The Memphis Business Leader Who Puts Business Last
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, Kemmons Wilson Jr. grew up in one of America’s most successful business families after his father founded Holiday Inn. But after decades in business, mentorship, and Christian discipleship, Wilson says success belongs far lower on the priority list than most people think. In this installment of our Faith in Action series, the Memphis business leader reflects on friendship, faith, marriage, mentorship, and why “business comes sixth.”
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:25.6 | And we continue with our American stories and with our Faith in Action series where we tell stories about how people of faith live it out in the public square. |
| 0:31.1 | Today's story comes from a business and community leader in Memphis, Tennessee, named |
| 0:36.0 | Kemmins Wilson Jr. |
| 0:38.2 | Kemmins has previously shared the great story of his dad founding Holiday Inn, which you |
| 0:43.0 | can hear at Our American Stories.com. |
| 0:45.8 | And today, Kemmins shares his own story. |
| 0:49.6 | My faith walk, really, was, I didn't come to the Lord till I was like 30 years old I had been asked |
| 0:58.8 | four or five times to get into a Bible study with some young guys my age at the time and I was |
| 1:06.4 | always too busy and I really wouldn't avoid them. |
| 1:11.6 | I didn't particularly want to do it. |
| 1:13.6 | It was early in the morning, so I wouldn't have missed anything. |
| 1:17.6 | But we really did have a lot going on with five kids in the business. |
| 1:22.6 | And finally, they asked me a fifth time, and I said, this is over the course of maybe three |
| 1:30.6 | years, I said, yeah, I'll do it. |
| 1:33.6 | And so I go to that Bible study, and believe it or not, that was a long, long time ago, |
| 1:40.0 | those same guys are meeting, we met this morning at 7.30. |
| 1:46.0 | So I've got 55-year history with the same guys. |
| 1:54.0 | It really is amazing and we've held together. |
| 1:59.0 | And it's John Stemler, Ron Hickman, Rick Moore, Rick Collins, |
| 2:06.1 | and Fred Schaefer was there. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 4 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.