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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
What Are You Telling Yourself When No One's Listening?
Unlocking the secret language of true leadership begins with mastering the conversation you have with yourself. Gary Wise pulls back the curtain on his journey from high school dropout to Command Master Chief in the Navy to reveal how authentic communication transformed his leadership impact.
This episode explores the critical difference between leaders who merely talk about their vision and those who embody it through consistent action. Drawing from his military experience commanding damage control divisions on aircraft carriers and his current work teaching Navy Junior ROTC, Gary demonstrates how internal clarity directly influences external effectiveness.
The conversation dives deep into why your personal leadership story matters – not as a polished presentation, but as a genuine connection point with your team. You'll discover why vulnerability strengthens rather than weakens leadership positions, illustrated through Gary's powerful story of defending team members who made mistakes during a high-pressure inspection.
Most leadership fails because of a "say-do mismatch" – when words don't align with actions. Through practical examples from Navy deployments and classroom leadership, Gary provides a blueprint for communicating with clarity and consistency, even under stress. He outlines how to simplify complex messages, connect daily tasks to bigger missions, and build trust through relentless authenticity.
Whether you're leading a military unit, classroom of students, or corporate team, this episode offers actionable communication strategies that transcend setting. The wisdom shared goes beyond typical leadership advice – it's about becoming a leader people follow not because they must, but because they believe in both your message and your character.
Outro Music. I was born for this, I believe. I believe we can write a story. All right, everyone, how you doing? It's Gary Wise here, wise Leadership Solutions, and I'm coming live today because I'm working on filming our new Wise Leadership Academy videos, which are going to talk about different leadership topics that I know matter and that I believe that most leaders are going to want to already have access to. But if you're a new leader or you're somebody who's thinking about getting into the leadership conversation, then these are topics that you might want to start with.
Gary Wise :I've gone through leadership through my entire adult life military 25 years, command master chief, got my master's in organizational leadership a whole bunch of fun things and the purpose of these videos and this Wise Leadership Academy are a few things. Number one, it's going to be to help me get better at doing YouTube and making videos and talking to a camera doing YouTube and making videos and talking to a camera. Number two, it's going to provide content or information to the people that are following me or going with our channel, that are looking to grow, and they're going to hopefully pick up some lessons learned as I talk about the leadership methods or the leadership topics that I picked for that day. And then also, you know a lot of my students because now I'm a high school teacher. I teach at a Navy junior ROTC in Ocala, florida. A lot of my students watch this content or they actually take the listen to the different content that I put out, and the thought behind this is they'll get something from this. Of course it'll be reinforced through all the teaching that I do in school, but I want to go ahead and just keep putting out the information. We're currently out of school right now, so I would say we're in a palm period. So a palm period for those of you that never been in the military, is essentially some downtime between a deployment cycle or in preparation for a deployment cycle.
Gary Wise :I look at every school year essentially like being a deployment and I look at the school year as being and I say that because it's very operational for me right Our cadets. We work six, seven days a week, most weeks. I don't think people understand how much work they really put in, and then the instructors in the ROTC program are also putting in with them. So typically for me I'll get to school Monday morning at 7.30 or every day, 7.30 in the morning and I'll have cadets showing up as early as 7.45 for before school practices and training, then after school, every day of the week there's a different practice of some flavor, and then, of course, on the weekends are our competitions or our community service events. So we stay very busy.
Gary Wise :So I say that the school year is like a deployment, because once we start that school year, I'm locked in. I'm locked in and essentially it's not an eight-hour-a-day job or a position, and if you look at it like that, then you're going to have, I think, a better perspective. If you're looking at it like I'm just trying to punch a clock and have a 40-hour work week, I think you're going to struggle. What's fun about that is it's almost like that with everything I've ever done in my life, and I think that for most leaders entrepreneurs, business people, professionals, people that are really committed to what they're doing they're going to have a similar, I would imagine, outlook. So today we're going to be talking about communication. Communication is the lifeblood of leadership. It is going to be one of the most important things you're ever going to do as a leader, whether it's as a husband, a spouse, whether it's as a leader of people, a follower of people, and I want you to be relentlessly authentic in this communication and I want you to understand that the vision is what we're usually starting off with and the communication is the heartbeat of the vision. And I want you to understand that the vision is what we're usually starting off with and the communication is the heartbeat of the vision and it leads to inspiring everyone else. If you have not yet subscribed to our content or to our channel, please do. Thank you Understanding that when you start doing communication and leadership, it's not always about what you say, it's about what you do and they've got to match up.
Gary Wise :You cannot have a say do mismatch, and it's got to be about what you say. It's about what you do and they've got to match up. You cannot have a say do mismatch, and it's got to be about what you say to yourself and it's got to be about what you say to your team. Internal clarity, internal communication is, without a doubt, my opinion, the most important communication when it comes to anything in life, not just leadership. Most important communication when it comes to anything in life, not just leadership. And the truth is, what are you saying to yourself in the quiet of your mind when you're waking up, when you're looking in the mirror, when you're brushing your teeth, when you're dealing with frustration, you're dealing with challenges. The things that you're saying to yourself are going to be what helps you or what limits you. And I want you to understand that, because too many leaders, I think, are giving themselves negative self-talk, but they're wondering why their followers are not possibly connecting. And we're going to unpack that a little bit today. We're going to talk about internal clarity and then external impact and how to lead with purpose.
