Jason Wells
Episode 13

Narrator:

Welcome, friends, to another episode of The Story & Experience Podcast. Join your host, Japhet De Oliveira, with his guest today and discover the moments that shape us, our families, and communities.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Welcome to another episode of The Story & Experience Podcast. So excited to be here with another guest. If you are a brand-new listener to this, you will not know that we have 100 questions. The first 10 questions are really easy. They're really quick. I'm just going to ask those and introduce the guest to you effectively. But questions 11 to 100, they get harder and harder, more vulnerable, more open. And the guest gets to choose whether they want to go to 100 or whether they want to stay down in the 11's effectively. It's really up to them. But the real thing that you should think about is that this is essentially a cup of tea. We're sitting down with two friends. We're having a chat. He's laughing. He's laughing. I mean, he's just...

Jason Wells:

I am.

Japhet De Oliveira:

We haven't even been begun and he's like giggling away.

Jason Wells:

And what kind of tea is it?

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, Earl Gray with milk.

Jason Wells:

Not milk.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, absolutely. Sugar. I feel like this is really good. All right, here we go.

Jason Wells:

Warm milk.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Warm milk.

Jason Wells:

It's disgusting.

Japhet De Oliveira:

It's so beautiful. Why don't we begin with your name? Why don't you tell us what your name is? And does anybody ever mess your name up or do they always get right?

Jason Wells:

I get called lots of things, but Jason Wells. Yeah. It's not a hard one to mess up, unless you're really in trouble, Jason Todd Wells.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Beautiful, beautiful. Jason Todd Wells. So, you go by Wells or you go by Jason?

Jason Wells:

You know my first nine years of my career, I was Mr. Wells.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Mr. Wells.

Jason Wells:

High school teacher. So that was fun, Mr. Wells. But no, I am Jason.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Jason. Brilliant. All right. What do you do for work right now? Jason?

Jason Wells:

What do I do for work? I get to work at Adventist Health. My role is Chief Consumer & Innovation Officer. So working on experience design, working on our latest innovations, moving digital, virtual, working with our culture team. It's a dream job.

Japhet De Oliveira:

So innovation, I mean, consumer innovation. That means you take basically all the latest everything, and you pull it all together and then we create Jason Wells, right?

Jason Wells:

Oh, there you go. No, it's trying to get healthcare caught up. So banking has transformed itself. Retail. The pandemic has accelerated so many things. But healthcare, we seem to be kind of the last ones coming around the track on actually designing experiences and products fully focused on those who use them as opposed to our own schedules, our own needs. That's the shift that we're in, underway in healthcare.

Japhet De Oliveira:

This is a dream job for you. For those of you who don't know Jason, and you will throughout this podcast a little bit. I mean, Jason is, and has always been, an innovator and a thinker, and he's always about 400 steps ahead of all of us. And that's why I think he was laughing before we began, because he was working out where this is going to go. By the way, nobody knows what the questions are. So this is just kind of fun for him to be in this kind of position.

Jason Wells:

Absolutely.

Japhet De Oliveira:

How long have you been in this current role?

Jason Wells:

I've been in this role coming up on probably about nine months.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Wow. Fantastic. Good. This morning, and actually every day, I mean, what's your drink of choice? Is it water? Is it one of those green liquid smoothies? Is it coffee or is it tea?

Jason Wells:

You know, if I was more organized in the morning, it'd be one of those green liquid smoothies, but that takes some work, and so no. It was water that kicked today off. That's all that's in the tank today.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, that was good. That was good. Jason, where were you born?

Jason Wells:

I was born in one of the world's few blue zones. I was born in Loma Linda, California.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh. And I was going to ask you, have you ever been back there? But of course you've been back there multiple times, right?

Jason Wells:

Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira:

All right. All right. Brilliant. And then when you were a child, did you imagine you were going to be in innovation or something like that? What did you imagine you were going to be as a kid?

