Wally Delecki

Guiding conversations with community leaders.

In this podcast, we'll explore the human journey of leaders, their stories of humility, triumph, roadblocks and lessons learned. Come join us as we journey together and uncover the questions you've always wanted to know. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, perhaps providing resources, connections and belonging for business professionals.

And Rocket Space, an event and meeting venue in the heart of the East Valley with a full service four person podcast studio. And here we go. We're back. Sarah.

We are back.

I'm so excited for today.

I am very excited for today. The gentleman we have today. I'm gonna steal your thunder a little bit, but I have gotten to know this gentleman over the last few years and I have a lot of admiration for him. So introduce him, please.

Absolutely. Born in Flint, Michigan, today's guest was born to Polish immigrants. As the middle of three children, he began his career as an accountant, but returned to obtain his teaching degree. Eventually, he made the move to Gilbert where he raised his family and served in the role of superintendent of Gilbert public schools for 20 years. He is now a legend in our community. Today we welcome Dr. Wally Dilecki.

Yeah, Mr. Dilecki, the crowd goes wild.

Thank you. Wow.

And I might add, he's got the most amazing memory of anybody I've ever met. And we should probably talk about that a little bit.

Oh, we're gonna have to talk about that. That's just one of the things you know about Wally when you think of him.

Yeah. You know he's gonna remember everything you say, so you better say, be careful.

Poor Ben.

No getting around that one. Well, welcome, Wally.

Thank you.

We start with what we call rapid fire round. Okay. So we're asking you a few questions and just kind of run from there. Ready?

Yes.

Morning beverage of choice.

Coca Cola.

Oh.

How long does it take for you to get ready in the morning?

Depends on the morning. If it's formal, probably 40 minutes. If it's informal, about 10.

What's formal or informal?

Tie and shirt. Socks.

Beach or mountains?

Beach.

Name one thing you can't live without.

Family.

Favorite sports team?

Arizona Coyotes.

Okay, where is the most beautiful place you have been?

Everywhere I've been.

Are you a spender or a saver?

Spender.

We can hang out.

Now, describe yourself in three words.

Kind, funny, helpful.

Wally, what's the best room in your house?

Kitchen.

Last question. Glass half full or half empty?

Always full.

Always full. I would definitely agree with you on that one.

Gilbert City Lifestyles is a locally owned publication whose mission is to Find and share great stories in our community and help build a stronger, more vibrant local experience.

Become a Digital Subscriber@CityLifestyles.com Gilbert. Very fun. Okay, so now let's talk a little bit about Wally, shall we?

Yeah, I'd love to.

Yeah.

Let's go back to the early years and start in the beginning. Our show, of course, is about those that inspired you and guided you through your life. And so as we go back to the foundation of your early beginnings, what comes to mind, what kind of family memories you have of people that influenced you?

Well, My dad was one of 11 children, so I had 34 first cousins on his side, and my mom was one of six, so we had other cousins. So we grew up in a neighborhood that no one ever moved. I never saw a for sale sign.

You were all the neighborhood.

We were there forever. And so we went to Catholic schools, and so the neighbors were our friends as well as our classmates. And so I had a happy childhood. Nothing spectacular. We didn't have money, but we weren't poor.

Beautiful.

And you say Polish immigrants. Your parents were Polish immigrants, and they learned to speak English when they went to school. And did they carry that language then.

Into your house when they didn't want us to know what they were saying?

Oh, now I wish I spoke a second language.

And my kids kind of do.

So there you go.

A little bit. Yeah. It's this Latin stuff. I'm like, what?

What?

Okay, so going back to that time period, then, as you think about your education, who influenced you there? Did you have any teachers? Did you have any mentors or anybody that kind of took you under their wing or got you to where you're headed?

One of the nuns was particularly helpful as. As I shared. I didn't go to kindergarten. In fourth grade, they put me in fifth grade, and I was sitting in a first grade desk. So at eighth grade, I was the shortest student, male or female, in the.