Gary Wise :If you looked at the last video, I filmed the first video of the Wise Leadership Academy, which someday I'll put into a different course, but for now, again, it's just practice. This is me just getting in front of the camera, getting to be comfortable and learning how this whole thing works. But purpose was the first video. Why it's the reason that we all get out of bed in the morning. It's the reason why you want to put yourself in this position. It's the reason why I want to get on this camera. I put myself out there, which is very similar to how I put myself out there in my life as a leader, because once you step into that arena, you are opening yourself up to feedback, step into that arena. You are opening yourself up to feedback, criticism, recognition, all the above, and you have got to have a solid reason why you're doing it.
Gary Wise :Right behind purpose, though, is going to be communication, and whether you're able to adequately communicate with the people that are on your team or yourself. Again, internal communication is where I want to start. Your team or yourself? Again, internal communication is where I want to start, and this is the hard truth If you can't lead yourself, you're not going to be able to lead other people. If you cannot discipline yourself, if you're not able to communicate with yourself, you're going to struggle with understanding where other people are going or coming from. It's like, imagine you're getting in the car and you're going to drive somewhere. I've been there where I was just driving and I didn't really, theoretically, know where I was going, but I probably wouldn't really invite a lot of people along for that ride. You know, a leader needs to have an idea of where they're going to be going, and in order for you to communicate, you've got to have that vision first right, and so you need to understand what's the destination, what are you hoping to accomplish, and where would you like to see the team go Again.
Gary Wise :I'm mentoring NJRGC cadets. Typically every year we start off with about 200 kids. In my program we usually whittle it down to about 185. But you know what, throughout my years of leadership, my first trip that I was actually a leader, I would say, was the USS Ogden. I led a damage control division or repair division, probably about 30 people right Give or take. And then I had, of course, all the DCPOs, the ERO-9 Bubbas, but at my biggest as just a damage controlman on an aircraft carrier, as just a damage control man on an aircraft carrier, I had about 75 to 80 damage control men that worked for me. And then I had a general quarters, all the 10 repair lockers, about 100 people in each repair locker plus a training team of like 130 people. So I'd have a thousand people damn near twice a week doing training drills, doing things that I needed them to do to best be prepared to defend the ship. How did I get them to do that? I did that because I was able to communicate with them the vision and have them understand that we have got to be able to either defend our ship from casualties. We've got to train to make sure that we're prepared if, god forbid, the worst things happen, which, as you see in the news today, the United States Navy is getting a little more action out there on the high seas. Unfortunately, on those ships, people will come out there and get very comfortable and I would tell them you've got to be uncomfortable, because this is an industrial environment. Your whole day can change because of a slip trip in a fall.
Gary Wise :Right Now, as I teach high school kids, I will start off the school year with these children and we'll start with what's the vision for the school year? Right, and the vision is different at different levels. I have a vision for my hardcore leadership team, for my cadets right, that top tier percentage. I've got the vision for the cadets that are involved in multiple activities but they're not super, super ROTC to the gills. And then I've got probably the majority of my students that just are in the class and they want to have the experience and the exposure and that's typically where I focus my attention and the vision for them is to hopefully give them exposure to ideas that brings value into their journey and to help them. I want to be an addition to everything they're doing, not a detractor. I want to be something that's helping their high school experience be amplified, because they only get to do it once. You only get to be in high school one time. And so if I can help with my program to give them not only inspiration, enthusiasm, motivation, but also to help them do better in all their other classes, while preparing them simultaneously for life after his high school, that's the vision, that's the win.
Gary Wise :It starts with me getting up every day and telling myself all those things I just said are in me as my purpose, and now I'm communicating that purpose with them. And after them, seeing the actions that match the words, they come back because they believe that right, and then they enjoy the process, which is another fun part of leadership. And then they enjoy the process, which is another fun part of leadership. Again, remember, your mind is your first audience. You've got to clarify what you're trying to do, what's your vision. It's not about just thinking. It's about literally talking to yourself to make sure you're fired up, asking yourself. So I did an exercise yesterday, as I'm working Wise Leadership Solutions yesterday, as I'm working wise leadership solutions, as I'm working with my own family, I'm asking myself where are we trying to go?
