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Words from the Wise
Join Words from the Wise with Gary Wise, a retired Navy Command Master Chief, for authentic leadership insights forged in real-world experience. Through engaging discussions and actionable strategies, Gary empowers you to master emotional intelligence, build resilient teams, and unlock your full potential. Tune in for practical advice on delegation, conflict management, and inspiring others, drawn from his over 28 years of service and ongoing leader mentorship headquartered now in Ocala, Florida.
Words from the Wise
Positive Intelligence: The Mental Fitness Framework for Leaders
What if your mind could work for you rather than against you? Dr. Leigh Byers introduces us to the revolutionary concept of Positive Intelligence—a mental fitness framework that trains leaders to quiet their inner saboteurs and lead from a place of wisdom, creativity, and empathy.
Drawing from her extensive background as a Seventh Level Leadership consultant, nonprofit executive director, and Liberty University professor, Dr. Byers explains how Positive Intelligence differs from Emotional Intelligence in a profound way. While not everyone may naturally possess high EQ, anyone can develop their mental fitness through positive intelligence techniques, making this approach incredibly powerful for diverse leadership contexts.
The conversation reveals Dr. Byers' personal journey from being recognized for leadership in sixth grade without understanding what leadership meant, to becoming a multifaceted leader who balances academic roles, consulting, and nonprofit work. Her transparency about her own top saboteurs—hyper achiever, hyper vigilant, and pleaser—demonstrates how even leadership experts struggle with the voice of self-sabotage, and how reframing these tendencies can transform leadership effectiveness.
Particularly insightful is the discussion of leadership burnout, which Dr. Byers characterizes not as quitting, but as losing energy, focus, and strategic thinking. Her advice on preventing burnout centers on mental fitness, collaboration (finding your "first mate"), and utilizing tools like the "wiser elder self" visualization to maintain perspective. These practices become increasingly relevant in rapidly growing communities like Ocala, where leadership challenges multiply alongside population growth and diversification.
The episode emphasizes that leadership development is both personal investment and community contribution. By strengthening our own mental fitness, we become better equipped to guide others through change and challenge. Whether you're an established leader facing burnout, an emerging leader seeking direction, or simply interested in improving your mental fitness, this conversation offers valuable insights for your journey.
How might your leadership transform if you could quiet your saboteurs and lead from your sage perspective? Join us for this thought-provoking episode and discover the mental fitness practices that could elevate your leadership to the next level.
And I know I was born for this. I know I was born for this. Don't care for the critics my words and my physics are forced and they can't stop. They just don't get it. I think they forget I'm not done till I'm on top. I know I was born for this. I know I was born for this. I believe. I believe we can write a story. All right, everyone, here we go.
Gary Wise :Once again, it's Gary Wise. Wise Leadership Solutions, with another one of our Ocala-inspired guest speakers. Today I'm going to be bringing you Dr Lee Byers. Dr Byers is coming from Seventh Level Leadership Consulting here in Ocala, florida, as well as multiple nonprofits and working with Liberty University as a leadership professor. So I mean, ms Byers is going to be bringing a lot of information to our Ocala Inspired stage and it is an honor for us to have her here today with us. So here she is. Welcome to the stage. Hey, ms Byers, how are you doing? Hey, great to see you. Gary, you're very wise. Okay, I'll take that. I appreciate it. You know, what's funny is we have an affinity for owls right.
Gary Wise :You like owls and I like owls, so that's a connection right. We'll take that. That's fun. So, doc Byers, one of the things I want to start off talking with you today besides your resume and we'll get into some of that but you are bringing a positive intelligence to the stage and Ocala inspired, and actually you're one of the first people I've ever heard with that leadership credential or that leadership training. So could you kind of fill us in a little bit as to what that does for leaders in our society today?
