Leading through values and respect with Barb Wilson

Join me, Debbie Collard, for this inspirational conversation with Barb Wilson, chief financial administrative officer at Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri. Listen to Barb's journey, deeply rooted in family values, which has shaped her extensive career across both for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Discover how Barb's leadership style, honed from her early days at McDonnell Douglas/Boeing, emphasizes respect, inclusion, and community engagement. Learn about her significant role at the Girl Scouts, where she oversees a substantial budget and various departments, ensuring the mission to empower the next generation of women leaders is well-funded and effective.

Show Notes:

(5:40) We talk about values-based leadership. Barb shares an example of her core value of family. She advises leaders to think about what is really driving you so you can stay in alignment with your values. 

(7:20) Barb shares a story about her unique leadership opportunity transitioning to another culture and environment in the Czech Republic. She talks about how she viewed the opportunity as “only upside” and made the most of her leadership experience. 

(12:53) We talk about leadership excellence and Barb emphasizes the importance of leaders recognizing the next leaders and how she helps other leaders grow. 

(15:48) Passions, favorite jobs, strategic discussions and developing a rolodex of mentors - we talk about all the things that lead to a rewarding career. 

(24:50) Actionable advice – Barb leaves listeners with this: never forget where you came from, and leadership is a life-long commitment.
 
About Barb: Barb is the Chief Financial Administrative Officer for Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri where she is a key strategic partner and collaborator, guiding the organization's financial oversight for accounting, business services, retail, property management, capital projects, risk management, contracts, and technology functions of the organization. Prior to her current position, Wilson served as Senior Finance Director with The Boeing Company where she held a variety of progressively senior roles in finance and program management. A native of St. Louis, she has actively participated volunteering time in her community and is a very proud Girl Scout Alumna. Barb holds a B.S. degree in business administration, with a concentration in management, from Auburn University. She has also earned an M.B.A. degree, and M.A. degree in computer resources and information management from Webster University and a M.S. degree in national resource strategy from National Defense University’s Industrial College of the Armed Forces. She is a graduate of the 2007-2008 FOCUS Leadership St. Louis® program and alumni of Defense Acquisition University.

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