Jason Wells:

We had a family friend who is a heart surgeon at Loma Linda. I always looked up to John and thought that I would be a heart surgeon until I realized you had to deal with blood. That quickly took that one off the list.

Japhet De Oliveira:

I love that.

Jason Wells:

Yeah, no, I'm good.

Japhet De Oliveira:

I'm pretty sure there was a Dr. House. That was his thing, I think as well that. So you don't like blood. Tell me about personality. If people were to describe you, would they describe you as an introvert or extrovert, and would you agree?

Jason Wells:

I'd definitely be described as an extrovert. And I think I would agree. I enjoy people. I enjoy relationships. I enjoy authenticity. And so, yeah, it is a fair statement to say I enjoy meeting new people, but just having authentic, incredible experiences with a group of people to go through this journey on life together with. No question.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Love that. Love that. And what about your habits, Jason? Are you an early riser or late night owl?

Jason Wells:

Oh, man. Are we on a question six or seven yet? How close are we getting there?

Japhet De Oliveira:

This is just the top 10, really easy ones. Just, you know, warm you up.

Jason Wells:

It's interesting. I turned 50 this year and it's driving Heather crazy because I'm getting up on my own in the 5:00 a.m. window where going through college, going through my first 20 years post-college, definitely I could be up until 2, 3 in the morning and do just quite fine. But it's shifting. I don't know if I like it. I would love to be an early riser. I think that's pretty cool, but that's never been me. But it's becoming me, not by choice. Kicking and screaming. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira:

All right. So this morning when you woke up, what was the first thing you thought about this morning?

Jason Wells:

Oh my goodness. The first thing I thought about when I woke up this morning. Not disappointing you by being late. You set this at 6:15 a.m. and I knew I would disappoint you. And it was about 6:21 when I got here for you.

Jason Wells:

No, I would say first thing that I woke up. I had a great night. My parents are here and they're leaving in the morning, but we had a week with them. Have not really seen them much in the pandemic. My dad's 80, my mom's not far behind. Awesome people, live in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. So had a great evening as the sun was setting on the golf course with my dad last night, watching him hit his nine iron over a little family of Canadian geese walking right in front of him. Got it on video. Priceless fun. So I was remembering that, that great evening. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's beautiful. That's beautiful. A leadership question here. Are you a backseat driver?

Jason Wells:

Am I a backseat driver? I am a front seat driver. I tend to do the driving in the family, and I love to see how I can appropriately navigate. There are eight stoplights between our house and work. And I have actually done it with zero stoplights. It's kind of a rolling thing with Heather and I, the lights just seemed to turn green and I say, "No, it's how you set it up. You have to look four lights ahead and strategize."

Jason Wells:

I'm very much a front seat driver. And I try to keep my mouth shut when she's driving about, "Hey, there's a green light two ahead, you might want to hit that." It doesn't go too well.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Where would that go well? That's good. That's good. All right. Hey, the floor is open now. So now we begin, so you choose between...

Jason Wells:

Seventy-seven.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Seventy-seven. All right. Up there. All right, let's go. So 77. Share one of your most cup-filling experiences with us.

Jason Wells:

One of my most cup-filling experience? So Christmastime, Boston Symphony Hall. Keith Lockhart conducting the Boston Pops. My handbell choir called Ring of Fire, first ever group to solo with the Boston Pops. I got to conduct onstage a solo piece for us, and then he conducted my group with the Boston Pops, playing Bizet's Farandole and an arrangement of We Three Kings. It was just a life moment, of Heather's standing there, just chills of kids playing flawlessly, everything by memory in a hall so much steeped in tradition. John Williams had the stage for decades. You know, it was a moment of nine years of incredibly hard work, early mornings, 40 different kids, 13 at a time. 11-year-olds to 14-year-olds just crushing it. And it was a moment that just incredibly proud of how hard they worked to earn that.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That would be absolutely electric. It'd be amazing. Beautiful. Beautiful. All right. Where do you want to go? Up or down?

