SheBoss | Mission Over Ego with Amanda Hooten
In this episode of SheBoss, Megan sits down with Amanda Hooten, Founder of Blaze Solutions LLC, for a real conversation about what it costs to chase the wrong kind of success - and what it looks like to walk away and build something better.
Amanda helped scale a government contracting firm from $17M to over $70M in revenue. By every external measure, she was winning. But she was watching something else: the gap between results on paper and how leadership was actually showing up day-to-day.
That gap changed everything. She trusted her instincts, walked away at the height of her career, and launched Blaze - built around the kind of leadership she actually believed in.
They also dig into what accountability really looks like in practice, why "mission over ego" is more than a motto, how women build credibility in rooms that weren't designed for them, and the moment Amanda realized that saying "I don't know, but I'll find out" is actually what earns respect.
If you've been achieving on the outside but quietly questioning whether you're building the right thing... this one's for you.
In this episode, we cover:
• The $17M to $70M journey - and why Amanda left anyway
• What "mission over ego" means when the quarter is hard and the team is struggling
• The difference between accountability that drives people and accountability that burns them out
• "Excellence has to be earned" - and what that looks like in practice • Building credibility as a woman in male-dominated, high-stakes environments
• The moment that finally made her launch Blaze - and what surprised her most
Want to learn more about Amanda? LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theamandahooten Web: https://www.blazesolutions.com