“Change is Only Hard for the Unready”

You’ve experienced a lot of change at VSP Vision Care, over three decades with a company going from an insurance company doing business in three states, to being a powerhouse today covering more than 80 million people worldwide. How do you help the people you lead to effectively navigate all that change?

There has been a lot of change. And this question, Thuy, I think is even more relevant with everything that we’ve been through from a pandemic standpoint.

Yeah, for sure.

I mean, change, even the word change, I think just means a different thing now than it did three years ago. There is a quote I love, “Change is only hard for the unready.” And it’s by Cy Wakeman. And she has really connected that idea of being change ready, all the time. And that’s something that I think is very important in today’s environment. Probably coming out of the pandemic, one of the things we learned is, you’re never going to have all the answers, that the most important thing is to be change ready and to be agile and to be competent in the skills of problem solving.
One that comes to mind is just leading with compassion and empathy. I think that’s extremely important and supporting people to take risks around change and understanding that everyone needs each other. Transparent communication is critical in change, and happy to even talk more in depth about that because communication is at the core of so much from a leadership and change standpoint.
I think focusing on what has been gained during change versus focusing on what may feel like a loss during change. And then just going back to your question around purpose and alignment as a team, just remembering what your Northstar is and the why behind what you’re doing. I think that is critical, and that all, I think, maps back to leading with heart and making certain that you’re keeping your team connected on what really matters day to day.