Leigh Byers :Well, one of the things that's very challenging as a leader is that you're not just managing yourself. You're managing everything that's going on under your umbrella, and that umbrella is humans. And one of the challenges as a leader is that often we are so invested in everything that we have to do and all the humans that we are leading that we don't invest in ourselves, not recognizing that we actually do need to invest in ourselves and our mental fitness to be able to manage all that. In our best space, we can manage things in a very aggressive way or, you know, very authoritarian way or just different ways where we can just make it happen right. Leaders are make it happen people. You come from a military background. You know that better than anybody, I'm certain.
Leigh Byers :But there are actually options for us to manage things with a positive mindset, with mental fitness and positive intelligence is something that I quote unquote tripped upon as I was stepping out of entire life.
Leigh Byers :I was 28 years in Miami and relocate my entire life and this kind of popped into my experience and it was an epiphany of how we need to build our mental fitness to be able to move forward and be at our best self.
Leigh Byers :So this is not just about individuals for me and my coaching, because this is a tool that can be used in varied environments.
Leigh Byers :But positive intelligence is a mental fitness framework developed by Shirzad Shamim. It helps us identify and quiet the internal voices of our self-sabotage and it's what he calls saboteurs and strengthens our inner sage. So our saboteurs are on the left side of our brain. Our sage brain is the right side of our brain. Now it can cross over a little bit, but primarily that's how it functions and the part of us that responds with wisdom, empathy and creativity in difficult situations is when we can actually subdue the saboteur mindset that we have and build our sage. So in simple terms, it's a way to train your mind to work for you rather than against you, and a lot of times I don't think we realize how much we beat ourselves up, beat others up in our brain and even circumstances, and positive intelligence helps us to manage that. We don't need to totally get rid of it, because we need to have a survivor side of our brain, but we don't need it all the time.
Gary Wise :What is the contrast between what you're saying and emotional intelligence? Because I know they're linked, but I know they're also separate and I think that they both have a place in the seat at the table, because I hear what you're saying and I think self-sabotage is one of the most challenging things for leaders to deal with, because we're always so worried about all the things that are beyond our control, right?
Leigh Byers :Yes, so one of the things, I actually was an executive director of a mental health organization.
Leigh Byers :I actually was an executive director of a mental health organization and I actually have a high level of emotional intelligence. But emotional intelligence is not something that everybody has. Simply Some people are just not wired for that. You can build it, but it takes quite a while if you can build it and there's a different type of investment in that. And positive intelligence is something that you can actually implement in all kinds of personalities Doesn't matter, we can all build our positive intelligence and to me that is the most important thing because recognizing that there are tons of different personalities out there my favorite personality assessment is Myers-Briggs and that is something I think is for me, the most accurate and how it plays out. And when you recognize that in Myers-Briggs we have these four different personality elements and understanding that it's very difficult to say everybody can have a high EQ. I think everybody can develop their EQ, but they don't all have that capacity. And positive intelligence is actually a mental fitness tool that can be applied to all levels of people.
Gary Wise :I love that because I agree, I think, that it takes so much experience to go into the EQ realm, and positive intelligence is a way that you can meet a bunch of different people at where they're at and then give them tools that they need to build in that inner strength to handle all the adversity that's going to come. That's a win. I think that's a win, and you know, like I know, that as a leader of humans, you've got to meet them typically where they're at in order to help them figure out where they're going to go in the future. You know, can I call you Doc? Do you call my Doc Byers?
Leigh Byers :You can call me whatever you want Dr Leah Byers, dr Byers Doc.
Gary Wise :Byers. All right, doc, I'm going to hit you with Doc. Doc, how did you get into the space of going from corporate or going from executive level leaderships of nonprofits into working primarily with leadership development of people? What's that journey look like? And just curious how you ended up in Ocala and now presenting to people in the Ocala inspired stage.
Leigh Byers :Well, it's kind of an interesting component. I think it's something that I've always been wired for and it's just a season of life where this opportunity has opened up. But I have a funny story of when I was in sixth grade and I was in West Virginia and I was in the elementary school. That was, sixth grade was the top level elementary school, and I was sitting there and they were giving out awards and I got an award for leadership and I didn't even know what leadership was, which is kind of funny back at the time. But it's something that for me.