Jason Wells:

Let's go to 16.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Sixteen. All right. Let's see here. It is: Tell us about one of the places you traveled and why you want to go back.

Jason Wells:

One of the places I've traveled and why I would want to go back? I lived on Palau for a year between 22 and 23. Cousteau had said it, "Best place in the world to dive." So I chose that island to teach eighth grade and music. And I had a little handbell choir there. We played for the inauguration of the Palaun president. But it is an island that's unbelievable. The three major ocean currents come together. Blue corner is a 4,000-foot vertical wall. And the shark population off there, it's just... You know, I've been diving all over the world from the Red Sea to up and down different Island chains.

Jason Wells:

But there's something about Palau, the amount of fish, the variety of fish, the colors, the water. You can see the bottom of the boat, even when you're at 130 feet deep. It is, it's unreal. So yeah, I'd like to take the whole family back. I've taken Heather, but the kids have not seen or experienced Palau.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's beautiful. Beautiful. All right. After 17 where do you want to go?

Jason Wells:

Let's see, that was 16. I hope you gave me 16.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, 16. Sorry, yeah.

Jason Wells:

Exactly. Let's go with 55.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Fifty-five. Oh, share about something that frightens you.

Jason Wells:

Something that frightens me. You know, I would say, probably not as much anymore, but growing up tremendous fear... This going to sound odd... But tremendous fear of living forever and it's actually a phobia. It's like apeirophobia or something. It starts with an A, and it's like the irrational and excessive fear of infinity and the uncontrollable. And I think that's the keyword for me.

Jason Wells:

I, you know, orchestrate, think strategy, think way ahead. And it's not something that I can control. Now it's not something I'm going to miss. So don't get me wrong here because the alternative is not a good one. And I think once I was married, once I had kids, I think it started changing.

Jason Wells:

I'm highly competitive. That could have been part of it. And so you think of this concept of where everyone runs the race and you all cross the finish line at the same time and that's not it. It's not that I have to beat people. It's the sense of what can I achieve? And it's also the sense of, like skiing. How fun would skiing be if like you couldn't get hurt? Like you could just go off this hundred foot cliff and just land perfectly and continue. It's this sense of, I think risk.

Japhet De Oliveira:

The mountain never stops.

Jason Wells:

Yeah. And so you start piling that on some people's concepts of heaven and the afterlife. It's like, oh, harps on clouds. You know, I can remember a story. I wrote a story once as an English student in high school trying to deal with it. I said, "Okay, this little ant." And we went out in the field and we took an ant from the little playground. Brought it into our biology class. And we put in a little box that turned it into a human. And this ant's like, "Oh my goodness, this is incredible. I had no idea that that's what you guys were."

Jason Wells:

Then we take this ant around and we take it to Disneyland, and we take it to Palau and we take it all over the world. And this ant's just like, his mind's blown. He had no idea this is what being a human was. But eventually after a million years of this, he's like, "Okay, what's next?"

Jason Wells:

So that's part of it. But it's not something that I have a fear of anymore because I, it's the relationships, the authentic relationships. Being a dad, living forever with my kids, infinity finally feels better. It doesn't feel this endless, scary uncertainty.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Is it the uncertainty or is it because you know what I've known about you over the last decade is that you are a person that enjoys creating.

Jason Wells:

I do.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Creating, and you not only create stuff, but you create purpose as well.

Jason Wells:

Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira:

So is it that when you think of the future, there is this kind of like picture that's often been painted the future, that it's bland, it's just like an expanse of nothingness?

Jason Wells:

No, I don't think so because I get very excited about if there's a way to live 200 years in this life, I'm like, "Yeah, I'll take that pill. Let's do that." Because I'm having tons of fun. There are so many places I want to travel in the world. So many people I want to meet. So many experiences I want to have.

Jason Wells:

So it's not that. And there's endless creation I want to do here. I think it's just the unknown, the unknown and the uncertain. You know, everyone's picture of that is quite different. For me though, when it centers on relationship, I'm there.

