Episode 111. Leadership: A Lifelong Journey (ft. Jeff Wiser)

Ahead of this weekend’s Leadership Academy, we welcome Jeff Wiser and discuss a wide range of topics: the power of saying “yes,” navigating advanced cancer, and seizing opportunities in life. 

From the early stages of development to building trust, we break down the lifelong process of pursuing leadership. 

A published author, holder of two patents, and proud alum of Medtronic and 3M, Jeff is a member of Northeast-Winslow Lewis Lodge No. 125 in Osseo, MN.

Transcript

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Why is it so important to say yes? it is important to say yes because it really leads to everything. Good in life. It leads to adventure. It leads to opportunity. It leads to growth. You know, in, in order for you to get outta your comfort zone or, or do anything, you have to say yes. And it's that initial step that, that you have to take to commit to doing whatever it is that you're saying yes to. whether you're. Doing something for your community, whether you're trying to grow as a person and l learn new skills or, or, maybe join a new organization or maybe you wanna take a vacation. Just saying yes, just leads to stuff, You have to take advantage of the opportunity now because opportunities come and you have to be not only able to see'em and, and recognize them, but you also have to be willing to grasp them. And that's the, that's the importance of saying yes. How often do we see people? Someday I'll do that someday. I'll go on that trip someday, or I will take that class. You name it. Someday never comes. You wanna know how someday came for me? My son was in first grade and he comes home and he shows me a Boy Scout flyer and he goes, dad, I wanna join Boy Scouts and I want you to be my leader. Yes. It's that simple. It's just yes. Were you ready for what that entailed? Absolutely. No. I had no training. I had no idea. I didn't, I was never a boy scout as a kid, so I had no idea what this organization was about or, or anything. And so I said yes and yes, I became his leader. that just led to a whole two decades of adventure and growth and training and, helped me not only in my family life, but professionally, it was. One of the best opportunities I've ever seized. Jeff Wiser, you're a member of Northeast Winslow Lewis Lodge number one twenty five in Osseo. Born and raised in Brainerd, Minnesota. In your early childhood, you lived on a farm where Ioda, Minnesota. What was that like? A lot of work, but a lot of fun. Um, it's a, all my good childhood stories come from the farm. How young do kids start really working on the farm? Oh, I was feeding chickens every day at, in kindergarten. That was my job after school was packed with chores. Oh yeah. You're, you're cleaning barn, you're feeding cattle, you're feeding horses, you're helping dad baille hay. You're doing whatever needs to be done. In ninth grade, you moved to a house on the Mississippi River near Brainerd. Correct. Is that better than the farm, I assume? Oh, it was better than both the farm and the resort. Yeah. Uh, all I had to do was mow lawn and keep my room clean. It was super easy. Do you know the number one predictor of adult success is the number of chores the child, kid, the child does, did not know, but I believe that keep'em busy. inre the work ethic, right? Mm-hmm. In doing that, in a way that doesn't feel like punishment, right? Well, it's part of maintaining the family, being part of the family and, and, pulling your weight for the family. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You have two older brothers, a younger brother and two younger sisters. The middle child, very much. A three. A six. Yep. How was that? It was a curse and a blessing all at once. Why, um, the older brothers pick on you, but when you try to pick on your younger brother, they protect him. So you're, you're kind of constantly frustrated with this. Um, but. I was the only child that remembers living with all my siblings, right? Because my older brother and my younger sister are 19 years apart, and so I'm the only one that grew up knowing everybody. Everybody else had to get to know each other in adulthood. You're the best seat in the house, right? You got married in 2023. Four children, two girls, two boys, six grandchildren. I can't even imagine what the holiday is like with that. Well, this Christmas, you know, just Holstein my kids, their spouses and their kids. We probably had 20 people in the house and it's wonderful. I mean, the energy that toddlers have is absolutely insane. And. I thought I remembered from when I was a, you know, when I was their dad, but oh my gosh, it's so much fun and they're always happy. They're always wanting to play, and I'm so envious of that attitude. Right. I just, what would it be like as an adult to just always play and always be having fun? Every day's a joy. Every day would be great. There's a recurring theme of every grandparent that's ever been on this podcast that talks about how the enforcement of rules to grandkids is a whole different, well, there's no rules than when they were the parents. And then your, your kids are looking at you like, really, dad? You're gonna let the grandkids do this, this, and this? Do, do you see that? Not as much. I try to let the parents be the parents. I'm just this guy that comes over and plays and has fun with them and let mom and dad decide what the structure is. Right. And I just follow along with that. my goal is to be an asset to them and not a liability. He graduated from DeVry in Kansas City, Missouri in 1989. Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering technology, and then a master's in software engineering in 2002 from the University of St. Thomas. the, my Bachelor's degree let me be a high grade technician, but corporations wouldn't view it as an engineering degree and. When I had two kids and my wife would stay at home, I needed to find a way of increasing revenue, right? Because we kind of saved everything we could save. And it's like, okay, how do you increase revenue? So I went to the University of Minnesota. And asked them, you know, can I join your master's program? And they didn't accept my bachelor's degree. They said, you're gonna have to start over. And I said, that ain't happening. And so I went to University of St. Thomas and said, yeah, we, we accept your, your bachelor's degree. uh, what graduate program would you like to. To pursue and out of the limited choices I had for night classes,'cause I was working during the day, that one seemed the most applicable to me. So in your whole career has been in the medical field repairing cath lab monitoring equipment, technical supports, working in r and d at Medtronic to technical service. At 3M, you ended your career as a quality manager with ICU Medical, a published author, two patents. And do you have time for all of this? Um, a lot of it is just driven by what you need to do at work. So, uh, the patents come from, the research activities we were doing at Medtronic, and I was on a, a, a team that was dedicated to solving problems for various groups. And when you're, when you're in the thick of that, you kind of have first, first glance at what the. The technology's gonna be needed to fix something. So that's where that one came from. And then the one that, uh, I got from 3M was, we had a product that was way overpriced and we had to figure out how to cut the cost. And, um, that just came out of a, a group of a team I was working with where we figured out a way to really cut the cost out of the product, but make the product actually perform somewhat better. How long does something like that take? Where do you start? You have to take something that exists, make it lower cost, but still have the quality. Does that. Guys like you just wired for something like that. That seems like an impossible equation. I'm a MacGyver at heart really. I, I'd like to, I'm, I'm very good at taking what I have on hand and figuring out how to make whatever I need to do work. There are some people that have really big visions and really big, grandiose mm-hmm. That, that's not me. I'm very good at just making do with what I have. that's, that's a part of it. how, as long as that take, that really depends on the team and what you gotta do. Um, fortunately in both cases I was part of an amazing team that had a lot of skill sets, and so you can, you can come up with ideas and then get assistance implementing those things. And, uh, depending the tools on your disposal, um, it can take a long time or, or a short time. It's really variable actually. you've played a crucial role on the subject of leadership In the past year, leadership's been a recurring theme with you throughout your entire professional career. Can a leader be made? In many ways, yes, there are, there are people that are naturally wired, but the skills anybody can learn and put to use, right, the skills, like how to listen well, how to communicate effectively, how to manage a team, how to, resolve conflicts, how to create a vision. How to establish a timeline, um, of milestones to fulfill that vision, right? These are all skills that anybody can learn. Um, is are there people that just naturally take to that stuff? Absolutely. think of it this way, you, you kind of got that top tier that are natural talents, but you also got that tier just below'em that have a lot of natural talent, but just need a little guidance or a little training or, or a little inspiration to move to that next phase. And that's really the, the group that I think the prophets most. And honestly, that's a much larger group, right? Is that the group that needs the nudge to say yes? That maybe they're doubting their ability to be stepping up? I, I think that's, I think that's exactly right. Um,'cause that was me, right? I was, I was naturally in introverted. not necessarily comfortable standing in front of a crowd. I didn't know how to lead a project or lead a team or lead a program, but through my, my work and through my volunteer, that stuff was taught to me. and I now use that constantly with, professionally and personally and in, in my relationships with people. And it's helped me just grow and develop as a person. you know, the side effect, the horrible side effect is, is you get a better job that pays better. What a terrible thing, right? It's horrible. Well, if new job comes, new responsibilities, you just say yes again. What have you seen as a timeline? When it comes to someone who is a little unsure, should I volunteer for the leadership training? Should I volunteer to do