How A Healthcare Leader Plans To Fix Georgia Schools

What does it take to fix a system that keeps letting kids down? We sit down with Dr. Nelva Lee—healthcare executive turned education reformer—to map a practical path from broken metrics to better lives. Her story runs from directing patient advocacy at a major health system to founding a medical interpreting trade school, and now to a statewide campaign for Georgia’s superintendent of schools. Along the way, she learned how to coach under pressure, where bureaucracy hides waste, and why fundamentals beat fads every time.

We start with the basics: if a diploma doesn’t translate into literacy, numeracy, and a job-ready skill, it’s a broken promise. Dr. Lee lays out a clear plan to embed trade certificates into high school so graduates are workforce ready on day one—without closing the door to college. She makes the case for restoring phonics, demanding real rigor, and aligning coursework to outcomes like SAT readiness and entry into high-value trades. The numbers in Georgia are a wake-up call, and she’s unapologetic about measuring what matters and changing what doesn’t.

Leadership threads through every segment. You’ll hear how to hold tough conversations with dignity and documentation, when to coach and when to cut, and how appreciation, flexible time, and growth opportunities transform morale. We dig into faith and meditation as steadying tools for high-stakes decisions, then move to communication tactics that actually land—vision upfront, one-on-ones for alignment, and redundancy so messages reach every layer. Dr. Lee also tackles administration bloat, argues for directing dollars to classrooms and teachers, and commits to two terms to keep urgency high and complacency low.

If you care about student outcomes, teacher morale, and leadership that trades slogans for execution, this conversation brings receipts and a roadmap. Listen, share it with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a review with the one change you’d make first—then hit follow so you don’t miss what’s next.

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Transcript

Welcome & Guest Introduction

Gary Wise 0:27

All right, everyone. How you doing? Good morning, good evening, hop a day, Aloha, all the above. Once again, this is Words from the Wise. Uh, soon to be hopefully your mentor's favorite leadership podcast. My voice is kind of scratchy today. I taught all day with the cadets. I actually taught them today the book, uh, Who Moved My Cheese. So that was a pretty interesting topic. Uh, but I spent a lot of time using my my voice, my vocal cords today. So I'm gonna apologize for that in advance. Today, ladies and gentlemen, I'm so excited to have a special guest with us today. Uh, today I have I have a guest. She goes by the name of Dr. Nelva Lee. Dr. Nelva Lee comes to us out of the great state of Georgia. Uh, she's somebody who founded uh the Medical Interpreting Trade School, which was a trade school to help people get into the medical field. From there, she went on to start the concrete build business where she leaned into the cryptocurrency space, where she's leveraging real estate to back cryptocurrency as well as multiple other financial type of deals and or business ideas. And she's also uh currently running to be the Georgia superintendent of schools, which is super exciting. Really looking forward to hearing why the heck she decided to throw her hat into that arena. And so without further ado, let me welcome to the stage uh Dr. Nelva Lee. How are you doing, Dr. Lee? I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me tonight, Gary. Hey, thank you so much for reaching out. You know, this is I'm still beginning this journey of the whole podcast thing, and it's it's been a lot of fun uh receiving the emails from people that hear about the show somewhere and that want to join me. So thank you for taking the time. My pleasure. All right, so Dr. Lee, uh, Dr. Lee, I kind of I called you Dr. Nelva in the email. What did you think about that one? It's fine. Had you heard that before? Yeah, for sure. For sure. All right, Dr. Nelva. I'm gonna stick with Dr. Nelva. All right, Dr. Nelva. I am curious. Uh, before you founded that medical interpreting trade school, what was your path to becoming a doctor? Like, what was your drive? Because that's a lot of schooling, you know. I really it is. So just quick, just what was your backstory as to what got you to really be into education?

Dr. Nelva Lee 2:49

So actually, my doctorate's in healthcare administration. And so I have a bachelor's, master's, and doctorate all in healthcare administration. And I can tell you, I've always been fascinated with healthcare. And uh from very early on, I was in high school and I would volunteer at our local hospital on the weekends. And so I knew I was gonna go into healthcare, I just didn't know what I wanted to do in healthcare. I considered becoming a medical doctor, uh, but I really wanted to be more hands-on and um with the you know operation of things. That's really I realized very early on that I have really good leadership skills, and so I wanted to be able to utilize those. And so healthcare administration really was the best, you know, outcome for that. Now, as far as me becoming a doctor, um, I is this is a funny story. I have really horrible penmanship, Gary. And I realized this back when I was like in fifth grade, and I was, you know, all the other girls had these beautiful, you know, cursive writing that was just really beautiful, all with their O's and all that. And and I remember complaining to my dad. I was like, Dad, I don't have really pretty penmanship. And he's like, Don't worry about it, you're gonna be a doctor someday. I was like, well, I guess doctorate is really the ultimate goal for me. So uh, but you know, fun fact, I just I really just love education, I love learning. You know, I I would have two, three doctorates if it wasn't for if it was free, you know. So it's right, it really is. It really is. That was a little bit my of my story, why I ended up getting a doctorate.

Guidance For High School Students

Gary Wise 4:24

Well, and the reason why I ask is, you know, I teach high school full-time. Yes. Um, and and so and a lot of my listeners are high school kids, high high school students or family members, at least to my knowledge. I mean, I do understand that we're growing, and fun fact, we're getting we got a lot of listeners in like South America now and Europe, so that's kind of cool. I know, right? That's weird. Everybody listening, shout out. We appreciate y'all, right? That's amazing. Uh, but these high school kids that I get the chance to hang out with every day are going through the process of trying to figure out what they do next, right? Right, yes. And I was wondering kind of what you were thinking about when you were in high school as you had to make the choice as to what was next. Like, did you know, and like, like you said, you wanted to be a doctor when you were younger because of the handwriting, the penmanship thing, but was there also something that happened in high school where you're like, I'm definitely going to college next.

Dr. Nelva Lee 5:21

Oh, well, college was never a question for me. I can't ever recall saying I wasn't going to college. Uh, it was definitely like, what am I gonna major in? And so, as I mentioned, I loved healthcare, but I also loved politics. I had taken a political science course uh as a sophomore, and it was like an honors course, and they had us debating in there, and I loved debating, and uh they had us doing a lot of like taking different sides of topics, you know, and I just found it fascinating. And I honestly thought I was gonna get into go to the political science route. Uh, but I just didn't see a lot of passion for that per se. I love more advocacy, I love the leadership part of politics, not necessarily the grunt work. And so I'm glad I went into healthcare. But what I can tell you, your listeners, if they're really trying to figure out what what's next or what's my purpose, you know, what's my purpose in this world? Uh, there's a couple of books that I highly recommend. Uh, the first is The Purpose Driven Life, right? By Rick Warren. And there's a workbook that comes along with it. It's like a 40-day workbook. And it really gets you thinking about, you know, what are your talents? What are some of the things that you do well? What are some of the things that you're passionate about? And it gets you thinking about what's what's the next step. And the other book is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. One of the books that I read, uh, Stephen Kobe, very early in life, you know, I think I was in my early 20s, and it's just been a guiding principle for me. Just how it just really helps to uh formulate your life in terms of principles. Right. And so highly recommend those two books uh to your to your high schoolers.