Gary Wise :Okay, so once I figure out where I want to go, which right now it's just I want to communicate with the world and get better at sharing the message and the ideas and the inspiration and then, after we achieve a certain number hopefully of subscribers, there might actually be an opportunity to turn this medium of YouTube into possibly a line of income. But I'm also hoping that it will open up other doors in the future that I think God is going to provide to my family and to my team, and I want to continue to connect with my family and to my team and I want to continue to connect with my students and my community and give them opportunities to probably get involved so we can generate opportunities for everyone, because I believe that leadership, collaboration, community and networking can open a lot of different doors, especially as we start to connect with the right people that have the right ideas, that are just looking for help. I mean, that's almost always what I'm looking for is help. I can do a lot of things by myself, but it's fun having people helping you out.
Gary Wise :Understanding that, where you want to go, what you want to achieve, having the end in mind up front is going to be crucial as you reverse, engineer the process to think about. All right, so what do I got to learn to do that thing? What do I got to do to do that thing? And then where do I start? Right, but it doesn't matter if it's leading a team, it doesn't matter if it's raising your kids, it doesn't matter if it's being a role model for for children or our community or mentors or protégés or people that want to work with you.
Gary Wise :You just got to kind of nail it down so you have an idea of where you're going. You got to feel it. You got to be able to connect with it emotionally. You got to feel that energy, that excitement. You got to be afraid. You got to have that gratitude. You've got to know, man, I'm happy to be alive today and I'm looking forward for the opportunity to work towards my dreams. And they keep all of these emotions anchored together. In addition to your purpose, you've got to be real. You got to be vulnerable. You've got to be able to share with people that you're not sure if this is going to work out. It's okay to have doubts. It's okay to not be all the way confident with whatever it is you're working on, but know that I'm going to put the work in and I'm looking for feedback, I'm looking for friends, I'm looking for peers, I'm looking for trust, I'm looking for people that want to connect with me and not just give me, hopefully, the help, but also the truth, right? If it's not a good idea, let me know.
Gary Wise :This is one of my favorite things I love about my wife, my wife. God bless her. She is my, she's my coach, she's my mentor, she's my teammate, she's my friend and she will let me know if it doesn't sound good, if it doesn't look good, if it doesn't smell good. I have to be careful, know if it doesn't sound good, if it doesn't look good, if it doesn't smell good, I have to be careful. That's in my own house. I have that. Not everybody has access to that, but this is something I think you should be looking for in a life partner right Now.
Gary Wise :Has it always been like that? Not much. I'll be honest with you. It started off from the very beginning. I remember one time she told me we were dating and she was like thank you very much, captain Obvious. And I was just like who says that to somebody? But she was not wrong, right, she was not wrong and some people would let, they would get offended or that would hurt their ego or they would not like being around someone who's going to tell them the truth. But for me, man, I really appreciated it, because I've been around too many people that would always just tell me the great things and they wouldn't always tell me the feedback. And when somebody really loves you and they care for you and they want to see you win, they're telling you the truth. But they're not trying to hurt your feelings. They're just trying to let you know that you've got some areas to improve and we've all got areas to improve.
Gary Wise :You know, when I I dropped out of high school when I was 15, I did, I jumped out of high school when I was 15 years old. That well, the school asked me if I would change schools because I was not being good in their school, because I was hanging out with a bunch of people doing a bunch of bad things and coordinating things that weren't supposed to be happening outside of school. So they asked me to go to a secondary school. So my parents and I agreed I go to the secondary school. I walked in the secondary school day one. I recognize that a bunch of people there that I didn't like. They didn't like me. This wasn't going to work, I wasn't going to be able to focus, so I just left school. You know it wasn't them, it was me. I'll own that. And this is the first time I dropped out. I went back to school.
Gary Wise :I did four high schools and essentially a year and a half of high school education. I grew up in the state of Utah and in Utah you go to high school 10th, 11th and 12th grade. So in 10th and 11th grade I essentially touched four high schools, really 11th grade. I did all of 10th grade in Granite High School in South Salt Lake on 33rd South right Fifth East. I did whole 10th grade at that school. But during my 11th grade year I left Granite, went to Central, ended up down there at American Fork High School, ended up up in Ogden, up at Northridge High School. So four different high schools never even completed the 11th grade and then I eventually just recognized that I'm not going to go to school. I four different high schools never even completed the 11th grade and then I eventually just recognized that I'm not going to go to school.
Gary Wise :I was a mess. I was a mess and unfortunately I really didn't have anybody that I was listening to that could get through to me and let me know what kind of a mess I was. It wasn't until I got the opportunity to join the Navy and shit. It wasn't until excuse my language. It wasn't until after I got the opportunity to join the Navy and shit. It wasn't until excuse my language. It wasn't until after I joined the Navy and I met my wife that I finally realized that I needed to really grow up and I really needed to do better Right. So imagine if somebody could have got through to me between that age of 16 and 20, I mean, I met Erica when I was 23. So 16 and 23,. That could have been really life-changing. And I had some significant mentors I'll cover in other areas but nobody that was really able to ever connect with me.