this initiative in my corporate job? Is it different for everybody? What have you seen? I, I think it's a longer timeline than most people think. people's rate of growth. Is obviously variable, but I think a lot of us tend to believe that growth can happen in months when really growth takes often years. Uh, for instance, if, if I took on a new role in, uh, either professionally or in volunteering, right? You spend a year, year and a half just trying to figure it out and then you, you kind of get rolling and it might take four or five years to become. Really good at it. Right. And we, we tend to expect ourselves to be good at it in a few months. Right. And you want it quick? Well, that's the generation we're in. Push button, get what I want. Why can't I be an amazing leader in three months? Well, because it takes all the stages of development to do that. Right. The, the, uh, forming, storming, norming, performing. Right. So we have to, we have to. Figure out what it is we wanna do, and then we're gonna get, frustrated and struggle and we're gonna go through this storming phase. Right? And that can take a long time. And we have to be, we have to be patient with ourselves and our growth and allow ourselves to struggle and understand that it's just a phase and we're gonna get through it and we're gonna end up on this other side. But that, that struggle is hard. Is it a lifelong pursuit? A hundred percent. I have a friend that I went backpacking with him when he was 72 he said, I, I can, because I do. I do because I can. Right? So it, it's kind of a, when you stop moving, you stop moving, the purpose of life is not to stop. The purpose of life is to go and, and seize the, seize whatever opportunities you can and, and enjoy whatever adventures life brings your way. I heard it said when you rest, you rust. Excellent. You've mentioned before you're a fan of a book called First Break. All the Rules, first Break All the Rules. Tell us more. it's a book about leadership and, and being a manager and essentially just throwing away everything you thought you knew about me being a manager and bust all the rules. And how, how so though? What does that look like? Um, my favorite, my favorite takeaway from that book was share, share information. As much as you can and don't hold back you know if you're on a project share. Share everything with the team, whether it's dollars money, whether it's output of each person on the team. Responsibilities, just overshare. Don't hide anything. Just everything's transparent. Everything's transparent. Wow. And it works really well, honestly. Would you say then someone in that leadership position is being vulnerable. They're saying, Hey, there's some things I don't really know here, and I'm gonna open this up so that everyone can contribute and see the full field, the full playing field, for lack of a better, I I think it's more than vulnerable. I think it's allowing yourself to build trust, right? So if, You don't know something or, or you don't know how to accomplish a certain task or whatever. the first step is if you can admit that to your team, there's gonna be somebody on that team that knows how and they're gonna be able to take that and run with it. But if, if you're self-conscious about that and you hide things, you're not gonna get that help. You're not gonna get that support. The measure of leadership is not how dependent people become on you. It's how capable they become because of you. That's a really good quote. it says everything, everything that you need about a leader, right? So if you enable them to grow. They become more capable so your team becomes more capable. therefore you and your team can accomplish more. Plus a lot of difficulties that, um, people have. Not just professionally, but more, more in volunteer organizations, succession planning. And if you're not, if you're not training and you're not coaching and you're not mentoring people to come up to replace you, you're gonna get stuck having to do everything all the time. And so that building, that team or, or building that support group to come behind you, I think is extremely important in, in volunteer organizations. Why is that so difficult? cause we're busy, right? Well, time constraints certainly come to mind, but what, why else is there a little pride, a little ego in there. I, I don't wanna train my replacement. I love what I do. I've got this. You just go do something else. I think that's the rarity. Honestly, I think especially when it comes to positions like treasurer or secretary, they're positions that require a lot of work and they're positions that you have to be dedicated to. and. It, those are decisions that are really hard to train the next person.'cause you're so involved in doing all the work and make sure all the work gets done right. You may not wanna delegate any of that out. Right. Because you wanna make sure it's all done Right. You want accuracy. Yeah, exactly. So I I think it's more about being busy. I don't know how to take the extra time. I wanna make sure everything's done right and, I don't know how to. Delegate things in small chunks at start and then delegate in successively bigger chunks along the way, right? Because that's, that's the key to bringing your volunteers, volunteers along, is to start small and