Gary Wise 7:07

Definitely, definitely. And we, like I said in the opening, today I did Who Moved My Cheese. We also do the it's a great, but it's an amazing book, right? An amazing concept. And all the kids wanted to know what happened to him, right? Did he die? Did he make it? And I told myself, you know, ultimately that's your choice, right? You get to determine whether or not that person made it and found their cheese or not. Um and then for the habits book, we we actually have that in our classroom and we use that as a part of our curriculum every year. And what's cool is I get to see these kids really go from uh you know 14 to 18 years old, right? So so much growth happens in those four years. It is it's incredible. Yeah, I I was military most of my adult life, well, all my adult life until I retired, and so I would get these young 18, 19 year olds that were such babies, right? Now these 18, 19 year olds are like the grandfathers of the high school and they look so much older. Uh I guess because I've seen them grow for the four years, you know. That's awesome. Now, I also know you're super involved in the trade school space, and that's why you started your trade school. Um, and then and of course, I'm sure you highly recommend to people that they consider the trade school space. I'm a big fan of the trade school pace space, and I'm curious to know what why do you want people to make sure they consider trade schools when they're making their plans for life after high school?

Trade Schools As A Success Path

Dr. Nelva Lee 8:36

Right. So I truly believe that we need to have trade schools as part of your high school diploma pathway. And that is because I want to see all high school graduates graduate workforce ready. And I don't want uh for trade schools to be only for those kids that aren't college bound, right? Because there are people that decide to forego college altogether. Um, I got trade school, Gary, uh, the summer between my junior and senior year in high school because I knew I was gonna go into healthcare and I didn't have a way to pay for college. And so that was my my path. I decided I was gonna get a good uh paying certificate, um, good paying job uh in healthcare. And it turns out that it worked out, not only did it pay my way through college, but once I finished my degree, I had a really great paying job because I had experience in the industry. So I highly recommend, whether they're college bound or not, to get a trade certificate. But also for those that are not college bound, those that have decided I'm not gonna go to the college route, it gives them a career, not just hopping from job to job, uh, but it gives them the opportunity to get a career under their belt, even if they decide to change it later on. This is a skill set that they'll always be able to fall back on.

Gary Wise 9:57

Definitely. You know, what what I love about the trade space is that it doesn't take nearly as long, right? And more expensive. Right. And well, and unfortunately, college has developed this reputation as being a money-making industry, uh, not so much always an educational industry, right? And there's and there's so many different flavors of college in the world today. I mean, I've done all my schooling online, right? My oldest son is currently doing dual enrollment as a high school senior, and so he is doing classes in person, he's doing classes in line, and he does four high school classes a day, uh, which is an amazing thing, right? At a at a very reasonable price because he goes to the local community, but they don't really call him community college anymore, but the local college, right? All right, uh, which is awesome for me. And to your other point about the trade, my son he did two years in a program at our high school called the Future Educators of America. And through that program, he was then able to take a test for a paraprofessional certification. Very nice, very nice. Exactly, exactly yeah, it's amazing. And and there's multiple programs like that that the kids don't. The problem is if the kids don't always ask about it, they don't always find out about them in time.

Dr. Nelva Lee 11:15

And so definitely have to ask about it. Why aren't we setting up, you know, in I believe that we need to do this from eighth grade, really, is set up like um similar to how colleges have college fairs, you should have vocational fares for kids going into high school, knowing all the availabilities that are available to them, all the options that are available to them to get a certification. And so if if more students knew what the different uh trades that are available that they could take while in college, uh high school, then we would have them better prepared.

Gary Wise 11:52

Right. And to that point, I agree. I think Florida, we're doing a pretty good job of that here, but I think also the payback on that is then getting the kids that go get those certifications and bringing them back to talk to the middle schoolers and to the up the rising high school freshmen, right? Uh, we do the same thing for my ROTC unit. You know, we'll send for recruiting trips, we'll send down the kids that have come from those middle schools that are in the program that are not like sophomores or juniors or found finding success, so they can see hey, that there's a connection there. I knew that person when I was in you know fifth grade, sixth grade, and they were in eighth grade, and now I'm getting ready to go to high school. And in high school transition, it's very scary. And so kids can see middle school, it's a it's a big one, yeah. It's a big transition, and so if they can see a connection into especially into a program, uh, they might definitely lean into that direction. Um definitely and another thing I love about the trade space is just there's always opportunity for work in those arenas, you know, and it was similar to the military. Like, I'm the kind of person that hate to see people that that use the military as a last option, right? I mean, I I love serving my country, and I I encourage my students to to do whatever they want to do. But if you have a passion for service to your country, definitely consider that route because there's going to be a lot of uh good things that can come from it, depending upon what you choose to do with the time and your years of service and whatever it may be. Right.

Dr. Nelva Lee 13:25

Yes.

Gary Wise 13:25

Um, and it's the same thing with trade school, right? Don't just think about that as an option because you decided a four-year university is not for you, right? Uh, look at it as because you could actually think about a person that goes and gets like an air conditioning or repair certification at 18 years old. Arguably, by the time they're 25 years old, they could be doing very well.

Dr. Nelva Lee 13:46

Very much a lot of these trades are six-pig jobs, you know.

Gary Wise 13:51

Yeah, for sure.

Dr. Nelva Lee 13:52

Welders, you name it.

Gary Wise 13:54

I'm trying to get my son. My son is trying to go to the Florida State Fire College, and that's because he doesn't really feel like joining the military because his his dad drug him all over the world as he was growing up, right? You know, but he he enjoys the paramilitary construct, he enjoys the structure, he enjoys the camaraderie. And uh we talked about it, and I was a firefighter in the Navy for the first 16 years of my career, and so he grew up seeing seeing that connection. And I said, look, that we need firefighters for the community, we need law enforcement officers, we need firefighters, we need people that want to serve the community, right? And you don't always make the most money doing it, but it's it's it's a very rewarding uh path. Definitely. Good things, and now I really appreciate the medical administration path as well. Did you ever get the chance to work in the hospitals and lead medical teams?

Dr. Nelva Lee 14:48

Oh, yeah. So I started out my career uh when I started my my vocational school is because I was working at Grady Health System as a director of uh patient advocacy, and one of the programs in my department was interpreting services. And so I realized that there was a gap in in the training and qualifying of these uh bilingual individuals, and so I decided to start my own program. But yes, I've been I've been in uh healthcare management for over 30 years.

Coaching, Accountability, And Firing Well

Gary Wise 15:17

So curious, right? As a in the Navy, we have medical administrative officers who are not doctors, right? And their job, like similar to what your path was. They were essentially the administrative leadership for uh the hospital. How complicated was it really in the hospital now leading professional medical providers as a non-medical practitioner, or were they conditioned already to understand your role and their role? And they all understood the rules of how that worked together.