Leigh Byers :I played sports in high school. I ended up coaching in basketball. I've done all kinds of you know coaching, which is just how I'm wired to do that anyway, and I've always ended up in scenarios where I am not just the doer, I'm the one that's the delegator, the builder and elevating other people to be what they are. And so this is just a drift into now me being able to support people that are at higher levels, that have bigger responsibilities, and they kind of need somebody that can have compassion and support for them and guide them in some areas that they may need to manage themselves and others, but knows that I have a varied bunch of experience. So I come from both, also a retail experience academic I was in a vocational academic admissions manager for a season and I've had a varied exposure to different things and just come to the table with wanting to support people. I've always been wired that way.
Gary Wise :Right. And I think the other thing is you can relate to a lot of people because of your experiences, right? So you can. You not only have the years of experience, the resume, but the relational ability to say, hey, I get where you're coming from. And leaders a lot of times we feel alone, you know. We feel like that there's not as many people pulling as we are and and it's a facade because they're everyone's trying, it's just you just, for whatever reason. I get back to that self-sabotage thing. You start to tell yourself that you're alone. Okay, doc, so what's a typical day like for you now that you're in this leadership development coaching space? Do you have the routines in place that keep you consistent? Are you a person that likes to try new experiences? How does that look for you now and for the people that are going to come and listen to you speak, and for the people that are going to come and listen to you speak.
Leigh Byers :Well, in the reality for me, I like to do a lot of different opportunity tasks, and so I'm on some boards of directors, I have a nonprofit, a little sidebar nonprofit, and I'm also, as you mentioned, an assistant professor for Liberty University and I have even a little side marketing business that I do that supports my nonprofit and does stuff like that. So I'm just somebody that's wired to do varied things, and the leadership component of all of that is that I really think that leaders need opportunities to have some varied experiences, and I always say I'm a jack of all trades, master of none, but that can be very helpful to some people. I always say I'm a jack of all trades, master of none, but that can be very helpful to some people. And so my days I do.
Leigh Byers :Obviously I'm organized because I can make all this happen, but I do pick days where I focus on one thing versus another, but I can rotate those things as I need to, and my mission is in working with teams and organizations. Also, leaders have that all the time. This is not something that doesn't happen for somebody that's a CEO, because they have different departments they have to oversee, they have different missions and strategies that you're trying to deal with, and so to me, that's the whole component of even why I function the way I do, because it's not just about being focused on one thing, it's about how do I manage the overview of everything that I'm doing to make the mission happen.
Gary Wise :Right. I find one thing that's pretty consistent among leaders, which is a lot of the things you just brought up we like to stay busy. We have a lot of things that are kind of moving in the fire. We have the tendency to welcome opportunities and or new, exciting challenges. How do you manage not taking on too much as you work through all the things that you're working through and, by the way, living a full life with a family and figuring out the things that you do when you're off time for fun?
Leigh Byers :Well, I think it's very important to have the things that align with who you are, to have the things that align with who you are and that is the biggest wonderful thing about being a coach and I'm sure you can appreciate this as opposed to, maybe, being a therapist or something like that. Therapists cannot be very transparent about who they are and how they function. They have to keep that boundary between them and their clients, whereas for me, as a coach, I'm not limited to that and it's an incredible opportunity for everybody's different but for me to be able to be the transparent person that I am. I'm also a person of faith and I like to support people in varied ways that way also, and I find that it's just so key that we are able to focus on who we are in a positive way. So I will just give you kind of a funny note about my top saboteurs. There are 10 and my top are hyper achiever, hyper vigilant and pleaser.
Leigh Byers :Okay, but all of those things have a positive side component to them. People have personality sides to that. I actually have most of those variety of saboteurs, but the hyperachiever the difference between somebody that's achieving things and somebody that's a hyperachiever is is my value and what do I achieve? Or is my value? I am who I am and that is the value. And the achievement is just something that I can do and I enjoy and hopefully is serving somebody, and the achievement is just something that I can do and I enjoy and hopefully is serving somebody, and it's keeping the balance of those two things. So I don't know if that perfectly answered your question.