Gary Wise :I tell all of you this because I want you to understand that your role as a leader you could be the person that's going to communicate with that person going through that rough journey. And if you are somebody who wants to be a leader and you're coming out of a rough phase or a rough chapter or whatever it is, then the first step has got to be how do you communicate with yourself and how do you change your current situation? I used to have a friend named Jason and I remember one night we were talking about joining the military and we were up having this conversation of where we screw ups, or did we just screw up Cause we could? We would not let ourself believe that we were screw ups, but we just kept screwing up. Is there a difference? I don't think there is. I think it's a mentality right. So you've got to get honest with yourself and be just clear as to what you want to do and don't be lying about it. Don't be lying to yourself. It's freaking pointless, bro. Like, don't do not do that.
Gary Wise :Uh, eventually waking up one day, especially when I'm with my wife, and realizing that, hey, I got the family I wanted. I want to have kids. It was time for me to wake up and realize that you know what. I need to start saving my money. I need to start investing my money because someday God forbid I'm not going to be working anymore or I'm not even on this earth anymore. Who's going to take care of my family? That was a huge wake up call for me. I learned the first time. My wife and I got pregnant and we started talking about what happens if we do have this baby and what happens if she's not able to work any longer. That's when it got really real for me. That's when I started recognizing oh my God, I got debt. Oh my God, I got bills. I've got all these things that I wasn't really taking seriously, but what I needed to do was to make a plan and wake up. And so here I am, in the military. I'm 25, 26 years old now at this point in time, and that's when I'm really like getting clear with where I want to go in my life.
Gary Wise :I tell my students, I tell my sons man for so from 15 to 26,. I was just figuring it out. But what if I could have gotten to that answer earlier? What if I could have gotten to those answers at 21, at 20, could have been life-changing. On the reverse, you got to trust the reverse, you got to trust the process. You have to trust the process. You have to trust in that what you're going through is going to help you get there. But if you're watching this video, you're somebody who's probably interested in maybe leveraging my experience, and I'm here for you on that. I want you to leverage me.
Gary Wise :One time I told my dad um, I love my dad passed away. It feels like forever ago, not that long ago, but a while ago. But when I was a young man, I told my dad. I said, dad, I love you, but don't take this the wrong way. But I've seen all the mistakes that you've made throughout your life and it's my intention to not make the same mistakes, even if that means I'm going to join the military and go see the world, because I've got to take care of my family first as a priority. Because my dad, one of his biggest challenges in life was he was always trying to take care of his parents and us, and that was complicated right, and us, and that that was complicated Right. And I, I, I think he, I hope he received that as I was leveraging the experiences he had in his life, and I would, if my sons ever tell me that that's you know what. That's great news, because thank you for paying attention to the things that I went through and learning from them, right, so that's huge. I, you know, and learning from them, so that's huge.
Gary Wise :If you ask yourself right now what are the things I'm trying to accomplish in my life. How does that make you feel? Do you feel strong? Do you feel positive? Do you feel excited? Do you feel energized? If you don't, then you need to have a conversation with yourself about what are you doing with your life. Life is too short not to live it. I promise you this. I promise you this you have got to get out there and live your life every day. And I'm not saying you got to be a millionaire. I'm not saying you have got to go out and just spend a bunch of money doing a bunch of things. I'm just saying I want you to get up every day and live it with. Some sort of time is the most important commodity in this world, and if you're not energized about your day, I would challenge you to try to find a way to be energized, which is my goal. And, as a leader, as a person who wants you to do good, I want you to have that energy in your lifetime. This is that's my goal. So what I'm doing, I'm doing this for you, as, once you get this internal clarity now I want you to start thinking about your story.
Gary Wise :Okay, you have got to know your story as to how you got to where you are, so you could best communicate with people that are going to follow you so they could trust you. Trusting our leaders is crucial because they've got to be authentic. They can't be fake. They can't be telling us things that are not real. I love when people are solid in what they're speaking, but when they sound too good I start to get a little bit worried, like politicians. Politicians are real slick with their words. You look at that guy that's talking up in New York City right now running for the mayor and he sounds real good, but my man's selling snake oil, right? That's what I believe anyway.
Gary Wise :I think you should be raw and authentic and be able just to cut, cut from the, from your truth, right, and not always try to say everything perfect. But you need to understand what is it about your story that makes you proud of being who you are and how you got here, and then, what's the vision? Where are we going? Here's where I've come from, here's where I want to go, and I need to know the same things about my followers or my team members or the people in my life, so when I better understand them, I can then better help show them how they work with me to go this place. I can help them also accomplish their goals and their dreams and their vision for life right One of my mentors, a gentleman named Mr Elgin.