School, in the class, and probably the basketball star.

Yeah, that was not my sport. So I had neighbors and friends that we were. That I'm still in touch with. Even though we're distance in time, we're still very, very close. In our graduating class, 16 couples married out of 130 students. So I was blessed with a healthy family, good experience. We would go back to my grandmother's farm in Pennsylvania. That was our vacation. And we thought we were international travelers because we went.

Technically, you were.

So we developed an appetite to travel and to see the world.

And you grew up in Michigan, which we found Today is a commonality between the two of us. So very neat.

It was a great place. Lots of water. We go back every year to Lake Michigan and enjoy the beauty. We don't go back in the winter.

No.

Which is most of the year.

October is a great time to go. Beautiful colors.

Absolutely. Absolutely. So I had good teachers, I had a good education. As I started to go through high school, my older brother was a CPA and a very good cpa, and I wasn't. But I got a degree in finance and economics and became an accountant. And then I was hired by the Mott Foundation. And Mr. Mott was 93 when he hired me.

Wow.

And a billionaire. B. And he made his wealth through Mott's applesauce, and he founded General Motors. So I was there two years, and I didn't want to die before I was dead. And so I didn't have enough social interaction. I had a good salary, I had status, I had security, but it wasn't enough. So I went back to the university and got a teaching degree. And Dr. Doug Procunier, because the foundation supported hospitals and education, and the educators in the foundation enjoyed life. And I remember Dr. Pecunia pointing to Frank and saying, that's you in 25 years. And I said, I can't do that. So I got a teaching degree and taught high school economics. And then the Mott foundation gave me a full ride. And in three minutes, seriously, I took out an atlas, and I looked at the University of Connecticut, the University of Texas, the University of California, Davis, and Arizona State University. I had never been to Arizona, and so I decided to go to Arizona State University. So in three minutes, I changed the course of my life, and I moved out here, didn't know anyone, and started at Arizona State University and finished my Master's and my PhD and I decided I wanted to stay and get a position. And I had a professor who was probably my age, and I thought he was 100. And so he told me to go out to Apache Junction for my internship. And I thought, apache Junction's small. There's not going to be any job opportunities. But being compliant, I went out there And I met Dr. Tom Reno, who was about 35, and I did my internship with him. And when I finished my internship, he became the superintendent of Yuma schools. And guess who he took with him as his assistant superintendent. He picked you? He did.

All right.

So it turned out to be a wonderful opportunity. So I was in Yuma, and that's where I met my wife.

Okay.

Nancy was the Special ed director. She's a native Arizonan from Duncan, Arizona. Her dad was a teacher. He was a graduate of ASU. And so we moved to Gilbert in 1978. I was the assistant superintendent for business and then HR, and then three years later, I became the superintendent for 20 years. So we started with about 300 employees, and then we morphed into several thousand. And we built 29 schools in 20 years. So it was a busy place.

Yeah, it was.

So I'm curious, because there's a lot of risk taking in those years as you make these decisions. Where does that come from? Where do you find the strength to, in just three minutes, take that kind of a risk and make that kind of a decision?

Well, we were surrounded with talented, capable people, and we had a community that was very supportive. And so our director of operations and the architect really saved my career because without them, we would have been on split or double session because we were growing a thousand people a month.

Yeah.

Yeah. That's a lot.

So we went from 2,000 children to 32,000 children. And so we went from rural and agricultural. I remember my first week in Gilbert, I wanted to register to vote. And so they said, you go down to Betty's Western Ware. So I went down to Betty's Western warehouse and I said, I'd like to register to vote. And the lady said, betty took sick, and so you're not going to register to vote. So that was my welcome to Gilbert. We didn't have home delivery of the mail, so the social life was going to the post office. And that was next to the Gilbert barbershop, which is still in existence. Joe and Raul Gonzalez opened that 70 years ago. And Raoul is there now 50 years. And I've been going to him for 44 years. So it was a small community, a friendly community, agricultural. There were Dairies, the Lamoreaux, the Morrisons, the Sawyers, the Hatches, Zimmermans, the Sharps. It was part of our life. There was one traffic light at Elliot and Gilbert Road. And so Gilbert Road was serpentine. It wasn't straight. Yeah. So our community. I've seen some changes in the last years.

