In this Women’s History Month episode of Building People, Companies, and Careers, host Amy Pack sits down with Mercedes Aycinena, Co-Founder and CEO of Scalewell, to discuss leadership, entrepreneurship, and navigating career growth as a woman in business.
Key Takeaways
Podcast Transcript | Brought to You by AccruePartners
Episode: Women in Leadership, Values-Based Decision Making, and the Courage to Raise Your Hand
Key Takeaways
In this International Women's History Month episode, host Amy Pack sits down with Mercedes Aycinena, a global healthcare executive with over 20 years of experience spanning pharma, medical devices, med tech, and dental, and a leader who has built her career across Europe, Latin America, and the United States. From her roots in Madrid to the CEO seat, Mercedes shares the defining moments, hard decisions, and mindset shifts that have shaped her approach to leadership. Here is what you will take away:
- Why values only matter when they cost you something? Mercedes made one of the hardest calls of her career when she let go of two high performers for ethical reasons. Revenue took a hit. But trust deepened across the organization, and that moment clarified the kind of leader she was determined to be.
- How leadership authority shifts from granted to assumed. Early in her career, Mercedes waited for direction and executed well. Over time, she learned that leadership is not handed to you. It is assumed through accountability. Framing decisions as alignment rather than approval is what changed how others perceived her and how she perceived herself.
- Why building people and building results are the same conversation. Inspired by the philosophy that taking care of employees first is what drives customer and business outcomes, Mercedes reduced turnover dramatically as a CEO not through slogans but through real action: listening, adjusting compensation, creating career paths, investing in development, and protecting culture.
- The leadership myth that strong means loud, calm means soft. Mercedes had to unlearn the belief that effective leaders dominate rooms and project certainty. She now believes calm is power, that emotional intelligence at the top is not optional, and that psychological safety is built through humility rather than perfection.
- How challenging the status quo is an act of leadership, not disrespect. One of the most impactful things Mercedes wishes she had learned earlier is that questioning how things are done, when done thoughtfully and with accountability, is not being difficult. It is the behavior that drives meaningful improvement and innovation.
- What psychological safety actually requires from leaders. Creating an environment where people feel safe to speak up, try new ideas, and fail without penalty does not happen through cultural messaging. It requires deliberate behavior from leaders every single day, including modeling vulnerability and rewarding courage over compliance.
- Nobody is going to crown you. You have to raise your hand.
Mercedes competed against eight external candidates for an executive role after a company president said there was no internal talent. She built a plan, secured support, made her case, and got the job. That same pattern of self-advocacy repeated when she pursued the CEO role. Confidence is not about knowing you are perfect. It is about knowing you will figure it out.
Episode Transcript
Episode Guests & Host
Host: Amy Pack — AccruePartners
Guest: Mercedes Aycinena — Founder & CEO of ScaleWell Partners
Introduction
Amy Pack: Welcome back to Building People, Companies, and Careers. I'm your host, Amy Pack. At AccruePartners, we partner with organizations during times of growth, change, leadership transition, and transformation here in Charlotte, the Carolinas, and beyond. In honor of International Women's History Month, today's conversation features a woman leader who has shaped organizations across three continents, driven impact in one of the most complex and meaningful industries in the world, and redefined what leadership looks like at every stage of her career. Mercedes, I am so excited to have you with me today. You grew up in Spain, started your education there, then came to the US to continue it, and your journey from there has been remarkable. Let's start where we always start. Tell me about yourself.
Mercedes Aycinena: Thank you so much for having me, Amy. I am from Madrid, Spain, born and raised, but I have spent most of my career living and working across Europe, Latin America, and the United States. I have over 20 years of experience, always in healthcare. That is my passion and what genuinely gets me going every morning. I have worked across pharma, medical devices, pharmacy, supply chain, med tech, and dental, mostly in commercial functions including marketing and product management, and eventually I became a CEO. Now I help founders scale their startups. I also have three teenagers at home, so I go to work to relax.
Amy Pack: I was going to say, that is a whole different level of work right there.
Mercedes Aycinena: They are good kids. Just not always at the same time.
The Decision That Defined the Leader Mercedes Aycinena Chose to Be
Amy Pack: When you look back at your career, what moment or decision most shaped the leader you are today?
Mercedes Aycinena: It was not a single moment. It was more of a shift. As my teams grew and my responsibility expanded, I realized that the more impact you have, the less it is actually about you. I do not love the term servant leader, but I do believe strongly that leaders set direction and strategy, then build the systems, the structure, and the support that empowers their teams to execute. Their success is your success. But there was one specific moment that clarified the kind of leader I wanted to be, and it was a hard one. I had to let go of two top performers for ethical reasons. At the time, I knew it was going to hurt. And it did. Revenue in that region took a hit. But culture did not. As I watched trust deepen across the organization in the weeks and months that followed, I understood something clearly: if I had not acted, I would have been signaling that performance mattered more than integrity. Leadership is not tested during easy times, and values only matter when they cost you something.
From Waiting for Direction to Setting It: How Leadership Authority Is Assumed
Amy Pack: Was there a point when you had to stop waiting for permission to fully own your seat at the table?
Mercedes Aycinena: As your accountability over a business or team grows, the less you can afford to wait for permission. Early in my career, I waited for direction, executed well, and waited for approval. But leadership eventually requires you to walk in and say: here is the direction, here is what we are doing and why, here are the risks, here is the mitigation plan, and we are moving. When I needed alignment from others, I positioned it as alignment, not as asking for permission. And most of the time, I did not get significant pushback. Not because I was perfect or forceful, but because I was accountable. That shift from receiving direction to setting it is how other people's perception of you changes. More importantly, it is how you change how you see yourself as a leader. Leadership is not granted. It is assumed through accountability.