Gary Wise :He helps me to understand that part of our calling in life is to help people recognize what they want to do with their lives. I mean because my job as a leader is usually pretty simple I have the position, I have the organization and the majority of my year I'm leading my students, my 185 students, in our program. So those are very, very, very simple principles to follow. But then each one of those students has a life outside of that program that I also want to help them figure out as they shoot for life way after high school, because high school is not an ending, it's a beginning. It's the beginning to the rest of your life, and so I don't, while I want them to be happy with their experience in this program, I also want them to be leveraging it as a launch pad for the rest of their world. Right, and that's always been my job, even when I was in the military. I've got all these people working for me, serving on board the ship and we all got a job to do that's contributing to the mission that the ship is going to complete, right. But they've all got their own lives that they're living, and I needed to understand what they wanted out of the military. Why did they join the military and how can the military best help them achieve their goals. And, as a leader, when I was able to do that, man, it was a cheat code. Cheat code, right. And when you could figure out how your story can make your purpose real, first for you and then for others, off to the races. You're going to find that the leadership communications and conversations are going to start helping a lot of people.
Gary Wise :I remember I was a green side sailor and what that means is or blue green sailor is another way to say it we used to embark United States Marines on board my ships. I did three amphibs during my naval career. I was on USS Bellawood out of Saspo, japan. I was on USS Ogden out of San Diego, california, and then again out of USS Ashland out of Sassabow, japan. And I would tell my sailors on the Ashland when I was the command master chief, I would say our job on board this ship is to professionally embark United States Marines and we're going to bring these Marines on board our ship and we're going to make them feel comfortable, we're going to make them feel safe and we're going to make them feel like they matter because they are the mission. And then we're going to take these Marines wherever they've got to go and we're going to deliver them safely. That's our mission and we're not going to look at them as like there's some sort of a freaking problem for us, because if it wasn't for them, we would not have this ship On the reverse.
Gary Wise :When I would meet the Marines, I would tell the Marines the exact same thing, but I would also tell them I need you to respect my sailors, because the amount of working hours they're going to spend, the amount of watch hours they're going to spend, the amount of training they're going to spend to keep you safe while you're on board this ship, that you can't shoot at the fire. You can't shoot at the pipe rupture, right. You've got to trust in these sailors to get you where you're going safely. There's got to be a mutual respect because we've got to share common areas laundry, gym, the chow line right. You're going to make connections with people. You're going to meet people. You're going to make connections with people. You're going to meet people, you're going to make friendships and relationships, and I wanted it to be this symbiotic thing.
Gary Wise :It was the same way when I was on board the aircraft carrier and we would embark the not the air wing right, you had the ship's company and then you'd bring on the air wing and I would tell all my damage control, all my damage control men, I would tell all the people on my damage control training team we are here to professionally embark the air wing and take these sailors to sea so they can launch and recover aircraft in support of our nation and whatever the operation is going to be. And so I'm not going to get overwhelmingly upset if they get into our way a little bit, because there's just some things they don't know. Now I will say it was harder with that, with the air wing, than with the Marines, because the air wing is sailors. They've been to basic training for the Navy so they understand Naval things, whereas the Marines they just they don't. But still we have different jobs, we have different roles. We've all got to respect one another. The sea services is what we all are.
Gary Wise :The other thing is I would teach the Marines about the history of the Navy and the Marine Corps and how that team started. I'll tell you guys that story someday. It's a very important one, but there is no Marine Corps without the Navy and, honestly, there is no Navy without the Marine Corps. It's just we are that linked together. Hence why we're all under the same department for the Department of Defense and the Department of the Navy and the same secretary, and I need you to be able to communicate your mission that fluidly to your people. Right, those mission sets. Whatever the mission is going to be, whether it's getting a certain job done, whether it's educating people in a certain manner, whether it's educating people in a certain manner, whether it's taking Marines to sea to go fight the wars that our country needs us to fight, whether it's embarking an air wing to go out and do the things that we've got to go do You've got to be able to communicate that, even under stress. Even under stress Because, ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you that, as a leader, you're going to be under stress.
Gary Wise :Going to be under stress. If you're a leader and you're not under stress, I don't think you're probably doing it right. I'm just being honest. I used to watch people and they would act like C-Duty is great for them. And I would say I don't know that you're giving me 100%, because C-Duty is tough.
Gary Wise :If it's not exhausting you, I'm not sure you're doing it right. You maybe are holding something back and I need all of you. I need all of it. I need all of it because in order for us to be the best, we've got to bring the best out of each other and ourselves. And if I'm holding back, you're going to smell that on my breath, right, you're going to smell that through my actions. But if I'm given 110%, you're going to have to meet me with some strong energy period, right? I need you to be able to simplify your message. If you're a leader, strip it down.
Gary Wise :What's the core of that vision? Again, for me, empowering you, empowering others, myself, my family, that's it. I need you to be able to make your mission relatable, tie it to your purpose. Maybe it's a lesson from your childhood. Again, I connected it with my high school dropout story and to where I am today. And if somebody would have connected with me earlier, what if? And that drives me every day, because every day I think to myself what if there's a person I'm going to meet in this life that God's going to put in front of me, whether it's through the screen, whether it's through my actual activities and my day-to-day. That needs to hear the words coming out of my mouth to their ears. You never know. And I believe in sharing your story, embracing the stress, allowing yourself to be authentic and showing that you can be uncomfortable and still thrive. That's huge.