I bet you have indeed.

Did you ever second guess your move? Did you ever wonder if he did the right thing?

I did at first. And then when I turned 50, I looked in the mirror and I thought, I've been in the same place with the same people doing some of the same work. Life's passed me by. And then I looked and I thought, I'm blessed. I'm with people that I care about. And I'm in a community that is helpful and supportive. Our roots are in people, not places. And so the people of Gilbert keep me going.

Love that. That's awesome. And I was going to ask kind of the similar question. When you, when you decided Arizona, I mean, it seems like it was almost like throwing a dart at the map.

It was, it was. I didn't know the heat. I watched the weather in Michigan, but they never told us it was 110 degrees in Gilbert, Arizona.

So when you got here, going back to that point in your life and you decided to go to Arizona State University, who helped you through that? Like you were all alone. Right. You didn't really know anybody here or did you?

I didn't have any family. We had a cohort. I'm still in touch with Artis Christiansen. She just turned 90. She's a former nun in Oregon and we did our doctoral work together. So Brad Barrett, who is our assistant superintendent, attended ASU with me. Jim Jurs, who was the superintendent in Paradise Valley, was in our wedding and we were at their house a month ago. So I had a network of friends and support. And then Nancy's family are all native Arizona. So I had an extended family throughout Arizona.

Okay.

My parents lived in Florida, my brother lived in Michigan, my sister lives in Seattle, and I was in Arizona. So we almost had all four corners.

Yeah.

Nothing in the middle. No Midwesterns.

Well, Michigan's Midwest.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

Okay.

Yeah. So let's talk about this memory.

Put a map up for Ben.

I grew up in Kansas, so I'm thinking that's middle and that's pretty middle.

Oh, yeah.

Everything around middle.

Yeah. So let's talk about your memory, because I've always been fascinated by how photographic memory you have. And has that been part of your life always or is this something you've trained yourself on?

It's a gift from God.

It absolutely is.

I can't take any credit. I was 5, 10, left handed, and I had a very good memory. My mom had the same memory and our youngest son has a very good memory. So when I was a teacher, the students would call me Xerox, at least to my page. So I've always had a very good memory. I'm a one trick pony. That's all I've got. I'm mechanically declined, not inclined. I can't fix anything. In fact, funny story, was our director of operations is a third generation cowboy from Lakeside, David Gillespie. And he can fix anything and build anything and so in Bel Vista, we had to have tiff lawnmowers, and mine broke down and was very heavy. So he came over, helped me put it in the back of the truck, and we took it to the A and P nursery there on Baseline in Lindsay. And the guy looked at my lawnmower and he said, you know, what's wrong with it? He said, if you put gas in it. But I was in my shirt and tie, so he didn't expect me to know anything but poor Dave Gillespie and his cowboy hat and Wranglers and boots. So it was the best prank, even though it was unintentional. So the memory is a blessing because I like people and I can remember people. So I've always had it. It's still there, but as I've aged, it's much slower to come out.

It is a beautiful gift. Just in my interaction with you, just the feeling of investment, you can feel that you genuinely care, and you really do take the time to invest. But then having that memory and that recall has really added to the ability to nurture those relationships.

