The Rotary Spark Podcast
Welcome to our dedicated podcast for Rotary International's District 5750, designed to connect our community through the power of personal storytelling. Each episode celebrates the unique journeys of our fellow Rotarians and community members, highlighting their individual experiences, motivations, and the profound impact of their service and contributions.
Join us as we dive into heartfelt discussions with individuals from all walks of life, sharing stories that inspire and foster connection.
The Rotary Spark Podcast
#0017 - Dr. Roy Wood
Unlock the secrets to impactful community service with Dr. Roy Wood, as he shares his transformative journey into the world of Rotary. Dr. Wood, a pillar of community engagement, joins us to discuss his path to the Rotary Club of Broken Arrow and his new role as district trainer for District 5750. Get an inside look at the groundbreaking District Leadership Academy, an online program designed to enrich participants with leadership skills and a deep understanding of Rotary's global mission. Through interactive sessions with influential leaders and guest speakers, discover how Rotary is equipping future leaders to make meaningful contributions on a global scale.
But that’s not all—our conversation takes a dynamic turn as we brainstorm innovative strategies to expand Rotary leadership. From engaging president-elects in hands-on training to the potential creation of dynamic educational resources, we explore various avenues to enhance learning experiences for members. Imagine a future where artificial intelligence, like ChatGPT, aids in crafting educational content and comprehensive Rotary eBooks. This episode is a treasure trove of ideas and inspiration, aimed at pushing the boundaries of education within Rotary and ensuring accessible learning opportunities for all its members. Join us as we celebrate the power of education and collaboration in driving community impact.
Welcome to the Rotary Spark Podcast. I'm your host, Brian Schreiger, and with me today is Dr Roy Wood. How are you doing today, Roy? I'm doing well, Brian. Thanks for the opportunity. Of course, my pleasure. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1:Glad to do it A snowy day today to do it a snowy day today definitely we uh, we originally were going to meet at the almonte library and we made a last minute change to a starbucks out in edmond and they were kind enough to let us sit down and drink some coffee and eat some snacks. So thank you, starbucks. Let's see we've met a few times. Tell us a little bit more about how you originally discovered Rotary.
Speaker 2:Thanks, brian. I came in kind of through the back door. In my previous job, when I was living in the Tulsa area and working for Northeastern State. I was the dean of the campus there at Broken Arrow and one of the things that was on my to-do list was to be community engagement. And as community engagement, one of the tasks that my boss gave me was to look at joining Rotary, and I hadn't really looked at Rotary before, didn't know very much about it, so I decided to give it a try, went to the Rotary Club of Broken Arrow, immediately fell in love with it, joined the club, and the rest is history. That was about eight years ago.
Speaker 1:For newer Rotarians. Tell us a little bit about what Rotary means to you.
Speaker 2:Rotary is an opportunity to join with like-minded people so we can help serve the community. It's been a real joy for me to do things like shop with Rotarian to ring the bell for the Salvation Army kettles, to do fundraisers so we can support our nonprofits in the community and you know I've always been one to try to give back individually. But Rotary just brings us all together as a force multiplier to get out in the community and really make a difference. A force multiplier to get out in the community and really make a difference.
Speaker 1:So, from what I've heard, you're the upcoming district trainer for District 5750. How long have you been in District 5750?
Speaker 2:We came to District 5750 in July of this past year. When we moved to the Oklahoma City area, we joined the Edmond Club and I went to a couple district events and the district governor-elect asked if I would consider being the district trainer, knowing my education background, and I said that I'd love to. So I'll start that in July with the turnover of the new leadership.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. Can you tell us a little bit more about the initiatives that are being put into place with the District Leadership Academy?
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah, district Leadership Academy is something that's been going on for a while. In 2023, I took it over in District 6110 when we were in that district over in the Tulsa area and ran it in last year, and then, when my wife and I decided that we needed to move over to Oklahoma City, the district governor there asked if I would keep the leadership of the district academy, and he talked with Jack Warner, the district governor of 5750, and they agreed to make it open to both districts, and so this year we started back in September with members from District 6110, 5750, and we were able to actually have a young lady who applied from San Diego in a completely different district actually have a young lady who applied from San Diego in a completely different district, who's president of a club over there and was looking for some new ideas and ways to get involved, and so we accepted her into the class and right now we have about 18 students that are working on this seven-month curriculum. It's really a deep dive. I teach master's degree programs at northeastern state and this really is very much like a master's degree program in Rotary and leadership and what we try to do is do about half of the class on leadership skills like leadership, communication, networking, fundraising, running a non-profit and the other half we do a deep dive into Rotary at large, starting with the club, going to the district, the zones, rotary International we're going to talk about some of the things that the foundation is supporting worldwide. So it's really a broad brush.