Gary Wise :You know, when I first started Wise Leadership Solutions, I did not plan on starting a leadership development company. I mean, I'm already doing it with the high school. This is what I do. But the cup it's filling my cup so much knowing that there's people getting value from not just these videos but from the shorts that I'm putting out and the different content. And then I'm getting excited about the opportunities that could come in the future and that's the blessing.
Gary Wise :You know the reasons I originally started it. I got with this organization that I'm not with them anymore and I thought for a while I was like all right, god, was that really the reason why I was supposed to start it and I'm landing on? The answer was no. They were just the impetus to get me to go, to get me to get going Right. But now the real reason, is this. The real reason is creating this virtual leadership academy that I'm able to share with people my positions, my insights, my ideas, my experience and hopefully help them to accelerate their own journey in this life.
Gary Wise :Right, but can it feel exposing yeah, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. Can you feel like, oh man, I'm used to it because as a command master chief, as a senior chief, as a chief, as a leader, you always had somebody that felt like they could do your job better than you. That just comes with the territory. So that's not new for me, but still, I will tell you. Talking into a camera, that's new. That's new Kind of being alone in my room, my little love me wall and my little chief's mess in my house that's new. But I'm excited because I have the support of my family, my friends, my community, my cadets and the people that know me and love me, and that they actually think that what I'm offering is valuable. We'll see, we'll see, but I'm looking forward to sharing it. It's that energy that lets me know that this is right, that this is what I need to be doing, because it gets me excited to wake up every day and to possibly film something and to share it with you all.
Gary Wise :Your story is not just a speech. Don't just look at it that way. It's a connection. You've got to practice telling your story so you can connect with people as much as possible, because I believe my faith tells me that part of this journey on this earth is to connect with people and to hopefully bring people in to God. Right, I mean, I'm a believer of Jesus Christ and I want you to know that part of what makes me so excited about my daily life is that I believe I'm operating from a place of being saved. Right, I'm operating from a place of victory, and that's easy for me to say so. Remember when I said I was younger and I was worried about what happens if I die and the money and all these things still worried a little bit about it, but my faith tells me it's going to be okay and the reality would be is that I'm saved as long as I continue to be in alignment with my savior. Simple, right, I want you to, I want you, and that's really going to ultimately be part of my storyline. It's going to be part of what my communications are. I want you to lead people so y'all can find success in the, in the organization that you're a part of, but I also want you to lead people so they can find value in their life and the journey and appreciate where it's all going.
Gary Wise :If you're telling your story to yourself and it doesn't feel true, then that's probably a challenge, right? If you're trying to come across too polished, too clean, too crispy, too, whatever, keep it real. We've all got a great story to tell. When I talk to people about being on my podcast, they'll say, well, gary, what am I going to talk about? Oh man, everyone's story is awesome. You may not know it yet, but my job is to ask questions of you to get you to best understand that your story is great, right, and that you need to be listening to yourself and that you need to understand and be proud of the things that you've come through in your life. It's huge, right? Great leaders tell authentic stories. What I would be interested to know in the comments, if you're somebody who's watching this video do you have a personal moment in your life that shapes your purpose?
Gary Wise :One of my personal moments when I was 14 years old 13, 14, I'm going to seventh grade and I remember my dad tells me if I don't get straight A's in high school and middle school and get a full ride scholarship, I'm never going to go to college because they don't have money to pay for it. That moment shaped my entire adult life. So that story now has affected not only how I raise my own children but how I mentor all these cadets, because I know that it's not true. I know that you don't have to be a straight A student. I know that you don't have to get a full ride scholarship. I know you don't even have to go to freaking college. You don't have to go.
Gary Wise :All my education was online. Right. I got my associate's degree when I was a freaking chief petty officer at a float training group San Diego and applied marine engineering. I got my bachelor's degree when I was on board the USS George Washington and fire science as a damage control senior chief petty officer. I got my master's in organizational leadership when I was at Surface Warfare Officer School in Norfolk, teaching officers and senior enlisted damage controlmen how to lead damage control organizations on board their ships. That's when I got my education. None of that was because of my great, awesome high school background.
Gary Wise :Now here's a fun fact the Navy paid for it all. Thank you. I appreciate you, navy. And I didn't have to pay for any of it. So I was able to save my GI Bill for my own sons so they can have money to go to college with right. But I had to and I had to. But I had to work and I had to do schoolwork at night and I had to do a lot of it virtually, but I got it done. So it's not true. But my dad, he didn't know those things back in 19,. You know, 91, 1990. Right, and the world was completely different than this is a game changer. Technology changes everything, but that's an event that shaped my life and I still leverage it to this day. Just a thought of somebody telling me what I couldn't do.
Gary Wise :Now we're going to talk a little bit more about external communication. A lot of this is about internal, but now I want to talk about how do you bring your vision to your team. This is where you're going to inspire them. You're going to build trust. You're going to get the buy-in, so that way they're going to want to work with you, they're going to want to serve with you. They're going to want to follow you under the fire, right, they're going to want to follow you into the space of the unknown because you're their leader and your job is to help them to see what you see. Your job is to help them understand. This is what we're going to do and here's why we're doing it and here's how I want to go. And they're going to say, roger, that.