It has enabled me, John Maxwell's Five Levels of Leadership. The Chinese say it the best. One of the most important communication skills is listening. And we're never taught to listen unless you're a counselor. I learned spelling and math and geography, science, but I wasn't taught how to listen effectively. And so the Chinese, the verb is ting. And there's five characters. First, it's your heart, because if you don't care about people, we know it. The kindergartner knows it. The guy that doesn't speak English knows it. Then it's your eyes, because I'm listening to you as I look at you. Your facial expression, your posture, your gestures. Then it's your ears. And then the fourth one, which is in trouble these days with younger people, is your sole attention on the person. So in my generation, when I'd be in a conversation and someone would look at their watch, they disrespected me. And now it's our phone. And so it's your undivided attention. So it's your heart, your eyes, your ears, your undivided attention. And the person you're speaking and listening to that's tingling. You don't learn anything while you're talking. And your ears don't get you in.

Trouble unless they have these headphones on them.

Then you might be, you know, there you go.

That is interesting. I just read a book, and one of the recommendations about just being introspective is taking a Whole day and not speaking and just listening. I don't know that Ben could do that, but I might give it a try.

Yes. I don't know if I could.

I don't know if he could.

I don't think I could.

It'd be tough. Okay, so now I want to jump to your transition from teaching to the administration side, because both my parents are teachers. I think you maybe remember that. But I have a mom who's an English teacher and a father who's an art teacher. So I grew up with that little space. And I just remember how dedicated and focused they were on their careers and helping and educating students. But ministration, whole different game.

How.

How did that come about for you? You mentioned that you kind of got pulled under the wing of the. The gentleman who turned into the superintendent.

Right, right.

Explain that.

Well, when you teach, you learn twice. And so management comes from the top down, but leadership comes from the bottom up. And so a good teacher knows their students as well as their content. And so it was important to know the employees. And we went from a very small community to a very large. And I didn't want people to be anonymous, either the students or the staff and faculty. So I knew every employee. I knew most of the families, and it was my business to do that because it's all about relationships. The quality of our life is determined by the quality of our relationships. So in administration, it's very different. In leadership, there's five levels, according to Maxwell, which I believe in position. When you first get the position, you have authority, but you don't have any buy in or any relationships yet. Then you move to permission. When you develop relationships and people follow you because they want to, not because they have to, then the third level, if you're good at it, you become productive. So it's not only about relationships, it's about being successful in producing. The fourth level is people development, where you create other leaders rather than followers. And then the fifth, which is rarely reached, is the pinnacle where you have a legacy, an election. So administration is difficult. You have to be a good administrator as well as a leader. And so administration gets a bad rap. And leadership is the positive side. But I've known people that are very socially skilled but inept. And then I've worked with people that are very capable, but no people skills. And so you have to have a little of both. So as you go up in an organization, an organization takes on the personality of its leader. And so when you change the leader, you change the climate. It either goes up or it goes down. So the leader is in charge of establishing climate. And by climate, I mean the personality of an organization, the feel, the tone. I can walk into your workplace, I don't have to ask any questions, and I can feel whether people enjoy being there or they can't afford to leave there. So you establish the climate culture on the other side is like an iceberg. 70% of it's underground. And culture is the norms, the beliefs, the values, how the insiders do it, how the veterans do it. And you don't change culture. It takes years. And so building a positive culture, a positive climate, is part of the question you asked Ben about administration.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm so glad we're recording this session with you because I just feel like I'm going to go back and listen to this thing a thousand times because you've shared such great wisdom already today with us. And I know you're referencing other sources, but just to hear you talk about this is amazing. Really appreciate that.

So I wanted to ask, because you do approach it with such wisdom and there's just a sense of understanding and confidence. But I can't imagine it was always easy, especially during those boom years. And I'm curious what challenges you faced.