Speaker 2:Look at all things Rotary.
Speaker 2:We dive into their governing documents, which sounds boring, but if you don't know the rules of an organization, your latitude is a little bit constrained to what we're used to doing and we want people to think out of the box, do some experimentation and grow the clubs in ways that Rotary really wants us to do some of the flexibilities, membership and the way that we run our club meetings and things like that.
Speaker 2:So we explore all of those items in the District Leadership Academy. Obviously, with such a large area, we're 100% online. I did establish this year to have two Zoom meetings a month where we get the class together. I'll invite a guest speaker, a subject matter expert, on whatever it is we're talking about. They'll come in, they'll have a talk. Students will have a chance to ask questions and interact with people like the district governors, some of whom wouldn't normally meet the district governors of the district in the positions they happen to be in and it really broadens their view of what Rotary is and what it can be and how they can better lead their clubs and get involved in district and higher things that Rotary is involved in.
Speaker 1:I really like everything that you've mentioned.
Speaker 1:It actually is one of the first organizations where I've really had the desire to dig into foundation documents like the bylaws, the constitution and then the variations tied to whether it's a licensed, vendor agreement or documentation that's just varied throughout 1.2 million people.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I've learned about the importance of that is it not only helps me, as a New Rotarian, understand the landscape, but it also helps me truly appreciate the root tied to the history. It really it's the only way that I can experience the possibility of what was through literature, and you know I've had other opportunities to do that. Right, I've had, you know, the chance to maybe do that with the US Constitution, or I hate to compare it to a video game manual, but I'm going to as a gamer because that's important to me too. But I would say that I definitely need to thank Rotary for giving me that understanding that these documents, even though they're not super exciting at times, that it really helps bridge the gap between a new Rotarian like myself and people from the early 1900s, and I think that's really cool, at the very least.
Speaker 2:Well, as you know, rotary has evolved quite a bit in the last few years. I'll say few. When it first started, it was a very exclusive club for CEOs and leaders of organizations and you could only have one organization represented by a CEO like a bank in a given town in Rotary, by a CEO, like a bank, in a given town in Rotary, and that exclusivity was interesting at the time and probably needed to get it started. But if you read through the documentation of the history of Rotary, you see that it's evolved, where it's much more diverse, much more open to everybody who wants to come in and do good in the communities. So they've changed a lot of things since 2016, where they had a council of legislation in 2016 and 2019, and they've made a lot of flexibilities for clubs to open up, to have satellite clubs, to have the opportunity to have different formats for the meetings, to move from an attendance to an engagement model where attendance is no longer mandatory but rather you participate in Rotary through the meetings and through the projects and things that they do, and a lot of clubs don't actually know that that flexibility exists to be able to do that, and that's one of the things that we're trying to get out with the ideas in in rotor district leadership academy, because society's changed many ways.
Speaker 2:We want to recruit younger members, we want to recruit members who are working adults who may not be able to come and attend our meetings on at lunchtime or whatever. So giving those flexibilities to say you don't have to attend every single meeting but you have to come in and support the club and do things, or you can create a satellite club that meets after hours at a different time. So Runway's given a lot of flexibilities, a lot more than most clubs realize. And experimentation is the only way to find out that's going to work in a particular area is to try a club, to try a satellite, to try different hours or different times, different flexibilities, and that's completely allowed now by Rotary. It's instantiated in their documents. So we're trying to understand that and encourage people to be innovative that and encourage people to be innovative.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really appreciate that. It gave me the support that I needed to collaborate with other individuals to do this experiment and I see a lot more of experimentation on the Verizon. Is there a way that any and all of us can help you with kind of expanding your project or giving you feedback and or participating in any capacity to help you kind of spearhead this forward?
Speaker 2:Well, I think you're doing that right now by this podcast first. Second is that every year, we're going to do a district leadership academy and having individuals from your clubs come and be a part of that, particularly president's elects or present nominees, who are going to come into a leadership position. If they know these things, these flexibilities, they understand this, that they work through some of the leadership training, they're going to be much more equipped and prepared on day one to step into their clubs with some of these innovative ideas, with some of these opportunities to expand membership and to better engage in the community by understanding what the community needs and what the clubs need and making that, making that match more solid than it has been perhaps in the past.