Japhet De Oliveira:

You feel more grounded.

Jason Wells:

I'm there. Very grounded. So it was very much a growing up, looking up at the stars as a teenager, and just freaking out about I'm going to be out there in a million years. Heather teases me because we watched Interstellar, this movie, together once.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh yeah. Weird.

Jason Wells:

Okay. And there's a scene where the dad, remember when he's going to stay more time on the planet to save his career or whatever. And his daughter now passes him. That just gave me the same feeling of, "Oh my goodness. She's now like 90 and he's still 50." And that tapped into that same fear.

Japhet De Oliveira:

I think a lot of people felt that at the end of the movie as well. Not quite sure where they were going with it. But no, no. It's good. All right. Great. All right. Thank you for sharing that.

Jason Wells:

Let me pick a light one now. I started to go deep on everyone's podcast. Does it go to 99 or does it go to 100?

Japhet De Oliveira:

No. 100 is the highest.

Jason Wells:

I'm going 100.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Did you say you're going into light one and you wanted to go to 100?

Jason Wells:

So you do them...

Japhet De Oliveira:

Eleven, and then 100 is the most difficult.

Jason Wells:

I didn't catch that. Let's go 11.

Japhet De Oliveira:

So 11 is the easiest, and progressively they become more open, more vulnerable, right? So 11. Tell us about the most adventurous food meal you've eaten.

Jason Wells:

Most adventurous food. I am not terribly adventurous with food, I'll be honest. I was sitting on a New England Youth Ensemble tour. I was in an orchestra, a trumpet player in college and we were deep into China, almost She'an, somewhere back in, and watched at a restaurant. I didn't eat it. So I'm just to tell you the story. They brought out this big chunk of tofu and threw it in this boiling vat of oil. And of course, sizzling, popping everywhere. And then about three long, sleek, shiny black eels in a bucket alive, and dumped them in. And they just squealed as they burrowed themselves into this chunk of tofu. They left it in for a moment, pulled it out and then chop, chop, chop. And it was this amazing slice of tofu with these little round chunks of eel. I didn't eat it, but it looked...

Japhet De Oliveira:

I think the way you described it makes it really appetizing. I feel everybody's feeling joy right now. But yeah. Okay.

Jason Wells:

I did freak my kids out once. I put some big pollywogs in my mouth at a lake we were in near Bend, Oregon, and let them flop around on my tongue. But I didn't swallow them. That's probably the closest I've gotten to putting something weird.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Weird. Okay. All right, which one?

Jason Wells:

Let's go with 50.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Fifty. All right. Share about who has influenced you professionally.

Jason Wells:

Who has influenced me professionally? Lawrence Geraty, he's retired now. I went to a small undergrad outside of Boston for two years to play with this orchestra. It was so fun to be in New England, tour the world playing trumpet, playing in cathedrals of Europe where, as a trumpet player when you have an eight-second reverb and you're doing Haydn's two trumpet concerto and your last note just goes and goes. Just a dream.

Jason Wells:

Larry Geraty was the president of the university and he had so much character. He had so much moral center and he just was this incredible individual who you wanted to be like. When Larry spoke, it mattered. Dr. Geraty, sorry. When Dr. Geraty spoke, it mattered. Everything he said had meaning. He just had a way about him that I admired and said, "I just want to have that presence." He commanded a stage. He was amazing.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yes.

Jason Wells:

Is amazing. He's still alive, just retired.

Japhet De Oliveira:

He is amazing.

Jason Wells:

Oh, you know him?

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah. He's brilliant. Brilliant. Love his family, as well. Yeah. Great. All right. After 50, where do you want to go.

Jason Wells:

After 50, let's go with 60. We're doing the decades here.

Japhet De Oliveira:

When in life have you felt most alone?

Jason Wells:

I felt most alone probably the month before I met Heather. I was a senior at Walla Walla College. Now Walla Walla University in Walla Walla, Washington, which also had the nickname of Western Wedding College. And it was kind of the thing that you found your wife there, found your husband there, found your partner there.