Dr. Nelva Lee 15:49

For the most part, every now and then they do try to throw their weight around clinically for sure. But honestly, the business of hospitals is very complicated to a lot of them. They really want to just keep their blinders on and just do the medical stuff, the clinical stuff. So business of healthcare is a whole different piece, you know, understanding insurance and understanding, you know, payment systems and uh all of that, you know. And it changes constantly because the government's constantly changing, you know, what they will and will not pay for, and you name it. So yeah. Okay.

Gary Wise 16:28

So the next question I would like to ask you is, you know, as I love that you're into the leadership space. It's it is my passion to be there. And one of the questions I'd like to ask you is about having a difficult conversation with someone, right? How would you approach? You know it's gonna be a tough conversation, and you actually know that the person's not gonna want to hear the words you gotta say, but they must understand it because it's the reality, right?

Dr. Nelva Lee 16:56

And it's one of the least fun things when you are a leader is having to uh coach. I call I call it coaching uh my staff. And so that is not a fun, fun thing to do, but I I try to approach it as a growth, you know, for them. Uh I try not to I've learned over the years. You just don't fire people, you know, at the first expense. You you give them lots of chances. I try to give them at least three, three chances, if not, you know, three to five chances to improve and and to show me that they've improved. And so we do that as a coaching session, right? Hey, here are the goals. Here is where um, you know, here's areas where I think that you're meeting those goals, but here are some areas that you're not meeting those goals, and and here's some of the improvements that I like to see. And then give them an opportunity to to give their feedback. Why do they feel that they're not able to meet that goal? It might be a systems issue, you know. Always realize that when your employee um is not meeting your expectations, it could be that you have the system set up incorrectly. But if it's not a system issue, you document obviously uh the coaching uh session and and whatever uh specific uh advice and feedback that you've given them, and then you go from there. And so if you need to have another coaching session and another coaching session, so be it. If there is movement in the right direction, I I hesitate to fire people, but if they're just stubborn and in their ways, the the you know, the writing is on the wall, if you will.

Gary Wise 18:38

Right.

Dr. Nelva Lee 18:39

It's not fun, it's not fun uh having to coach someone, uh, or especially having to fire someone, but it must be done at times.

Gary Wise 18:47

You know, when people think about leadership, they always think about getting carried on everyone's shoulders and everybody's cheering for you, and you get to be this lauded figure. You know, you're you're up there on the stage saying all the exciting words, and everyone. My whole career, people have always said, Gary, we would love to work with you. And I just kind of smile and say, Yeah, until you do, bro, because I'm relentless, right? I have there's a difference between being inspired, being around people, appreciating their energy, vice having to actually report to them, right? And having to actually meet that, you know, standard that they're probably carrying every day. And and unfortunately, like you said, having those tough conversations, at least in my experience, uh similar to you, it's usually a result of something not going according to plan. Right. And and I that's how you usually got more of my attention because I would like most of my coaching conversations to be just because somebody really wants to do better and they come and ask me for a mentorship. Right. But reality is it's unfortunately we didn't meet the mark somewhere, and now we got to figure out how to get out of the soup, right? We got to figure out how to fix this problem. And it's almost always tense because people are defensive, people are worried, they're afraid, you know. And I loved how you said it. You know, look, I'm gonna go ahead and set the goalposts here. We're gonna try to make this be better, not worse. We're gonna try to here's some of the hopes that I have for this. Hopefully, they can buy into that and and then lay out the way ahead, get their feedback, especially looking at the SEM systems, things that are beyond their control that could have helped assist in the in the in the downplay of the of the incident, and then moving forward. Uh, one thing I've learned since I've come to the civilian sector is that there's always this perception that it's easy to fire, right? And I didn't have that in the military because in the military, you it took it you can't fire nobody, right? You really got to play the hand that you're dealt. But what I tell the people I meet in the corporate sector is if you really think there's that much, that many good people waiting to take to fill your position, I kind of think you're crazy. There's not. It's almost better to work with the people you already have under your umbrella versus trying to always re-hire, re-onboard, and re-bring somebody else onto your team, right?

Faith, Prayer, And Box Breathing

Dr. Nelva Lee 21:12

Let me tell you this. Uh, two things with firing people is number one, it's expensive training, right? Uh, training someone new is is very expensive. And number two, it affects the morale of the others because everyone now is looking over their shoulder. And when you have whole morale, you don't have the best of people, you're not able to get them fully motivated. So you have to really think twice if you if you want to fire someone. Now, firing someone that is bringing the morale down is actually a good thing. So if someone's just not carrying their weight and everyone notices that, or they're complaining to you that they're not carrying their weight and you keep them around, that's not a good thing. Uh, but most of the time you are you're able to coach people. And I try to make sure that every Annual eval is a coaching session. So even if they're a rock star, we're gonna, you know, tell tell you all the good things that you did. We'll try to find something that you can improve on. So everyone knows an evaluation is gonna be a coaching session.

Gary Wise 22:13

That's a good news story, though. I mean, because we did we did those in the military too. We did our annual evaluations and I do them as a teacher, but they almost feel like you know, hurry, come in, sign this piece of paper, get back to work because you're doing a good job. And so if you're not doing a good job, you have the conversation. But if you're doing a good job, it's almost minimal contact. And I have always appreciated the opportunity as when I became a senior and I became one of the persons that was a top-tier leader that was then evaluating the senior listed people or sitting down with them and giving them the guidance because they would, no kidding, come to me after their sit down with their annual evaluation and come to me and say, All right, explain this to me and what's the way ahead for me because they wanted that mentorship and it's that trust and hopefully hearing what you have to say. And hopefully, leaders are taking that time to have that conversation with the person that really hope wants to grow with the organization, exactly right, because if you don't feel they want to improve, right? Yeah, we're like most people. Let's just think that most people want to. I believe human beings are are are built to grow, right? We're built to grow. I feel like we were put on this earth to to develop, to have experiences and to learn and to grow. And if you don't feel fulfilled, you're probably gonna struggle some at an organization, correct? And so I think a piece of that would be uh getting that counseling in. And so for my next question for you is how can you leverage? I I I love I use faith every day. Uh I was curious is to if you if you leverage faith as a strategy in which you approach things in life uh as a leader, because unfortunately, as a leader, we don't always have the answers, or there may not always be exact information. But I think often leaders have got to leverage faith, whether it's faith in a higher power, faith in the team, faith in the organization, faith in yourself. Uh, just curious, out of your years of experience, how have you best learned to leverage faith?

Dr. Nelva Lee 24:15

It is the anchor for me. I don't think I could make the decisions that I make or the moves that I make without it. You know, a lot of people tell me, how have you accomplished all these things? And I'm like, you know, it's my faith in God. He really directs everything that I do. Um, I try my best. Sometimes I'm not on, you know, 100%, but I try my best to prioritize my goals in this way. You know, God first, husband second, my children third, and then everything else falls under that. And that includes my career, that includes my community involvement. I try to, you know, be uh involved in my community as much as possible. But I do consult with God on a daily basis on decisions that I'm making. And so I do uh I do believe that it gives me an extra uh in really, you know, an extra layer of peace and extra little bit of discernment and wisdom uh on decisions that it could go either way. A lot of decisions that we make as leaders, you just don't really know how they're gonna pan out. But if I consult God about it, I have peace about it and I know that it's gonna work out in the end. So I'm okay. So it does give me a lot of peace. It really does. It gives me a lot of peace knowing that he's got my back.