Gary Wise :But, number one, you got to be clear. You can't be giving them fluff. Be careful with using language they don't understand. You got to train them on what the language means so they understand that. What you're saying, especially under stress, under pressure, they understand it. And you got to say what you mean. You got to be consistent. The easiest way to be consistent is to be yourself always.
Gary Wise :One of my favorite things about these videos is when people watch them from either my military career or people watch them from my high school classroom that I teach at. They see that I'm the same person always. When my son told one of his friends one time in school that I was the same way at home, man, I was so proud of that because that just lets me know that my son recognizes that I'm the same everywhere and that that mattered for me. I don't want my kid to think I'm different at work than I am at home or that I'm different with other people than I am with them. No, and don't sugarcoat it. You just got to make it plain. You got to be confident. You got to own it plain. Right, you have to be confident. You got to own your story. You got to own your flaws. You got to.
Gary Wise :I always tell the cadets I'm not, I'm not getting any taller because I'm a short dude. I'm five foot freaking six man, like I'm not. I'm not six feet freaking tall. I've met people in this world that actually didn't believe I was who I said I was because I wasn't tall enough. That's a fact. I can see the surprise in their eyes when they met me and I was five foot six, sorry. My grandpa used to tell me that my legs were long enough because they reached the ground right. But you've got to own it all, right. I'm not the most skinniest guy always in the room, right. That's why I have to work out and get the little weight up a little bit so I can be strong. You've got to find the areas that you're uncomfortable in and work to make them areas you can find strength in.
Gary Wise :Confidence isn't about being perfect. Again, it's about being real, and when it comes to communication, you've got to be real. You've got to be vulnerable. You've got to show your team that you're human. You've got to be able to share your struggle so they can understand that they can trust you and that you'll be there for them when they make mistakes. Um, you know, we're all going to make mistakes.
Gary Wise :If you're a person who's leading and you're afraid to make a mistake and God, I've been there I've worked with people that I could just tell were afraid of making mistakes. They were afraid of losing respect. They were afraid that they were going to get in trouble. What is your reason for being a leader, then? Why? What do you need to know to be a better leader? What do I need to show you so you cannot be as afraid? But I promise you, if you're leading afraid all the time, your followers are going to struggle with you because they're going to feel like that when the chips go down or the times get hard. You're going to feel like that when the chips go down or the times get hard, you're going to possibly throw them under the bus because you're afraid to take the heat right.
Gary Wise :I remember one time I'm on George Washington. We're going through an inspection of cert, rate or inserve, and two of my first class petty officers violate the tag out program. Right, I'm not using their names for the protection of the innocent right or the guilty. If they ever watch this video they'll know who they are. But they violate the tag-out program in the middle of the inspection because we're rolling tags on an installed firefighting system. We put tags on things to prevent somebody from doing something that's going to hurt somebody and I'm a senior chief at the time and these two first classes were now both chief petty officers. Uh, they make bad choice, right, and it comes out and they get busted. They get busted bad and I remember. Uh, I get called down to the office. We're in the middle of this big inspection. I've got a lot of moving parts. I'm the only chief in the division. It's just a lot of things happening.
Gary Wise :It's again, it's an aircraft carrier and I'm getting all of my stuff inspected and they called me down there and these guys are both in trouble and I told the chief engineer. I said you know what, sir, blame me. I evidently must not be a strong enough leader for these two guys to assume this risk, to make this bad choice and I would you know what? They need to be held accountable. They need to lose their qualifications, they need to get, they need to get all kinds of extra military instruction. And I think I mean, trust me, I'm going to find them, I'm going to light their hair on fire, but I do not want to see them lose rank. If I can help it because they made a bad choice under pressure, under stress, and if someone's got to take that on the chin, I'll be the guy Do the investigation. I'm the one Blame me and he just looked at me like I was freaking crazy because I had nothing to do with it.
Gary Wise :But in my mind, if two of my first classes are going to make such a stupid decision, it must be a direct reflection of my leadership and I knew that I was the only one that could possibly go to bat for them to possibly protect them. And it worked. And it worked. I mean, they lost their quals, they got in all kinds of trouble and I talked to them later. I was like what the hell are you doing, running tags like a fireman making fireman choices? Again, that's a junior person in the military. They both knew they were wrong, but if you're not willing to kind of be that person, that's going to step up. That's a challenge. On the reverse side, looking back on that as a command master chief, I will tell you that, um, that would have been a tough one. That would have been a tough one because I've taken some senior people down before, because they made very similar choices, and so I, of course, I matured throughout my journey. What felt right for me as a senior chief at 2011 might have might've sounded much differently at me as a command master chief in 2017. Does that make me wrong or right? No, it just means there's different perspectives and there's different levels to this I've seen.
