sorry I took us down this path, but like, let's backtrack, let's reverse and see how we can fix this. Or I take ownership for the decision that was made, but it was the wrong decision, and let's figure it out as a team.
I really like that a lot, and you're absolutely right. When the leader is vulnerable, in my experience, that does create a lot more trust because that person— the people that report to that person, they realize, okay, that person person's human. And it's just, it's amazing how, and how you shared that insight. It's fantastic.
Yeah. And I just find, I mean, even with my team, when I, you know, I use Paul as an example, but, you know, my designer Lenny, I love her to death. And I'll say to her, okay, this is what I want on the page, but I have no idea how to make it look good, you know. And I always— funny, I, when we originally first started out, I built, you know, just a generic website to hold our, our domain name. And she went out and she goes, oh no, Amanda, oh no, no, no. And I was like, Lenny, I was just holding the swatches. No, no, no. I was like, I know this is not my zone of genius. I know, you know. So it's really just being vulnerable and being a human being.
Mm-hmm. I love it. Great, great insight. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
So interestingly enough, I know you've said one, but I actually have 3 that came to mind really quickly. So Paul Roepke, who is the CEO and my development partner here at Vital Circle with Project Sparrow, um, Benny Matthews, who is the founder of Orion 3, which is based here in Chicago. And then I also thought about my friend Brad Lawson, who is the CEO of Fern Health.
Oh, great! So we got 3 of them. I appreciate you, uh, give me those referrals. I'll reach out to them. And our final question, question number 6: please tell me about your first job.
So this is super exciting. Um, my first job was in high school high school as the manager of a Dairy Queen. So we actually had family friends who were franchise owners, and the son had referred me to the dad and said, hey, I have somebody who'd be a really great manager of one of our locations. I remember in high school, starting weeks after starting and being running the, you know, the full Dairy Queen, the dad came to me and said to me like, oh, so what year are you in college? I was like, oh, I'm a sophomore in high school. My mom drives me to work every day, you know. And he was like, what? You know, so, you know, even to this day, we joke We joke about it in my family. My parents still call me the Dairy Queen princess. And then another funny story from that is we had a drive-through. This was back, you know, I'm dating myself by saying, you know, this was in the '90s when you didn't have headsets for drive-throughs. And, you know, Dairy Queen has burgers. And my dad used to purposely come through the drive-through and scream on the speaker, "I will take a Brasier burger, please." So, you know, it always made me, it always reminded me just to laugh and to, you know, now back then it embarrassed the crap out of me, but now it makes me laugh. Makes me laugh.
So, and that's what a parent's job is, is to embarrass their kids, right?
Number one job, safety.
Absolutely. Well, Amanda, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
Um, they can reach out to us through the website. Our website is www.vitalcircle.health. Um, and also feel free to email me. Um, I'm on LinkedIn as well. Would love to connect.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Find hundreds of previous episodes on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening.