Gary Wise :It does. You know, I just had that conversation actually with a person this morning that is also a hyper achiever and I told her. I said you know, it's okay for you just to be who you are and it's not about you wanting the recognition or the accolades. You're just a person that likes to go out and do a lot of the things that you're doing and what's cool is you're choosing to do them because you want to bless people, benefit people. You're not really doing it because you want that recognition but unfortunately sometimes people will get those confused right and they'll think oh, you just think it's all about you.
Gary Wise :I did the Hogan assessment once upon a time when I was going to my CMC program and that's a command master chief job that I had when I was in the Navy and they said one of my worst character traits, plus one of my best character traits, was that I always wanted to be the one in the leadership position, not because I I thought I was better than anybody else, but because I just I cared for my team so much that I wanted to win and I typically felt like I was the best person for the opportunity and and to be careful with that, because people might perceive that as me being selfish or wanting to always be the one in the limelight, and years later of experience I've learned how unfortunately true that can be, and so I've learned to make sure I share people in leadership positions and then to coach them up is much more strategically better by just being the one that's out there leading the charge and taking the hill, and it helps just balance everything out as well, not always having to be the one in charge, you know.
Gary Wise :So, looking at leadership development, looking at areas especially like Ocala, where do you think this field is going in the next five to 10 years? Do you see any significant changes? Do you see anything that's going to really? I mean, leading people has been pretty consistent for a long time. Humans are still going to be humans. Ocala is definitely growing. Do you have any unique perspectives you'd like to send out so people can kind of have an idea what they should be looking forward to?
Leigh Byers :idea what they should be looking forward to. Oh my, do I ever? Yes, I lived 28 years in Miami and I still go down there, I still serve down there, and what I can tell you is what I'm observing about even the area that I'm in how things are going. This is an area that is growing very quickly and it is so much different, I'm sure, than it was 10 years ago and it will be so much different even five years from now, the way things are happening and it is the growth. I love also that the Ocala community is diverse, because I'm used to that and I love that.
Leigh Byers :And if you knew my family, I have a varied group of grandkids, nieces, nephews, all kinds of people that are from different, diverse backgrounds, and I love the fact that this is something that Ocala has. And in fact, I was somewhere the other day and I'm like am I in Miami? Because somebody was speaking almost entirely Spanish in the location that I was at. So I know what's happening here is coming. I see it in the location that I was at. So I know what's happening here is coming. I see it in the neighborhood that I moved into. I see the upgrading of what's happening in this area.
Leigh Byers :This location is changing, and I think what's really important is that Ocala keeps moving forward. I did the Ocala Citizens Academy and it was a great experience and I got to see the background of a lot of this, and I think Ocala has a really good foundation to build off of, and I am excited for the potential of organizations, companies that are going to be drifting into this area so that we will need to be able to support the leaders. The education environment is growing. That's another area that I think is very important. It's growing. Obviously. We're seeing them building new schools, things like that. There's just so much happening. So the need for leadership support and also the collaboration amongst people is really important and it is, believe it or not, it is not just an Ocala issue. It's a global issue.
Gary Wise :So Well, and I would definitely say, at a minimum, it's the United States of America issue, because so much is happening at the federal level and then into the states and then to the counties and into the city, that I think that there's just a lot of inertia, a lot of movement, a lot of things happening. I can feel it everywhere I go, I can hear it when I talk to the kids at school, when I'm teaching, and I think that because of our proximity to being near Jacksonville, orlando, tampa, we have a very unique ability to be strategically located for a lot of people to want to live here and bring opportunities here, but not the kind that you're going to outwardly just see all the time, because they're going to be leveraging technology right, they're going to be in buildings doing things that I think the average person in Ocala would not know is even happening in their neighborhood. Unless they were plugged in, unless they were actually getting out of their house and going to talk to people, they might just think, man, there's a lot of traffic or wow, there's more schools getting built. But there's so much opportunity for our community here that I really want our leaders to get out and to meet people and to collaborate with people and to recognize that, like coming to Ocala Inspired, yes, you can get exposure to people like Dr Byers, myself, or we could give you some information that maybe you've never heard before but I mean, odds are you might've jumped online somewhere and heard it.