Gary Wise 25:34

You know, one of my favorite things about having faith, in particular, a belief in a higher power, uh, and the ability to know that prayer works, and just and just having felt that that it works for me, right? And whether I don't and I don't care whether people call it meditation, whether they call it manifestation, whether they call it prayer, whatever you're using to best communicate with God, go ahead, do your thing.

Dr. Nelva Lee 25:58

I do believe there's two different things, by the way, prayer and meditation, because I do I do both of them, yes.

Gary Wise 26:03

Okay, see, for me, they almost come together very similar. I'm not even gonna lie to you, like because I'm I'm sending very similar messages, right? I I I'm looking typically for support in something I'm working through or just life in general, or best trying to know that I'm serving according to how God would best want me to serve. Right. That's that's always a fear that I have. I I want to make sure that what I'm doing is really the best thing for the team, right? And not just what Gary thinks is what I should be doing, right? Because I believe that if you do things in the with a heart of service, it's so much more valuable than if you're just doing it because you want a victory or you want a win or whatever it may be. Now, I am curious as to hear your perspective on meditation versus prayer, if you don't mind.

Unifying A New Team Around Vision

Dr. Nelva Lee 26:52

Yes, for sure. So I am a big believer in prayer. I believe, like you said, prayer changes things. Uh, God hears, you know, the effective and fervent prayer of a righteous man, you know, availed much. He hears prayers uh that are prayed in authority. And I am a believer in that. Uh for me, meditation is different in that it's more about breath, deep breaths. Uh, so you are in the Navy, right? And so I teach a lot of the people on the box breathing. Oh, yeah. For me, that is so essential for if I'm feeling nervous or anxious, uh, for whatever reason, I go into that. You know, I go into deep breathing and meditation. And so, you know, prayer for me is about communicating with God back and forth. Uh, but meditation is about really taking uh kind of control of my emotions and just kind of making them just as calm as possible. And so it's just I do a lot of deep breathing, you know, the take in, hold and breathe very slowly out. And then I try to just focus on my breathing, and which is that's what meditation is all about.

Gary Wise 27:57

Got it. And definitely I do the same thing. Uh, and it's just a way for me to calm the nerves, right? If I'm back, especially if I'm I'm triggered or I'm concerned about something or I'm upset, right? It's a re-setting. You know, another one of my favorite things back to prayer, real quick, is I don't always have the chance to like maybe go talk to my wife about something, or I might not even know the words I want to say before a conversation with somebody. And one of my favorite things about prayer is just I'm able to not worry so much about what I'm saying as just getting it out and sharing it and asking for support, asking for help, asking for guidance, asking for all of those things. And and and truth be told, it's typically after the prayer I get to do the box breathing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's maybe that it maybe I'm just because you, you know, you're you're typically uh I'm probably not as consistent as I should be to a clock, right? When it comes to prayer. I'm not a morning, noon, noon, and night person, but I definitely it is one of my go-to's, especially uh when I'm really worried or concerned or optimistic, or when I feel the spirit, right? When I feel the spirit, and one thing I talk to people about in particular, uh people that feel like they have no one to talk to. Well, there's always someone listening. There's yeah, there's all there's always someone listening. Hit the hit your knees, man. Hit your knees. There's always someone listening. So, question next question I got for you is say say like you're taking over a team, say like you you you're going to a position, for example, you're running for the position of the superintendent of schools in your state. We could talk more about that here in a little bit. But say you get the job, or if you go to a team that has different teams that are not on the same page, that happens often. It does, it really does, especially when a new senior leader is coming in. Because one thing I've learned throughout my career, I people are always jockeying for position, people are always trying to get their best reasoning as for why the change should not affect their department or their team or themselves in a way that they don't like. How do you best lay down the groundwork and move into that space as the leader that's coming in to hopefully blend or resolve those issues?

Dr. Nelva Lee 30:14

So I always try to start off with um like a full like staff meeting, right? Whenever I get a new position and I try to lay out my vision. And then I meet individually with the people that report directly to me. Um and I try to find out what their concerns are and uh how my vision fits in with their vision, you know, because oftentimes when you have those one-on-one conversations, you find out really quick whether or not someone is even in support of your vision, uh, or maybe they don't understand your vision, or uh maybe they've tried something similar and it didn't work and they can give you those insights. So I I try to meet with every single one of my um the people that are reporting directly to me because it's you know oftentimes a large large team, uh, but they you know they have people that report to them now. Um I am very much how can I say this um in support of listening to my staff. You know what I mean? So if my staff have really great ideas, I'm like, great, let's let's adopt that, you know, especially if it fits within the vision, the the the big big vision that I've laid out. I'm not opposed to uh utilizing every and everyone's uh talents and ideas. Um but really and truly I try to make sure that I'm supporting them as well. So I I a really good question to ask is, you know, how can I support your goals? You know, maybe it's not goals within the organization. It might be that they're trying to get a degree outside, you know, or um maybe retiring in the next five to ten years or something to that effect. How can I support your goals and so we can support each other? Uh a lot of some times, if you realize in the in those one-on-one meetings that that person is really on his on their way out, a lot of people stay on jobs, they're kind of like what do they call it, they're not really quitting, but they're quitting while they're working. There's a name for that. Uh, you can tell that as well. If someone is just in a position just to get a paycheck versus really uh wanting to be engaged and involved.

Running For Georgia Superintendent

Gary Wise 32:29

And definitely yeah, that happens often unfortunately. Yeah. In the military, we'd call it like being retired on duty, right? They were they were trying to coast, they'd have 18 months left until they transferred, or you know, and very similar to you. My process was is almost exactly the same. I was a command master chief, so my job would go to any command I would go to, I was the new senior enlisted leader. And so one thing I would do was I would always assemble all the senior enlisted leaders for the whole command, and I would give them my pitch, right? This is my here's my stump speech. Boom. And then I would uh not so much take questions that first time, but but I would give them my stump speech and let everyone hear it and let them all just whoa take it on board, right? Right. I would also make but I would make commitments, right? I'm gonna sit down with everybody over the next period of time and we're gonna get to know each other and it'd be relatively quickly, right? Because the intention there was to do exactly what you said. I want to find out very quickly who are the shakers, who are the movers, who are the ones that want to work with me, who are the ones that don't. Exactly. And and and figure out real very quickly who the players are and figure out what are some wins I can get to get some momentum going in my direction that the people are looking for. Uh, and then after meeting with everybody, uh, I typically would then take my I will have identified like trends based off my meetings, I'd bring them all together again. This is my strategy, you know, about another month or so later, and say, All right, I got through everybody. And here's my concerns, and I want you guys to tell me what you think about them. And that's my way to get feedback back from the whole group. But in my community, I was very fortunate. We were very willing to communicate in the wide open, right? We had no pro we were in the in the military, especially senior enlisted, we're more than happy to throw each other under the bus in front of everybody, you know. Be careful what you wish for because they'll throw the grenades out at you, you know. And and that's okay because I'll get them talking, right? I always believe that as long as the people are talking, you're doing something right. It's when they stop talking, you got a problem.