Building People Is How You Build Results: A People-First Leadership Philosophy
Amy Pack: How do you think about your responsibility as a leader when it comes to developing people alongside delivering results? Obviously, results matter, but so do the people creating them.
Mercedes Aycinena: Building people is how you build results. Those are not two separate conversations. I align closely with Richard Branson's philosophy that when you take care of your employees first, they will take care of your customers. As a leader, it is critically important to build an environment where high performance feels both fair and sustainable. When I was CEO, we reduced turnover dramatically. Not through slogans on a wall or slide decks. We did it by genuinely listening to what employees needed and then acting on what we heard. We adjusted salaries, created career paths, invested in tools and development, implemented real work-life balance, and made hard decisions to protect the culture when it was necessary. I believe culture and profitability rise together when you take care of the team. Without the team, there are no results.
Amy Pack: And you were navigating all of that during a period when nobody had agreed yet on what the new work environment was even going to look like. Hybrid, remote, in-office. You had just built a new office space. Those were genuinely complex circumstances to be leading through.
Mercedes Aycinena: Yes, and the answer was still the same. Take good care of your teams if you want real results. The context changes. That principle does not.
Calm Is Power: The Leadership Belief Mercedes Aycinena Had to Unlearn
Amy Pack: What belief about leadership did you hold early in your career that you eventually had to unlearn?
Mercedes Aycinena: I used to believe that being calm and kind, which is very different from being nice, was perceived as soft. I also believed that strong leaders know everything, dominate the room, and always have the answers. I was wrong on both counts. Calm is power. During a crisis, it steadies the room and creates space for resolution. During periods of growth, it builds trust. You can be ambitious and empathetic at the same time. Those are not opposites. You can be deeply supportive and still make very tough calls. And you absolutely do not need to know everything. You need to surround yourself with people who do, keep learning, and be willing to ask for help. Leaders need to be resilient and motivating, but it is also okay to be vulnerable, to acknowledge when you are not at your best, and to admit when you are wrong. Stubborn, closed-minded leadership is genuinely unhealthy for a business and for everyone around it. Psychological safety is not built by perfection. It is built on humility. Strong leadership does not have to be loud, but emotional intelligence at the top is not optional.
What Meaningful Success Looks Like Beyond Revenue and Title
Amy Pack: As you look ahead, what does meaningful success look like for you now, beyond title and achievement?
Mercedes Aycinena: My vision for a company goes beyond a revenue number or an EBITDA target, even though those matter. To me, success is building a workplace where people genuinely want to show up most days, without the Sunday scaries. Earlier in my career, title and scope were the markers of success. Now the questions I ask are different: Did I build something sustainable? Did I elevate the people around me? Did I stay aligned to my values? If I can look back and see that teams are stronger, more capable, and happier because I was part of their journey, that is success.
Rapid Fire Questions
Amy Pack: What is one piece of advice you wish someone had given you ten years earlier?
Mercedes Aycinena: Challenge the status quo early and often. Not to be contrarian, but to make things better. The people who create the most impact are not the ones who protect the default settings or the way things have always been done. They are the ones who question those defaults, take calculated risks, and find a better way. I wish I had trusted that curiosity and that instinct to challenge much earlier in my career. I spent too long worrying that pushing back was disrespectful. It was not. It was leadership. And for that to be possible in an organization, leaders have to build psychological safety where people feel genuinely comfortable speaking up about what is not working, where they can try new ideas, and where failing is treated as learning rather than liability. It takes good leadership, good mentorship, and personal courage. But when all three are present, the results are remarkable.
Amy Pack: I hear that often, and I think part of it comes with maturity. But how do you accelerate that in someone earlier? Because the sooner people develop that muscle, the greater the impact they can have.
Mercedes Aycinena: Exactly. And the answer lives with the leaders around them. When leaders model psychological safety and reward courage over compliance, people learn earlier that challenging the way things are done is not a career risk. It is a contribution.
Amy Pack: What is one bold move that changed your career trajectory?
Mercedes Aycinena: It was the first time I raised my hand for a bigger executive role when the president at the time had publicly stated there was no internal talent ready for it. Everyone was offended. So was I, but not for long. I thought: he barely knows me, let alone what I am capable of. So I built a plan. I asked for feedback from people who would be honest with me. I secured internal support. And I put my name in against eight external candidates. I got the job. That moment changed how I saw myself and what I believed I could do. The same pattern repeated years later when I pursued the CEO role, a role where I did not check all the traditional boxes, but I knew the business, I knew the people, and I knew what good could look like. Nobody tapped me on the shoulder. Nobody is going to crown you. At some point, you have to realize that you have to raise your hand, state your case, and ask for the seat. I recently heard Barbara Corcoran say that playing the victim in an unfair situation is just handing away your power. That has stuck with me. Focus on what you can influence, speak up, and go for it. Confidence does not come from knowing you are perfect. It comes from knowing you will figure it out.
Amy Pack: You have to be your own biggest advocate. Nobody else is going to do it for you.
Mercedes Aycinena: Exactly. No one is coming to do it for you.
Amy Pack: Mercedes, thank you so much for sharing your story with us today. Your journey across industries, continents, and leadership roles is a powerful reminder that integrity, accountability, and the courage to raise your hand are what actually drive a career forward. We are grateful to have had you.

Mercedes Aycinena: Thank you, Amy. It was a genuine pleasure chatting with you.