Gary Wise :But the real value besides the information that maybe you're gonna hear from us, that's big. It might just be who you meet at this event that can maybe give you opportunity. So that's one of my things I really want to get across to anybody listening to us today talking. This is not just a live, in-person leadership development event, but it really is a leadership development networking opportunity as well. Right, absolutely. When you look back on your years of leadership and you look at either the nonprofit space or you look at the nonprofit space, or you look at the corporate space or you look at the faith-based space, is there any advice you wish you would have had years ago that you could have passed forward, or that you could give to somebody out there who thinks they want to go into the space of leadership but is not quite a certain where to start?
Leigh Byers :Well, one of the things that I think is very important in leadership and I actually have a book coming out soon, but I have a blog on this called Lead your Ship and it's the idea that we always need our first mate and recognizing that, as a leader, we are not by ourselves and when we act like we are by ourselves, that's where we drift into burnout or we shift our personality to something that really isn't the essence of who we are and that is so important. To recognize that we need collaboration, whether it's internally with the organization or externally with a mentor or a coach. It's very, very important for people to leverage the fact that you're not alone in your leadership.
Gary Wise :Huge, and so what's fun is we just had a conversation last night with somebody about burnout, and our conversation was based off the premise is burnout a real thing or is it something that is overhyped, over-sensationalized or misunderstood? And we both of course both of us on the line had been burnt out before. So of course we know it's real, but we also know that there could be a stigma out there or a perception that people use language and they don't really understand what they're using. And so when you think of burnout, I just want to kind of pick your brain a little bit. What do you look as being indicators that somebody could be burning out and what would you recommend that they do to help? Maybe to help, maybe I would like to say prevent it, but I know that it's. I would say, how about?
Leigh Byers :managing it, managing the situation to help prevent the burnout. So one of the things about burnout is that it sounds like you just like stop and you quit, but that's not really burnout. Burnout is when things are taking place and the energy, the focus, the vision, the strategy are not being managed and pursued. You're just tired. You're just trying to maintain, you know, and that, to me, that maintain is sometimes not the moving forward piece that a leader is required to do. That's not what we're brought into. The component of what we've been brought into is not maintenance, because maintenance goes like this, but then it can go like this, and that's a big challenge for a leader. And so I think the biggest thing is to constantly be investing not just in all the work that you have to do, but also in your again mental fitness. And that is very simple, believe it or not? Very simple things. It's about being in the present. It's about understanding the essence of yourself is not the tasks that you're doing, the things that you accomplish, the things that you don't accomplish. It is actually being in a mental space of okay, I can innovate this, I can navigate this, I can make this happen, but I can do it again, as I say, always in a collaboration idea, remembering that the people have different perspectives that can bring something to the table A lot of times.
Leigh Byers :Sometimes when a leader's burnout, they don't want to hear from anybody. They're just like just do it my way, you know, don't you know? And I feel like it's very important for people to consider that there are others around that have different perspectives. There are others around that have different perspectives. Sometimes a manager gets more information from their frontline employee than they can get from their CEO, and people don't always want to accept that, but it's important to recognize that everybody brings something to the table and it's that hooking arms, collaboration. There's a guy in Europe and his name is Peter Hawkins. He's written a 400 page book and it's based on WeQ and it's the idea that we should be functioning in a WeQ mindset.
Gary Wise :Okay, you know, I, I agree, I, I believe that when I start recognizing burnout symptoms or cause, for me, burnout is a symptom of probably greater problems, like I'm struggling. Because for me, burnout is a symptom of probably greater problems, like I'm struggling, I'm losing focus as to why I'm doing something, I'm not feeling valued, I'm feeling like the work I'm putting in is not appreciated. Those are the things that would really, really, really really hurt me, because those are at the core, the reasons why I do things right. I do things because I want to bring value, I do things because I want to contribute, I want to be a part of a team, I want people to trust me and all those things. And so the minute those things I feel like I'm losing those or I'm not receiving those, that's where I start to feel burned out. It's not for me like hours I'll work the hours I'll put the job I love to be inspired.