Jason Wells:

I was in my senior year, so I'm on my final lap. I'd done a a couple of years in Boston, did a year in Palau. Wrapping up undergrad and just dated some really amazing people, but had not had that perfect match yet where I guess you go back to the eternity thing. Someone I wanted to be with for eternity. You know, it just hadn't clicked. And so I finally kind of gave up.

Jason Wells:

It's the oddest thing. It's like when you finally just give up, let go and let God kind of thing, and just let go. And do you know what? Okay, it's all good. I just knew. We're talking six months left, final year, and boom, Heather walked into my life. So right before that would be my loneliness point.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's beautiful. That's beautiful. Oh, fantastic. All right. After 60?

Jason Wells:

Let's go 70, stay on the decades.

Japhet De Oliveira:

All right, then. Tell us about one thing that you're determined to accomplish.

Jason Wells:

One thing that I'm determined to accomplish. You know, I am determined, and I know I can't control this because we've got free will, but I am determined to do everything I can to accomplish three thriving kids who have a passion for life. Who travel, who seek joy out of every moment, who love with wild abandonment, who just live generously and give generously of themselves their time, their talents. And just are kind. I think if I could ask for one thing of my kids, just be kind to everyone. That is I chase with... How did you, word the question?

Japhet De Oliveira:

What are you determined to accomplish?

Jason Wells:

I'm dying to, and I know, I know I can't really accomplish that because that's something. But I'm determined to accomplish inspiring them and doing everything I can to facilitate that outcome.

Japhet De Oliveira:

I feel the same way, Jason. I think that it's so interesting that you said that because there's so much that we can wish for our children. But actually, if they're kind, they're good men and women. Boy, what success. What success. Right? What a dream? Brilliant. Brilliant.

Jason Wells:

All right. Let's go with 80. We're going into uncharted territory.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah.

Jason Wells:

I told you that.

Japhet De Oliveira:

How would you like to change in the future?

Jason Wells:

How would I like to change in the future? I would love to slow down. It is difficult at times to keep up with me, and that's not a good thing. Heather, we were just having this conversation two nights ago. You know, I go at a pace that I've always said, "No, no, let's just get past May because like once we're past May, we've achieved that, da, da, da." And I'm talking to someone who probably is the Webster's dictionary definition of this.

Japhet De Oliveira:

I mean, I understand what you're talking about.

Jason Wells:

Yeah. So it is a pace that is not ... I remember when I was teaching, a superintendent pulls me aside. He's like, "Jason, Jason, think in terms of a comet. You're a shooting star. You've got a 40-year teaching career ahead of you, and I need you to be a comet." And I'm like, "I don't want to be a comet. I'd rather light up the night sky and go do something else."

Jason Wells:

And so that's how I lived as a teacher. I loved it. I loved being in the classroom. But there was no way I was going to be doing that a decade later at the pace I was going. I didn't burn out. I just said, "I'm ready for the next adventure."

Jason Wells:

Same thing with Ring of Fire. It wasn't sustainable. in 2004, we did 75 concerts in one year. We did 28 states, nine countries. It was crazy. Full concerts, kids, everything by memory, walking out on stage, hour and a half. So yeah, that would be my thing is truly actually finding a different gear and being okay with it, and not feeling like I'm leaving something undone. I'm leaving something on the table. That's what I would love to find, that downshift, and feel good about it. Now feel either guilty, or what am I missing? I need to feel good about it. I don't know.

Japhet De Oliveira:

I know. Well, let me know when you work that out one day.

Jason Wells:

Okay. We'll do it together.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Let me know how that one goes for you.

Jason Wells:

Hence you say, "Hey, let's do this podcast. 6:15 in the morning. Yeah, we got time."

Japhet De Oliveira:

I think it's because I can just see you finding other gears and going up.

Jason Wells:

Oh, no. Man, so that was 80. Let's go...