Well, we grew so fast that the new people wanted to change the culture to accommodate their Midwest experience, their south experience, New York experience. So it was growing so quickly. There were growing pains, but it was a positive experience because we were growing, not closing. And so there were lots of challenges. There always is. You have to have patience in your adversity. But making first rate people hire first rate people and second rate people hire third rate people. And so you judge a company by the people it keeps. So if you have turnover, absenteeism. I took 16 sick days in 23 years. The birth of our children. And I had my tonsils out when I was about 40. And so I modeled the behavior that I expected from the other folks. And I had the same administrative team. My wife was the special ed director in Phoenix. She had eight superintendents in 17 years. So we had stability and that was positive. That was the anchor. And I had the institutional memory. So I was given a free pass many times because I had the history. And so people gave me a trust. When you build trust, you have everything. It's better than intelligence, communication skills, vision, or any other trait you can name. And when you have trust, people will forgive your mistakes. They'll even forget them. But if you don't have trust, I don't care how bright you are. No One will believe a word you have to say, and it's a reflection of your character. And Malcolm Baldrige said, character is how you treat people that you think can do nothing to you or nothing for you. And so character is what you think you are, and your reputation is what other people think you are. So in 23 years I was with Gilbert, I had a wonderful experience, and then I recycled. Because during those 23 years, I had the opportunity to teach at ASU and to teach at NAU. They said I could teach in the district conference room, and I loved it.

I bet.

Yeah, it was my golf. It was my night out. Stress will kill you, but hard work doesn't. As the superintendent, I would have 40 hours in by Wednesday. And so in 2000, NAU came to me and offered me a contract. And our youngest son was in third grade, and so you don't think about retirement. And so they came the second time, and my wife said, they're not going to come a third time. And so I took the quantum leap. I was, I think, a presidential appointment. There's a gentleman referencing this conversation. Dr. Ray Kalisp. He was raised in Gilbert, but he was the superintendent in Snowflake and in Peoria. And I thought he was a professor at NAU when he recycled, but he was in the president's office, and so he recommended me to nau, even though I was ASU and could have worked at asu, I had the opportunity to go to nau.

So you became a lumberjack.

I did. My wife's a lumberjack and our son's a lumberjack. Their son's a wildcat from the U of A, but I'm a Sun Devil from Arizona State University. So that's how I morphed into the professor. And I've been there 21 years. So I teach in the College of Education, Department of Educational Leadership. So I have classes in the Valley. I teach in Flagstaff in the summer.

Smart.

Smart choice. So leadership is about service. And Marian Wright Edelman said it the best. She said, service is the rent we pay for a living. It's the purpose of our lives, and it's not what you do in your spare time. So I've been involved in service throughout the community, as Sarah knows, and I think you know, Ben, because I met you in Gilbert leadership. And I knew you went to Kansas State University. You were married to Lindsay. You had seven children, five daughters and two sons. You were on the parish council at St. Tim's and then you were on committees for Velvet Lakes.

Yep.

What class was that Ben, class 25. And they're up to 30 now. Happily, I was class two. So that's why I'm involved with the museum, because I'm in the museum. So I've been engaged in the fabric life of Gilbert for a long time and I've made many friends. I have no interest in moving anywhere.

Wally, you've got one point on here that Sarah had written down that says you have a fear about becoming irrelevant. And I think that's probably really not a relevant point because that's not going to happen.

I actually, I put it in our notes because when I read it, I was honestly totally taken aback by the fact that someone like you could have a fear like that.

Well, I read somewhere where if you don't like change, you're going to love irrelevancy. As I've aged, the fear is as a professor, I don't want to become irrelevant. I need to know when it's time to leave and that you're still active, engaged, and you know what you're doing. And so that's where I'm at in my stage of life. I don't want to not be efficient and helpful and wisdom comes with old age, but sometimes old age comes all by itself. And so I just don't want to end up with old age all by itself.

Beautiful. Well, we so appreciate you joining us today and sharing your stories and the information you've shared. Lots of wisdom. Lots of really great things to reflect on in this conversation.

It really actually is an honor and I feel like we could sit here for another hour and just learn from you.

Totally.

Thank you for taking time today to come in.

Thank you for the opportunity. I'm honored and I'm grateful. Thank you.

So if you like this show and you want to learn more, subscribe to our tribe and join us online and add yourself this show to your list of favorites. And thanks for joining us today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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