Dr. Nelva Lee 34:46

You have to worry when they stop talking, yes. Yeah, might be bringing a knife to stabbing your back.

Gary Wise 34:52

Well, and that's another thing I've learned about the civilian community, uh, especially corporate, they're very, very, very, very careful about what they say in public, right? Because they're they're worried about those things. Now, well, I will tell you in the teacher community and then the public education community where I work at now, oh, those teachers have no problem letting you know what they think. You have a teacher's meeting and they will tell you their concerns, they will tell you their problems. So I think that strategy will work pretty good for like a principal or somebody coming into a school that needs to take over, you know. I do look at principals and their leadership teams as very similar to corporate leadership, right? They have got the challenge of of running these businesses essentially that are schools raising kids, you know. Yes, yes, yeah. Okay, so when you look at your the getting ready for those speeches, do you have like your core values? Do you have things already put together that are like these are my core values as a leader? Or are these things that you re-wicker based upon the team you're gonna be leading?

Dr. Nelva Lee 35:59

Uh, so I normally do have my core values, and for me, uh in healthcare, it's all about taking first and foremost care of my staff. I want my staff to feel like they're cared for and heard, and that's everyone that works for me, from housekeeper to the dietary to nurses and you name it, everyone. Uh, because if they can if, and I let them know this if you are cared for, I know that you're gonna take care of my patients and my customers at the end of the day. So, in a healthcare environment, it's it's really about making sure that they feel appreciated and heard. I can't, you know, wave a uh a wand. Oftentimes they want higher pay, make you know, that usually has to go up the food chain. I can't make those decisions oftentimes, but I can definitely make their work, um their work day easier if if they're heard and if they feel appreciated. And that's the number one thing that people want, really overpay oftentimes, is to just feel appreciated. And so I I do try to convey that value and so people can hear about it and they uh when I first arrived, and then they could decide after three or six months if I if I was, you know, blowing smoke, you know, and but usually they realize usually they realize very quickly that I that I mean what I say. Uh I can tell you an example. Um, one of the last places that I that I worked working at, they didn't have a a break room. And I was like, what? The staff doesn't have a break room? What's going on with that? And so we we created a break room out of out of uh uh one of the the rooms, really, uh the patient's rooms. And uh and then the the leadership, like the the nurses, uh charge nurses and things like that, uh, they were complaining about it because people were spending too much time in the break room. And so they they wanted to get rid of the break room. They actually got rid of it without consulting. And so I thought it was just this whole battle, and I was like, oh my gosh. But there's just little things like that you have to do to um to make sure people you realize that you you mean what you say. And I I try to always do things like giving everyone a turkey at Thanksgiving and uh to uh little employee appreciation things, you know, throughout the year. So it's really important to take care of your staff. So that is definitely one of the values that I take from from work, you know, workplace to workplace.

Gary Wise 38:19

Right. Well, and what I'm hearing you say is you have to really understand what the people are hoping to get out of the experience and what recognition matters to them, right? And like you said, it may not always be a paycheck. Um, when I was talking to the kids today at school about the cheese being moved and recognizing that the cheese may not always be literal cheese, right? For one person, cheese could be, you know, a house with their family, another person, it could be a position of influence. It's just understanding whatever is you're driving you, what is your why? What is the thing that inspires you to want to get out of bed and do the best that you can do? Uh in your leadership journey. If I was to ask you, you know, top three to five things that you've learned across the board that are typically people's whys, right? Because I've kind of gotten my three to five that I think I've seen pretty consistently. Uh what do you think are the most consistent reasons that people typically want to find success or are looking for something that a leader can help them out with as their why?

Literacy, Phonics, And Rigor Gaps

Dr. Nelva Lee 39:23

So I would say the first one is definitely uh appreciation. And that can come in different ways. So some people it's giving them a gift, or others it's uh, you know, just recognizing them in front of others, you know. So it just appreciation and finding out how to appreciate different people. Uh number two, I would say work-life balance. And that looks different for different people. You know, I have had staff that will work, you know, work themselves to the bone as long as they can get a long vacation, you know. So they don't mind coming in and doing overtime every single day of the week as long as when they get tired, you know, take get ready to take some time off, that you are gonna, you know, uh support them in that. And so they're your work hard, play hard people. Others, they just want to be able to leave early so they can take care of their children or their or their elderly parents. Uh, you know, if they have an emergency, they don't want to have to give too much of an explanation. So just being able to identify what work-life balance is for people, I think is really important. And then uh I always believe that growth, you know, at some point you have to identify how to help someone grow, whether that is getting an extra certification, whether that is, you know, uh giving them the space to go for additional training. One of the things that I like to do with my staff, uh, especially those that report directly to me, is we'll read a book, a leadership book together. You know, I'm grateful for Audible and I don't have to read it anymore, but I used to. But now I just put Audible on and we'll read, like maybe, you know, listen to a chapter together and just kind of discuss it. And we'll do that once or twice during our staff meetings. Um, you know, 10 to 15 minutes. And you know, within three to three, you know, three to four months, we've done, we've finished a book, and then I'll always give them a certificate of completion. But lo and behold, those leadership books, oftentimes a lot of them have never really uh this, you know, taken the time to expand their their their uh ability to lead or or their knowledge of lead. And so whatever you can do to help your staff grow, I think is is definitely a plus.

Gary Wise 41:35

I love it. And here's what I heard I heard making sure they understand that their contribution is valued, right? So they've got to know that they're valued, uh making sure that they're compensated in the way that they that they value, right? Which is typically time, right? And that's the and and they that that's huge. And it was the same thing in the service, right? Really more than anything, even more than the paycheck, it was time. It was knowing that their time would it would mattered and that they got a fair compensation of time and then development, right? Gotten the opportunity to be developed. And I think all those, if you can nail all three of those things as a leader, you're gonna build trust, you're gonna build excitement, you're gonna find so much freaking success with your people because they're going to be excited to come serve with you because you're you're you're meeting them where they want to be at, right? Where they want to be mad. It's amazing. All right, let's get into this. You are you are running for a position for the state of Georgia, yeah, superintendent of schools. Is that correct? Like the whole state. That is that's the whole state. Yes, that's correct. Woo! And is this part of uh is this your finally getting to that political side of your career where you got the chance to be a leader in the medical world and you got to lead all these teams, and now you finally get to come full circle?

Dr. Nelva Lee 42:54

That is correct, and you know, my my kids are older, and so I do truly believe that this is the time that I'm able to do that. I I often tell people, you know, you can do it all, just not all at the same time. You have to you have seasons in life, and so my season up till now was to, you know, really prioritize my family. My children were young, and so I needed to make sure that I that I was raising up good kids first and foremost before I went off into the world. Uh, but yes, I do truly believe that my passion of you know being in in uh public policy and advocacy has never left. And so now I get to really uh go delve full for you know full throttle into that arena.