Gary Wise :I think that, as leaders, you must be willing to have those hard conversations and to take some of that stuff on the chin, and you cannot be operating from a place of fear. You got to be real, right, but I'm also not saying to be ignorant to what's going on around you. Your team needs you to be real. So the next time you leave, I want you to think about what are the reasons you're leading and when's the last time you shared that with your people. Matter of fact, when was the last time you shared a goal with them that might help you to communicate better where you guys are all going. I want you to inspire your team by being real, be authentic, be yourself and do your very level best. Trust me, it's going to work. It's going to help.
Gary Wise :Actions got to match words. Words got to match actions. Visions got to match both. You can't just talk a good game. You got to live it all the time. So many things are going to come at you that if you're not being authentic and being real, you're going to start making bad choices because you're trying to be perfect, and that's not how it works. Trust your people. I learned that my people would almost always help me get to the right answer, even if I didn't know upfront all of the things, and so what I would challenge you with is leveraging your people and their experience so you can best understand how can we work together to accomplish this mission. We work together to accomplish this mission. That's huge. Align those words in your deed, john.
Gary Wise :I'm telling you so many leaders I've seen oh, we're going to be the best warfighters, but they're not athletically in shape. How are you a warfighter if you can't climb through a scuttle bro? How are you preaching teamwork, but then you never want to be a part of the team. You never want to allow someone else to be the leader, but you, you never want to be a part of the team. You never want to allow someone else to be the leader, but you're always telling everyone else you want to be a part of a team. I need you to use the big picture right. I need you to understand how your daily actions are going to tie to your vision and that way you can stay focused. That way you can stay focused and you can understand that I'm going to communicate consistently where we're going. I can share the vision, I can share when there's changes.
Gary Wise :And here's the other thing how are you going to communicate? Are you going to use meetings? Are you going to use one-on-one conversations? Are you going to use emails, cell phone messages, casual chats, conversations? All of those are going to matter and you've got to make every one of those opportunities to communicate count. Just, you've got to understand that every time you get the chance to be in front of your people to communicate, it's an opportunity. And take advantage of those opportunities y'all, because you only get so many of them. You only get so many opportunities to picture your vision and communicate it to them and hope they're going to buy in and fun fact is, you never know which time it's going to work. Also, I recommend always be open for feedback. Always give people an opportunity to come and ask you questions, right? Always give them opportunities to use the management that works with you to feed up you know any questions or concerns that they have, right. I think that's another important way for you to ensure that your communication is getting across the way you want it to get across.
Gary Wise :So, wrapping it up today, my belief is the way to effectively communicate is to be freaking relentlessly authentic. You've got to be the same way all the time. You've got to master your internal communication so that you can lead yourself. You've got to know your story, why you want to be the leader that's in front of them today and how you're going to share that with them, so then they'll have the trust that they'll want to work with you. You got to communicate externally to inspire your team and let them see that your actions are going to match your words. And you've got to let that emotion connect with the words so they can understand that you're not just saying it because it sounds good, but you're saying it because you really believe it. Then if they can believe it, when they trust in you, that'll be your leadership superpower, promise you.
Gary Wise :It's taken me from being a high school dropout to rising up through the ranks of the United States Navy to being the senior enlisted leader at the commands that I served at to now, being the father, the husband, the instructor, the person that I am. Wise Leadership Academy all these things. Do me a favor. Try your best to put all this into practice this week. Share your vision with someone. Who do you want to be? Where do you want to go? Where do you hope this life goes for you? Check back in with the videos.
Gary Wise :I read all the comments. I read all the comments. I read all the messages. We're not that big yet, and even if we are that big, I'll probably still do that because I just I enjoy it. So I would love for you to send me a message or drop a comment. Hey, gary, here's what I was thinking about, what you said. Here's something I want to try to do. Here's what I'm going to do for my team a friend myself and I'm going to be clear. I'm going to be real. I'm going to be. I'm going to just be you, you're, you're, you are enough. I promise you, you're, you are going to be enough, please. I look forward to you joining us in the future for the next wise leadership Academy session.
Gary Wise :This is only the beginning. I'm going to get better at these, I promise. I'm just learning how to work this whole YouTube thing. I'm learning how to leverage this whole social medium. You know, I'm doing my best to record it and to stay on track, but, god, I just, I, just I get inspired to share these certain things with you, and I'm going to, I'm going to tighten it up, though I promise, if you like this information, subscribe, hit the bell. Let's keep growing.
Gary Wise :June was our biggest month, june of 2025. So, if you're watching this video five years in the future, hopefully it's awesome what we've become, but June 2025 was our biggest month. Trying to just keep doing this thing. We'll see where it goes. Please, feel free to share the video and just remember what's one way you'll communicate with your purpose this week. Right, I don't know how that, what that looks for you, but I would like for you to think about it. Right, I'm going to go ahead and wrap this video up. I appreciate y'all. Gary Wise is going offline. Bye, I was born for this. I know I was born for this. Don't care for the critics. My world and life is except for us that 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 our story.