probably know and where to start. Because what should I prioritize? Somebody that's been in that role for a long time, it comes second nature to them. They have all this institutional knowledge. They sit down with a, a mentor mentee. I think, I don't know where to begin. I, I'm gonna go back to start with a small task, right? Whatever, whatever small thing you can pass off or, or delegate out is important because a, it helps them build confidence when they accomplish that and what might seem like a small task to you, could very well feel pretty big to them, right? so if we start small and, uh, help me cook dinner. uh, prior to the lodge meeting. Right? That's, that's a start. Right? And then they can start managing a dinner every once in a while, and then they can become senior steward and manage all the dinners, right? Mm-hmm. So if we rope'em in a little at a time mm-hmm. it's kind of the key to building that. Replacement.'cause I, I don't wanna be senior steward for the, my entire Masonic career. Right, that's true. Yeah. Right. And if I don't, if I don't bring anybody along, I'm gonna be stuck there because everybody thinks I'm the best senior steward ever. And that happens. This is the guy that bakes the best meals and we, we don't want that. We don't wanna risk what the next guy might. That's so true. exactly. In my own lodge, our longtime secretary literally served in that role for 40 years, half of his life, and he did a great job and he consistently refused an understudy, he loved his gig, how did that lodge handle his departure? It was, they're still digging out of it. Yeah. Literally, this is th almost four years later, three and a half years later, they're still trying to piece things together that were taken for granted before. Now nobody has the answer. It, it's been a case study of training your successor. the vacuum that that creates is just immense and it's really hard to backfill when, when nobody knows, nobody has a training and people are having to figure it out on the fly. A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. he does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. Brother Douglas MacArthur. That one packs a punch. we've all known someone who wanted to be the leader just'cause they wanted to be in charge. I am gonna spit another quote at you. A person doesn't care what you know until they know you care, brother Theodore Roosevelt. that to me is, it kind of is injunction with that, that quote you gave me. Because we can all tell when somebody's being sincere. Right? And if we can all tell when somebody's. Trying to achieve, um, glory for themselves. It's easy to detect and it's demotivating to the rest of us, right? But if we have somebody in in charge who sincerely cares about us, cares about our growth and about our progress. That's motivating and we feel like we're not in it alone, and it feels like we have somebody who believes in us and allows us to, accomplish much more than we ever could before. I love that Roosevelt quote because it's uncomplicated and someone might hear that and think, well, yeah, I've heard that before. It's so true, and we see that in the corporate world all the time. Do you really care or are you just here to flog everybody to get their job done there? There's such a culture shift it, it's instant, it's immediate when you know that the leadership not only cares, but Well, it kind of falls into that first break. All the rules, let's just put it all out there. Everybody has a little stake in the success of this project or initiative too. it's absolutely amazing. I, I worked for the same person, the same guy all 14 years at Medtronic. how many corporate jobs have you had where you reported to the same guy for 14 years? That's rare. Really rare. He was an amazing guy. Super smart, super kind. I still meet with him today, several times a year. Um, even though I haven't worked at Medtronic for 15, 16 years now. But the relationship stayed correct. Long after you departed. And I knew he had, we had our goals that we had to meet, but inside of that he was also. Developing me and developing my skillset and promoting me and talking me up amongst his peers. I knew he had my back all the time. Right. Which gives you a freedom, right? It gives you a freedom to be creative and gives you a freedom to be, make mistakes. Well, risk, right? Yeah. Take some risk and potentially achieve more or, or become better at things rather than. Being, um, risk averse and, and trying to stay in your comfort zone? Well, if it's rigid, if the work circumstances are high pressure, high stakes, and it's transactional, you don't want to take a risk. You don't want to make a mistake because you get called out. Now all of a sudden you're scared. You're scared. All of a sudden, the microscope and the light bulb's shining on you, and you're, and, and it's scary, right? is authentic an accurate word for the leader you just described? Authentic. Um, I How would you describe him? Uh, transparent. a caring, um, knowledgeable. Was he willing to share the spotlight? Yes. Very much willing. And he would, he would never take credit for anybody else's work. So you got to walk around with a sense of pride knowing that you were recognized for your accomplishments. as of our recording today, it's January 20th. This is an