Speaker 1:I haven't done a deep dive yet, so these questions might already be answered, but since you have more experience, I'll go ahead and throw them out there. Are there interactive videos that are kind of up to date and or, more playful, that touch on the history of Rotary? That would be my first question, and then I'll kind of dive into the second one. That's kind of more of a follow-up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the short answer to that is yes. There are videos being made, both by Rotary International, by some districts, and even some clubs are making some videos to help their members understand this better. One of the things that I was able to do when I was club president was at the beginning of every meeting I would do a Rotary Minute, and sometimes it was a minute and sometimes it was three minutes, but I would show one of these videos that gave this broader view of what Rotary is and could be, what the foundation does, what Rotary does internationally.
Speaker 1:So videos are a place where I would direct people who really want to know more quickly and to share those in the club, because they're really fun and they're easy to get people to watch rather than have to read something lengthy like a manual of procedures, sure, and it's interesting that you say that, because one of my things that I was thinking of is, you know, at some point it would be interesting to see, like an up-to-date biopic tied to Paul Harris or you know, a group of individuals doing the original Chicago project on a platform like Netflix, and we may not be there yet, but at some point it could happen. And then it goes back to what you mentioned kind of more traditional militant style of literature. Is there an official or are there official textbooks out there for Rotary leadership?
Speaker 2:You know there are a few old textbooks. There's nothing new that I've been able to find. Rotary International is actually moving away from paper and more toward online, and so you have to really dig through some of the rotaryorg documents and things to find things that used to be printed on paper, sure, um, while that's convenient and I'm sure it lends itself to translations to different languages, it does make it a little more challenging if you want to take something and flip through it and read it and understand what's going on. There are some pdf documents out there that you can still come by, but we probably are due for a book, I would think pretty soon, because of all the changes that Rotary's been through and all of the things like incorporating Rotaract into Rotary and things like that. So a lot of those things are not up to date in the published book area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, because I'd love to see, like, maybe, a PMP style rotary book that that complements maybe your seven month intensive or something more tied to the organization as a whole, and maybe even have kind of uh, uh sections in the beginning dedicated to interact and rotaract specifically, and then maybe, you know, tie them back in, but just basically to have a companion book.
Speaker 1:It could even be an ebook format, you know. So I, I pull out my kindle or my amazon fire or my phone or, you know, my smart glasses of you know the next few months, and then I'm able to kind of read some literature on the fly. So maybe I'm a little bit rebellious and I'm not signing up for your class yet, but I really want to collaborate and I'm kind of on the outskirts and either want to avoid the process entirely and still have the same level of understanding, or I want to come in with more information, because I'm a little bit shy and somewhat egotistical and I just want to jump in with a little bit of a leg up. And that's my projection from my own personal challenges with traditional education. But that's kind of where some of the questioning comes from.
Speaker 2:Well, it's funny that you mentioned that one of the things that I've discovered with the new artificial intelligence, chat gpts is the ability to quickly put together an ebook based on topics, and I've done that three times now for my classes, uh, at northeastern state. So maybe you and I can collaborate on a book for Rotary that we put together with the chat GPT.
Speaker 1:I'd love to. I think that would be a fantastic project and maybe it'll lead to the biopic at some point, maybe. So I love these brainstorming sessions. I also love the fact that you're pushing education forward, especially in an area that I'm very green in. I have been exposed to quite a few amazing people in leadership example. You know our our district governor chain Mac Patel, jack Warner, michael Truitt and you know some great leaders within our own club. You know Ben Chili, quite a few other people that I can name as well. So there's a lot of inspiration. I think some of the learning kind of that's some of the osmosis learning, you know. But I really think I love the fact that you're kind of picking up the pieces and giving the full meal to individuals that are really hungry for that data, so that Rotary can push forward.
Speaker 2:Thanks, I appreciate that. And you mentioned Chili. Chili and Oscar from Midwest City Club are both in the class and doing well, and I think they're going to come back and change the world for you guys.
Speaker 1:I believe that Oscar has been fantastic. Chili, you're awesome. Chili's been great, like I. I love Chili. Uh, we don't have an opportunity these days to speak on a regular basis. I'm a little bit more introverted so I don't reach out as much as I should. But, uh, he's, uh, they're both rock stars, so I just you know it, it's, it's a great district to be in. Uh, let's see. So, let's talk about. So my favorite uncle is in the Navy. I read that you have about 24 years of experience. Do you want to talk about that for a little bit?
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah, right out of high school I enlisted in the Navy, went into submarines, was electronics technician, served for three years before I was able to get a scholarship. And I came back and went to Texas A&M, got my undergraduate in computer science and then started out in surface ships and commissioned a ship that was the guided missile destroyer. Our first deployment was completely around South America, through the canal, down the West Coast, up the East Coast, back into Caribbean, back to Norfolk. It was a great cruise for us, a lot of experience. I went to graduate school, became an engineering duty officer, which means I was involved in procurements of big systems that the Navy was building at the time. But I volunteered to go back to sea, went on an amphibious helicopter assault ship with a couple thousand Marines and we ended up doing an evacuation of Liberia during their first civil war. And the second deployment I had with that ship was over in the Persian Gulf during Desert Storm. So those were my sea tours. I came back, I did a tour in the high energy laser system test facility, blowing things up with light in New Mexico. That was a pretty unusual tour.