Gary Wise :And so what I've learned for me is when I start to recognize those things. It's when I, that's when I need to talk to somebody, and primarily it's the people I'm worried about. Am I meeting their expectations, want to have that conversation. And then, of course, my loved ones make sure that they know I'm okay or I okay, check in with all of them. I think that for people, they just really have to know for them what are the symptoms, what are the areas they might be recognizing they might be becoming burnt out on something, and how do they replenish, or how do they get their cup filled. Now I want to reverse this. How do you best help people that live an inspired life? Their cup stays full, but maybe they feel like they're limited in their current position and they're looking for greater opportunities in the future, but they don't know what they are quite yet. What do you do with that person?
Leigh Byers :Yeah, I think that is something that somebody has to really be willing to be open to other opportunities and kind of seeing the big picture, and one of the things that I think that we need to understand as humans and we live it all the time, but sometimes we avoid it.
Leigh Byers :Some people do not enjoy change is not something that we always initiate.
Leigh Byers :As you well know, there are things that happen that we have to navigate and manage when it comes to us, and so I think somebody that's going into a good, they're in a good season and they may not really know exactly what they want to do it's really time to take a moment and really reflect.
Leigh Byers :There's something in positive intelligence called your wiser elder self and visualizing yourself, you know, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, where you've already lived out a good portion of your life, and reflecting on where you are today and thinking through what would I be thinking about this 10 years from now or 20 years from now? And that actually sometimes can help somebody make that shift into oh, you know what, I've always wanted to do this and I never did. Maybe this is what I need to focus on, and or, you know, your wiser elder self may say just enjoy this season and don't worry about it, because something's going to open the door. But it's the idea of recognizing that we can take some time to really reflect and project if we choose to do that.
Gary Wise :Yeah, I've seen some people, myself included we love to start things, build things, get them up to somewhere where they're operating at a high level, synergize the team and get them operating well. Then, when it comes to that maintenance piece, they're like ah, that's not really my, that's not my thing, I want to go somewhere else, you know. And then when they lose out on, there's that opportunity to kind of manage the I wasn't going to say the problem, but manage the process of things, allow life to be good in other areas too, because building something can take up a lot of time. And then you know you blink and your kids are getting older or you're missing opportunities to go outside and walk and see the sun and cause you're just living such a focused life. Um, you know, doc, I think that you've you've given us a lot of really good value and I think that, uh, positive intelligence is definitely something that people should be excited to learn more about at Ocala Inspired. Is there anything else you'd like to cover or to discuss today before we wrap up today's call?
Leigh Byers :Just to say that I think this is a season for people to invest in themselves, and I'm excited that you have invested in this community with the Ocala inspired event, because it's an opportunity for people to pause, to get some different perspectives and to invest in themselves, which is an investment in others as a leader and I think that's a big deal, and that is something that we, as leaders, need to constantly do for ourselves and others is to keep going, you know, keep learning, keep exposing ourselves to things, because we can, as humans, just get very, you know, in a very focused mindset and not consider that there are other things out there that could actually help us grow and improve.
Gary Wise :And it's always so inspiring when you get to be in a room full of people that are actually interested in the similar things that you are, especially leading groups of people, because not everybody wants to step into the arena and be a leader. They think they do until they get the opportunity, and none of us have it figured out. We're all growing, we're all learning, and so that is exactly why I want to do this event to help give people the chance to meet really experts in our local community. You don't have to go down the road two hours to talk to Dr Myers. If you're in Ocala, you can connect with her and go get coffee consistently and she can help you out with your life right, and especially when it comes to your leadership and your career. So thank you, doc. I appreciate you. If you stick around for a minute.
Gary Wise :I have a few things to discuss with you on the backside of this, to everybody listening to the sound of my voice thank you for your time. Thank you for spending it with us. We hope to see you at ocala inspired on july 25th and please continue to watch for more information. Thank you to everybody. We're signing off. Bye, okay.