anniversary for two things for you, both Masonic and health related. You were raise as a master Mason, January 20th, 2024, and you were diagnosed with cancer. January 20th, 2025. Correct. What are you feeling right now? Both blessed and struggle. Um, I'm blessed by the support of my Masonic family, my nuclear family, um, being able to enjoy this time. I've that I've had, um,'cause uh, I was laid off in April, so I've had from April till now to do whatever it is I wanted to do. and not many people get that opportunity, right. Um, my parents both passed away during their working years and so they didn't get to enjoy. That time where you, you have a good enough health to be able to go do things and, and, but be retired at the same time, in essence. so the struggle is just maintaining health each day and getting through the, the complications that come with the chemo, fighting the cancer and things like that. What's most important to you right now? Family. Making sure my kids know that I, that their dad loves them, that he's proud of them, that, uh, he's able to look at them and just feel blessed. Um, relationships. You know, I could go, could I go to Hawaii? Yeah. but I'd rather go play with my grandkids a hundred percent of the time. Right. Um, it's, it's magical in a way. What's a story you'd like to tell? Um, a story I would like to tell is The first thing that came to mind, first thing that came to mind, um, I'm in first grade and I lived on the farm and we had a, a foster child. uh, she was in fourth grade and we were gonna go pick, um, berries at the other end of the pasture. And so we started walking through the pasture. Normally my dad kept the bulls out, separated from the cows. So we were walking through the cow pasture on this particular day. The bulls were with the cows, and while cows will leave you alone, bulls are a little protective. And uh, it was a rectangular to pasture. And there's one tree in the middle of the pasture and at the opposite end is a row of trees. And we get next to that central tree and the bolt comes out of the herd. Running right at us. Right. Moving with a purpose. Oh yeah. Oh boy. A large purpose, right? And, and I'm, I was the smallest kid in my class and we started running and the only safety zone was the trees at the other end of the pasture. And I'm, I'm going as fast as my little first grade legs will take me, right? And she out distances me. Rapidly, and I can, I can hear it still today. I can hear the, the footsteps behind me. Boom, boom. And as, as, as, as he's breathing, I was nostrils. I thought for sure I was gonna be trampled to death. Right. And I'm running as fast as I can and I'm going, I'm going, I'm going. And I'm just, I don't even have to turn around because I know right where he is at.'cause I can, I can hear him on every step. And I get about 10 feet from the tree line. And she has beat me there and she turns around and this is a fourth grade girl, and she goes, blah, at the bull, just yells at him and that bull stops dead in his tracks, literally stops dead in his tracks, gives me time to climb a tree, and she saved my life that day. What brings you joy or peace right now? Um, living in harmony with the ones you love. There, there's so many people that have so much conflict, drama, um, struggle in their lives, and they don't know how to either put that stuff aside or resolve it, and so they. they live in this state of tension all the time, and if, if you can let go of that and just live in peace and harmony with the ones that you love and your family, it's, it's, it's, it's just sense of just calm and joy. You spend a lot of time in the professional and corporate world, which Microsoft product represents you the most? Microsoft Excel, well, you didn't even let me finish a word. Is there? It is? Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or Outlook. Okay. Why? Um, just because it's organized, it's structured. Yeah. And it's so versatile. You can do so many things with Excel. Right? I've built test systems that were controlled by. A visual basic program embedded in Excel where it's controlled test equipment and everything else, and then just stored all the data inside that Excel file. I mean, it was, it's so powerful and so easy to use and, uh, it's just the way my brain thinks. You had several siblings, you have kids, you have grandkids. What movie is so bad that it's actually entertaining to watch? There has to be something in this Rolodex of options. So bad. It's actually fun to watch. I'm a personal fan of Baseballs personally and right along the same line as the Prince Bride. I used to have a tradition that, uh, whenever I went on a boundary waters trip with, with, uh, my siblings or, or nieces, nephews or kids or whatever, we'd come out, you know, early in the morning, get home mid-afternoon, unpack, then we'd sit down and watch space balls I showed it to my older brother, my oldest brother, and he looks at me, he goes, there's an hour and a half I'll never get back. but it's a fabulous movie. It's great. It's so well done. It's so great. It never gets old. The importance of saying yes. That's something to really think about long term. Jeff Wiser. You have made a difference in so many lives and impacted and touched so many. We love you, brother. Thank you. Love you back.