Change is hard. Managing change for a large organization is even harder. Selma Wilson is the Vice President of Organizational Development for LifeWay which means, among other things, that she is overseeing much of the transition happening at Lifeway (merging divisions, consolidating offices in preparation to move, morphing into being a mobile workforce, etc.), particularly as it pertains to the human aspects. We had the pleasure of asking our five leadership questions of Selma in this episode, and, as usual, her gracious others-focused spirit and keen leadership insights shone. Enjoy!

Best Quotes

“I love helping people reach their full potential in Jesus Christ.”

“God’s plan for family is so similar to God’s plan for organization.”

“It’s so easy to be reading everything else and forget that primary source all of learning and all of life comes from God’s word.”

“There is no such thing as a 9 to 5 job any more, especially in leadership.”

“You can’t specialize any more because one person cannot possibly keep up.”

“You’re going to need three things to survive in the market in the future: the ability to deal with change, the ability to lead and understand people, and the ability to communicate.”

“We have to teach people to own their own development, to be proactive in that.”

“One of the things I tell women in leadership is ‘you’re not a victim here, not in this country. You’re empowered to grow yourself.”

“The whole hierarchical system of leadership is over.”

“Leadership is going to have to be a collaborative effort of multi-talented and gifted people who come together to share a diversity of insight that will cause something greater to emerge than any one person could do alone.”

“30% of your workforce will love change and jump right in. About 40% are going to want to but will need a little help and some tools. 30% are going to have a really hard time.”

“In our churches and in our non-profits people are really needing help learning how to deal with change.”

“Because we’re Christian and we’re southern we’ll be nice to each other in a meeting then go back to our offices and speak the truth. People in power need the truth spoken to them.”

“It’s such a waste of energy when you’re a different person in different places.”

Recommended Resources

Selma on Leadership (Selma’s blog)

Leading Change by John P. Kotter

Digital Disruption by James McQuivey

Change Your Space, Change Your Culture by Rex Miller, Mabel Casey, & Mark Konchar