Gary Wise 43:39

So I'm curious, you know, Dr. Uh Lee, why why do you think you would be the best superintendent of schools for the state of Georgia?

Dr. Nelva Lee 43:48

So I'll tell you where we're lacking in Georgia, and you tell me. Uh so so we are currently ranked 38 out of 50, and that's a decline under the current superintendent of schools who's Running again. Okay. He's going on this is his 12th year, and we've only seen decline. 70% of our fourth graders are not proficient in reading, and that's a decline. 76% of our eighth graders are not proficient in math, and that's a decline under his leadership. So for first and foremost, I'm running because we need new leadership. And second, uh, most of the people that are running against me have never run, uh, you know, had a business that to run. You know, they don't have like the organizational expertise and leadership that I bring to the table. Not only did I have my own uh trade uh trade certificate or trades program uh for 20 years, but I also homeschooled my son. My son uh was on the spectrum and I homeschooled him through the fifth grade. You know, I have I was an agile professor, I taught online for many years, I was a substitute teacher, so I could know about the different types of learning styles. And so I truly bring all of that knowledge to the table. So my leadership experience as well as I know what it's what it's like to teach someone from the ground, from you know, ground zero all the way up. And I I want to prioritize literacy. And so one of the things that I did when I homeschooled my son is I taught him phonics. And you'll be able you'll be surprised how many schools went away from phonics, Gary. Uh and now we're we're reaping the rewards of that, of children, you know, high schoolers and and people going off to college not knowing how to read because we went away from the basics. So let's go back to the basics, let's make sure that we are prioritizing reading, writing, and arithmetic, right? So that we are giving those kids the best foundation possible so that they can learn and and grow.

Pay, Administration Bloat, And Morale

Gary Wise 45:49

Oh man, I think it takes a lot of uh courage to want to be in a public position of leadership. And I understand it very well. You know, I was a in my last posting in the Navy, I was the Master Chief for Naval Base Guam during COVID, right? So I was I was on an island in the South Pacific Sea, federally, you know, covered down where we were covering all the fleet, but uh we had all these families living over there. We owned the school, we owned the clinic, we don't and during during a pandemic, and it was it was tough, you know, because it's one thing to be deliberate with like military members, but their families are a whole different ball game, right? And and then coming to the school system as a public school teacher, as an ROTC teacher, working with the kids and their parents, that's another thing that could it could be great, right? Because a lot of them are gonna be very thankful for your work and they're gonna be thankful for what you're doing, but then sometimes some people are unhappy for whatever their reasons, and they can be just pistols, you know. They can be, and I get it, it's people's kids, and nobody wants to hear the bad news, or people to your point about the education thing, it's super sad when you see a young person who's doing getting straight A's in school, but cannot pass a standardized test, right? They they're getting straight A's, but they cannot pass the SAT with a good enough score to go to the local community college, or to even get into that trade school, right? I've seen that to where kids had to get more schooling to get the right scores that they needed to then enroll into any kind of an after after high school education program. And it's sad because they're getting good grades, but the classes are not always as challenging because what I learned is those are like four different levels of class, yeah, right? You've got you've got like these highest levels that are almost college equivalent, but the lowest level, it just makes you feel good about yourself and you get to graduate with this diploma that doesn't mean anything, right? Like ultimately, you got a diploma, but you can't barely spell.

Dr. Nelva Lee 47:54

And we need to change that, yes. We need to make sure that we're training children for success in the real world.

Gary Wise 48:03

It is, it's tough, it's it's heartbreaking. I I and I see these kids go from being, I tell them, I tell them during their freshman year, sophomore year, if you're not worried a little bit about high school, you're probably not taking the challenging classes you need to be taking. Like, there should be if you never have homework and you're a high school student, it's a you should not be that happy. Like, it's a problem. You're you're probably not challenging yourself. But Master Chief, I got straight A's. I get it, but my my concern is gonna be when you take the SAT in 11th grade, now it's almost too late. Like, because you've waited until your junior year to realize you did not get the skills you need. And it but the other reason why I think it's good for kids to take higher level classes is typically in those classes, more kids are actually focused on trying to learn. Yes. Uh, unfortunately, at those lower level classes, kids are just kind of being corralled there and being monitored for the day, but they're not really trying to learn.

Dr. Nelva Lee 49:00

They're not, they're not. And and is it really their fault though, or is it just school's fault that we're not giving these children all all the tools necessary to succeed in life? So they can learn things that they definitely could uh could use to succeed in life. I mean, if you don't want to teach them algebra, at least teach them business, you know, how to read a PL, right? Or how to how to balance a checkbook for heaven's sake. But uh, it's really the school's fault if all we're doing is corralling them. That's a waste of a waste of resources and waste of their time.

Gary Wise 49:39

I will I will tell you one thing for our local high school. My son, during his junior year, he did take a class that was like essentially home ec and they did like writing a checkbook and balancing budgets and all that stuff. And then this year he had to take a like an economics class. But what what I will also tell you is I feel like it's a it's a whole holistic thing. The community has got to play a role in this, the churches have got to play a role in this, the parents have the most important role, in my opinion, and yes in encouraging their children to want to get an education and to want to get uh the competitive scores to for opportunities after high school. And then, of course, the teachers have an obligation to bring the heat, right? We got to bring the energy, we've got to bring that. And it's hard to get motivated about teaching when the pay is not always. I mean, it's if you're doing teaching, you're not doing it for the pay. I'm just here to tell you. I feel like uh in our country in particular, the pay for medical personnel and the pay for education, public education personnel is completely backwards. You need to flip it. I I really no, no, I feel like those two those two positions of employment, medical and public education, should be some of the highest valued occupations in our society, right? If you're a person who's choosing to take care of people when they're hurt, when they're sick, when they're when they're going through some of the most traumatic times of their life, that compensation, whether you're whether you're an LPN, an RN, a pick your flavor from the bottom to the top, right? There should be some serious compensation for that person. And then for these people, I mean, I think school bus drivers should make good money, right? Because they're being paid to to move our children around the city, and they've got to deal with the noise and the sounds, and we expect them to do all this high-level thing. And unfortunately, most of us can't even we can't even get enough people to fill the jobs because the pay is so lousy. It is, it's horrible, right? And and I just think about that from the perspective of a person who I lived overseas most of my career in the military, and we would take care of our community because it was all we were all connected. Whereas in society back in the States, it's kind of a big, we're very big, we're very sprawled out, and everybody doesn't always know their community. But I feel like there should be, I would love to see a path where somehow public administration, public educators, people that worked in the public school system, school bus drivers, medical personnel that that you know, emergency services, law enforcement, all of them got better pay because I think ultimately, without those people and those jobs, we we don't always get the best quality people that want those positions, if that makes sense.

Dr. Nelva Lee 52:31

It does. And here's the thing here in the state of Georgia, over 50% of our budget is spent in administration. 50%, not to the teachers, not to the schools, that almost to the students. And so if I become superintendent of schools, that's one of the areas that I like to really hone in on. Like, why are we so top-heavy? And where can we make some cuts?