Speaker 2:And then I went to Washington DC where I spent the next 25 years. I retired there. I went to work for a small engineering consulting company and then went back into DOD engineering consulting company and then went back into DOD. I served for a couple of years in the Bush administration as a presidential appointee, as a deputy assistant under secretary of defense, and that was a great opportunity to see how DOD works at the highest levels. Went to the Defense Acquisition University where we helped train 150,000 military civilians who managed the large defense projects. And then, once I was done with that, my wife and I decided to move to Oklahoma. We moved to the Tulsa area. I began working with Northeastern State, as I said, joined Rotary there and I was having so much fun that my wife joined about a year later and we've been Rotarians, enjoying going to the club events and to international conferences. We went to several and we're planning to go to the one in Calgary in June and we're really looking forward to that as well. So it's been quite a journey.
Speaker 1:That's a lot and I hope to see you there, because my intent is to go as well, and thank you for your service. It's taken me a while in my life to really appreciate not only the government but the military specifically, a lot of my family members have served. I have a base job thanks to not only Tinker Air Force Base but also Delaware Nation Industries. They are an organization that really promotes the idea of being an entrepreneur, so it gives me a chance to kind of fully invest myself, but also, you know, use my free time to kind of spread my wings. So, you know, shout out to them. They've been fantastic. My team over there is great.
Speaker 1:Also the military tape being willing to take in, you know, contractors, without really understanding the full idea of what the military actually is. Because I feel like there's a big prejudice. You know in different ways, whether it's, you know, indifference or ignorance, associated with different variables and stuff like that. Even only two, three years in, I have no idea what I'm looking at. It's a very small fragment of a much bigger picture, but as I get exposed to you guys or just anyone in the military and then kind of calls back to the family members that are really important to me, my uncle specifically.
Speaker 1:Obviously I have a biased perspective because we share dna, but um it, I just uh, I'm just so thankful uh to uh. You know, and I I've said thank you for your service and haven't meant it, you know, it's just like you know, bless you uh. But uh, I'm daily, on a regular basis, as I mature as a human being, I I'm really starting to really appreciate the dedication and the understanding that you guys have over the bigger picture of how the world communicates. So thank you for that.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, brian. I appreciate it. It's been an honor and a privilege to serve the country as I have, and just continuing that service through Rotary at this point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, rotary is a fantastic opportunity. So there's a lot more to learn about you. I won't drill you too much more Out of curiosity. Where do you see Rotary going Like? I think that you've been able to be exposed to patterns over the last eight years. Tell us about your eight ball.
Speaker 2:You know, I think that Rotary is struggling to maintain at 1.2 million. We're shrinking in the west. We're growing in the global south. A lot of Rotarians are coming on board from South America, africa, other places like that, and it's partly because I think people don't know what Rotary is and what we do, and one of the modules that we teach in District Leadership Academy and that we try to stretch is branding and public image. I think a lot more people would join Rotary if they knew what it was and what we did. And trying to get that word out, not in a prideful way, but in a way that acknowledges the good work that we're doing, lets people see that it's Rotarians who are doing that work and getting them interested in coming and joining us, because we know they're out there sure?
Speaker 1:no, I'm glad that you brought that up too because, uh, cassandra, myself and a few other people have been collaborating to kind of kick up that initiative within our own district. So this is kind of a reminder to everyone out in district 5750 or even outside of district district 5750, if we can highlight anything specifically to help your projects, help you out individually or professionally, as long as it supports rotary, and just really connect and bring awareness to the bigger picture. You know, feel free to reach out, because a lot of these new things, especially kicking up something, whether it's a proven method or not, if it's organic, there's still going to be a little bit of experimentation and the only way that that helps is enthusiastic feedback, uh, without, uh like a super conditioned response. So I, no obligation anyone feel free to reach out to us myself, cassandra, anyone in the district, as we just kind of lightly nourish the garden of Facebook and Instagram and a variety of other platforms to kind of really just kind of bridge the gap. So with that I, yeah, thanks for coming out.
Speaker 2:My pleasure, Glad to do this. It's great talking to you Brian.
Speaker 1:Thanks to Starbucks out in Edmonds and also thank you to ITSpark for supporting this project. I also want to thank District 5750 and the Midwest City Rotary Club. Obviously I'm a member of that and have a good night, everyone. Thank you.