Term Limits And Changing Bureaucracy

Gary Wise 52:53

Well, I think that's one of the things we're seeing from what's happening in the federal government, right? We're seeing that they're wrecked, and I will tell you again, come from the military perspective, I used to get really frustrated from all the government civilian employees. While I liked them and they were great people, I would always feel like there was a lot of them, and one military person could do like five of their jobs, right? But but the difference between us and them is we transfer every three years, they don't, right? So they had that longevity and that historical context. But I agree. Unfortunately, we blow our our some of our government positions out with administrators, and we lose focus on the people that are actually doing the jobs, right? Um, and so I hear you on that. And hopefully you're able to get that across the finish line because one if I've if I've learned one thing from my career, it's when you bring change to a government organization, people tend to get real squirrely real quick.

Dr. Nelva Lee 53:47

Oh, yeah, they they bring out their pit sports, for sure.

Gary Wise 53:51

They really do, because you know they're just they're playing the long game, and it's not typically somebody that wants to uh come out of that cocoon relatively fast, right? If you're if you're going the speed of government, you're you're more than happy with a slow, slow, slow pace, right? Oh, but to your but to your point, if you're failing your consume, your customer, right, which is the kids, then that should be unacceptable, right? And how you're quantifying failure sounds pretty straightforward, it's just the the math, right? Do the do the math, and you're gonna see that we're not we're not finding success, right? Well, I wish you all the best of luck in that, and I hope everything works out for you. When do you find out if you get the position?

Dr. Nelva Lee 54:36

So the primary is May 19th, and like I said, there's five of us, including the incumbent, and then if I'm successful there, we go off to the general election, which will be in November.

Gary Wise 54:46

So the primary, including the incumbent, is this is this based off the primaries? Is it based off political parties as well?

Dr. Nelva Lee 54:54

Correct, or is this political parties?

Gary Wise 54:56

So this is the partisan position. So so five of you are all in the same party, yes, on the Republican side. Yes. Woo! Five Republicans in the state of Georgia going for that job. How many are on the Democrat side? I believe there's three of them on the Democrat side. Okay, but it sounds like a Republican's been holding the position for quite a while.

Dr. Nelva Lee 55:18

Yes, yes. So we've only 12 years, yes. He needs he needs to go. Yeah, time to go, buddy.

Gary Wise 55:25

Time to grow, time to develop, yeah, time to you know truth be told, I feel like if you're at the same job, possibly as a leader. I mean, I don't know. I I come from the world that I move in every three to four years, you know, on the reverse side. I plan on being in my high school ROTC position to, you know, I plan on doing this for for quite a while, but it's hard not to leave when I see all those other opportunities out there in the world. It's I can smell it, taste it, but then I keep telling myself, Gary, focus. You're a high school teacher now, it's okay and be good. I love my kids. I do, I do.

Dr. Nelva Lee 56:01

Well, here's the thing politics, I don't think the founding fathers ever intended politics to be a career, right? I agree, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. I I'm a big believer in term limits. I think that two turns is enough time to make a difference. If you want to stay in politics longer, then move on to another position. Let fresh blood kind of move in every so often. Uh, we need fresh perspective, we need uh people with different energy uh to shake up, right? To shake up government agencies oftentimes. So that is that's my philosophy. And I've I've said it in other podcasts, and I'll say it again. If I am the superintendent of schools, I will serve two terms in that position, and that's it. No more than that.

Rapid Fire: Preferences & Lessons

Gary Wise 56:48

Nice. No, no, I think, and leadership by example, right? And I think showing people that if you don't get it done in two terms, next man up, right? Give somebody else the opportunity to get it done. Exactly. Time for fresh leadership. All right, Dr. Lee, as we land this thing, I kind of like to do like a rapid fire question and answer thing. Okay, are you ready? All right, uh, so on the ship on the weekends, typically Saturday nights, uh, they we usually get a special meal, and it's usually pizza and chicken wings. So, question would be which one are would you be looking forward to more? Pizza or wings?

Dr. Nelva Lee 57:22

Chicken wings. I am a lemon pepper, dry rub girl any day. There you go.

Gary Wise 57:27

All right, I like it. All right, so next question. So on the ship, we all sleep at a place called the birthing. That's essentially where all of the beds are at, that's where the showers are at. And it's really some place that people like to go because it's air conditioned and they like to clean the birthing because you're out of the way, right? The other thing we do on the ship is called working parties, and this is where the food's getting sent over. We've got to move a bunch of heavy boxes, it's typically a lot of heavy work and it's hot. Uh, would you rather go to the birthing or would you rather go to the working party? So, what's the uptide of the working party? So there's music typically, there's a lot of fun conversation. There's a there's usually a lot of people down there, it's kind of loud, right? And and that's kind of like my scheme.

Dr. Nelva Lee 58:13

I like that.

Gary Wise 58:14

Yeah, there you go. Okay, no, no, it's definitely no, they're both a vibe for sure. I like it. All right, if we were gonna watch a movie, would you rather watch a De Niro movie or a Pacino movie?

Dr. Nelva Lee 58:25

I like Pacino, all right.

Gary Wise 58:28

I like Pacino for you.

Dr. Nelva Lee 58:30

Um you always lived in the state of Georgia, not always. I lived in Hawaii for about 10 years. My parents were military as well, and then I did most of my education, like my college education there.

Gary Wise 58:43

Okay, so I was gonna ask you looking back on your life, where's your favorite place you either lived or visited?

Dr. Nelva Lee 58:50

I would say Hawaii. I like I loved living there. I just didn't like the cost of living. If the cost of living was better, I would have stayed there for sure.

Gary Wise 59:01

Yeah, Hawaii's an amazing island. It really is. Definitely okay. Looking back on your on your education path or on everything you've kind of done throughout your life, what was the most challenging certification, piece of education, achievement that you think you had to go through in your life?

Dr. Nelva Lee 59:20

Getting my doctorate and not for the reasons that you think. So I love it, I love studying. I always was a straight A student in high school, all the way uh in college. I got very good grades. But then when I got to my doctorate, I finished all of the the um coursework, and then I I still had my dissertation, and that's called ABD. If you have you heard of that term called but dissertation, well, one thing I did not realize was dissertation is not about how much you know, it's about it's really very political. You have three people deciding your future, basically, and they all have to agree. And so it's very subjective, it has very little to do with your the quality of your work, it's really how well you manage these people, and so it was very frustrating to me uh because I didn't have a lot of control over the process. You know, it wasn't about just studying and passing a test anymore or doing a paper and getting it graded. Uh, so it was very, very challenging. Uh, I had PTSD over my PhD process for years. It was just like I didn't even want to talk about it. But now it's it's been some time now that I can I can you know say it was it was not so bad, but at the time I thought it was the worst thing ever having to go through that dissertation process.

Gary Wise 1:00:40

It's one of the main detractors, you know. I've looked at it. Uh I looked at going for my PhD, and I that was one of the main reasons I just I wasn't in the mood. I I didn't have the appetite for it. I'm not, you know, I'll I'll find success other ways, right?

Dr. Nelva Lee 1:00:54

Right. There you go.

Gary Wise 1:00:55

But so I totally understand that. I do, I totally understand that. Okay. Uh next question: Do you have a favorite movie or TV series?

Dr. Nelva Lee 1:01:05

I if I I have a favorite genre, and that would be spy movies. I love spy movies with a lot of action, you know. Give me any spy movie that has a lot of action, I am all for it.

Gary Wise 1:01:17

Okay, spy movies with a lot of action.

Dr. Nelva Lee 1:01:18

My dad was bigger than James Bond, so I get it. I think that's where it came from because my dad loved James Bond, and I just anything, anything that's spy movie, you know, I I'm all over it. Okay. Would you rather be independent or on a team? So I've talked a lot about teams, right? Um, but really at the end of the day, I love my solitude. I'm I'm one of those introvert extroverts, you know, people. When I tell people I'm introvert, they're like, no, I don't see it. And I'm like, I really do like my quiet time. Like all of my all of my pastimes, you know, my my uh things that bring me a lot of joy are very solitary things. I love to read, I love to run, you know, I love swimming, all of those things, you know, uh very solitary endeavors.

Gary Wise 1:02:05

So it's important that you understand that about yourself, uh, especially as you got to find a way to recharge. You know, I I like you I'm an introvert that trained myself to operate like an extrovert because it's what the job entails, right? It's what was required of me. But I come home at the end of the day and I just want to lay on the couch and melt, you know. I'm just exhausted, right? And the kids at my school and even my people in the in the military, none of them believe me. They're just like, no way, you're you're always so fired up. I tell this is my body managing the anxiety of getting through the day. It just comes across charismatic, but right ultimately it's me being freaking, I'm freaking out trying to get through all this. Yeah, learning that about yourself is key. All right. Um, do you have a you kind of talked about it already, but I'm gonna give you an opportunity just one more time. Do you have a personal leadership philosophy?

Dr. Nelva Lee 1:03:01

I see myself as a transformational leader. So um I'm not I'm not dictatorial, I'm not Liz of Fair, I'm someone that really wants to motivate people for a goal. So whenever I get a new position, I'm always you know looking forward to like how can I leave this place better than when I found it? And so, in whatever, whatever uh flavor, you know, that comes at, you know, with if it's an organization, can we make it, you know, can we get some sort of award, uh, or can we improve on some metrics, you know, that we're failing on, uh, or or just improving, period. It doesn't need that need uh need to be that we're failing something, it just how can we improve as a team? And then I like conveying that to my team, and then for all of us working together towards getting that done. That just makes me very, very happy when I when I can say after a year, uh two years at a position that guess what, we were here and now we're here, and we did that together.

Leadership Philosophy & Communication

Gary Wise 1:04:02

I love it and bring in a sense of urgency, bring in, bring in a sense of enthusiasm and and reminding everybody that we don't have forever. I mean, I know people want to feel like we do, but that's just not realistic. We only got a certain amount of time to make this place better. Let's do our best today, right? Let's do our best. Yes, let's go. Yeah, okay. Uh, so in the Navy and the Chiefs mess that I was a part of, uh, we had these uh guiding principles. Uh, the first one is deck plate leadership, which is essentially you are leading by example, right? Then the next one is institutional uh and technical expertise. That means you don't just understand how to be like a doctor, but you also understand how the hospital works, right? Like you need you need to be both institutionally sound and technically sound. Uh, our next our next one was professionalism, which wasn't just you wore a good looking uniform, but it was like you came to work with that bearing of like I'm going to be productive today, we're going to do good today. And it were professionals. Um, there's character, which you know, again, you gotta stand for something. There's loyalty, right? And we were not just loyal to the organization, loyal to the country, loyal to the we were loyal to the team, right? Uh, there was active communication, so up and down the chain and making sure everybody got the message. And then there was a sense of heritage, like never forgetting where we come from so that we can remember kind of what we're fighting for. Uh out of those, which ones, which one of those resonates with you the most?

Dr. Nelva Lee 1:05:38

A lot of them, Gary. I was gonna say, send me a send me that list again. That is awesome. Uh, I would say the active communication, uh, definitely I noticed that teams that break down are teams that don't communicate up and down the chain. So uh, as I mentioned, you know, I'm all about giving that that message to my team, but then making sure that everybody All the way down the chain gets that information and try to be redundant with your you know how you disseminate that information. You know, I'll try to put it in in written form, you know, have the team meetings where they hear directly from me, uh, and then uh, you know, have the one-on-ones, all of the above. But yeah, I would say communication is probably very, very important for team to to gel and to work together as well.

Gary Wise 1:06:25

Definitely. Okay. Well, Dr. Lee, so in the service at the end of our meetings, we will ask if there's anybody saved rounds, which essentially means if you got any bullets in your gun you want to send my way, uh, this is your opportunity. So, is there anything you would like to possibly talk about that we have not hit on today and during our conversation?

Dr. Nelva Lee 1:06:45

I would like to uh just let your listeners know where they can find me, if that's okay. I have um my website is drnelvali.com. I have my four books on there uh listed. I call them my written testimonies, Gary. And so uh definitely if any of you readers would like to learn more about me or you know some of the challenges that I've overcome, they can definitely look and look those books up. They're all on Amazon. So I have the links on my website and as well as other, you know, fun information, podcast interviews, speeches, my links to other um my social media, things like that.

Closing, Resources, And Thanks

Gary Wise 1:07:21

Amazing. And I will make sure that I package all that up as well with the podcast stuff and with the you all the YouTube videos and all that that goes out there. So hopefully we can help people to find you. Because, you know, truthfully, when I started doing this whole podcast thing, you know, I started a leadership development business, but then I realized I'm kind of busy teaching high school. Right. I didn't, you know, all the all the people wanted to hire me during the day when I was teaching, so that didn't really work. Right. And then I was I was like, well, you know, I gotta find a way to to to scratch this creative itch that I have. Well, I think these kids got my cup so full that I just have so much energy for the for this kind of a topic. And then it was just well, leverage social media, leverage YouTube to make yourself easier to find for people that are looking for you. I love that. Yes, that's it. And so there you go. So thank you very much, Dr. Lee, for for taking some of your important time and sharing it with us. Thank you very much for everything you're doing for the state of Georgia. Hopefully, you find success and be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. Yeah, but but you know, I hope I hope you get the opportunity to make Georgia a better place, right? And they can hopefully do it for those kids for sure. All right, doc. I appreciate you. I think that wraps us up for today. Okay, all right. Well, don't forget to send me that list. That's a really good list. Yeah, I'll send you the dip class list in an email and make sure I will shoot you an email offline before I go to publish it so you can know everything that's coming out and make sure I got your links. Okay. Sounds good. All right, thank you. All right, doc. Everybody, thank you for listening to the sounds of my voice. This is Words from the Wise, and we will physically force that they can get it up to get it.