Japhet De Oliveira:

We have time for two more questions.

Jason Wells:

Two more questions. Okay.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah. So where do you want to go?

Jason Wells:

My goodness, let's go to 90, the year I graduated from high school.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Okay. All right. Tell us about how you overcame something that seemed insurmountable.

Jason Wells:

How I overcame something that seemed insurmountable. Man, I'm going to run out all my time kind of going through this one. Something that seemed insurmountable. I think there have been relationships in my professional career on the healthcare side with either a difficult physician maybe that just, you know, sometimes there's this divide of administration versus physicians. Unfortunately just too many entities pour into that narrative, and I do believe anything can be overcome with finding common ground.

Jason Wells:

I had a chance to spend six weeks in the Middle East and just watched Palestinians and Israelis, and I absolutely believe no matter what Hatfield-and-McCoys relationship is out there, everything can be overcome if you sit down at the table and find common ground. And so there have been a number instances where people said, "Don't try it." Don't try that entity, that person, that business.

Jason Wells:

I'm thinking of one relationship who just had it out for our hospital. It was an independent clinic. And just on my first day on the job sat down, and we found common ground, and we built a really good relationship, and decades old wounds were healed through finding common ground. It's not that we had all the right answers. It's just we found common ground. And so I think that there've been a number of those throughout life where I love that challenge. Someone says "This, no. It's impossible." I love that challenge. Bring it on. We're going to find a way through this.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Beautiful. Beautiful.

Jason Wells:

Let's go to 100.

Japhet De Oliveira:

One-hundred?

Jason Wells:

No.

Japhet De Oliveira:

No?

Jason Wells:

One-hundred.

Japhet De Oliveira:

All right. One-hundred it is. Here's your last question then. Tell us about one question, Jason, that you just don't want to answer.

Jason Wells:

Well, that is 100. One question I don't want to answer. One question I don't want to answer is this question.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah, I know. I know. I know. Take your time. Take your time.

Jason Wells:

One question I don't want to answer. You know, it would have to be just one of those really honest questions around like what makes you fearful about ... You know, these deep existential questions. What makes you God? And the kids wanting to pin you down on things like, "Dad. did Noah's Ark, did we really have animals go two by two and have every animal on this planet in a boat floating on the ocean?" And say, "Well, you know, I believe it could have happened. And it's an awesome story. And what can we learn from the story?"

Jason Wells:

Or Samson and foxes. "Did 300 tails get really lit on by fire. And did they run around and set all the wheat on fire?" "Well, possibly, but yeah, trying to control one guy, 300 foxes. They sit there and fox number 299 is just sitting there and happy waiting for his tail to be lit on fire." You know, it's the honesty around story and narrative, and can their mind handle that it may not have happened exactly as the way it got told through that millennia. But finding the meaning in the story and being okay with that type of honesty, when at different stages through life, people want that certainty of, "Oh no, it said so, therefore it happened exactly this way." It's getting into that type of honesty with them and being okay with whatever stage. Because I'm never going to lie to my kids. Yeah, question 100.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Jason, I want to thank you for taking the time. And I want to encourage our listeners. If you've never met Jason, if you've never had the opportunity to work with him, or work for him when I let you know that I mean, obviously the role that he has is kind of a dream position for him. He really is a creative genius, but he's an implementer of the creative genius, as well. And here, he does understand story. He does understand art and he gets it so well. So thank you for sharing your time, bright and early this morning.

Jason Wells:

Bright and early. Well, generous comments, Japhet.

Japhet De Oliveira:

No. No. Love, love the partnership.

Jason Wells:

You're one of those relationships that makes eternity sound fun. Now you know.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, that's very kind of you. Hey, to all our listeners, we want to encourage you to share your story and experiences with each other. When you do, you grow and others grow with you. It's actually one of the gifts that just keeps on changing and transforming the world that we're in. So do that. Have an amazing day. God bless you. Look after each other.

Narrator:

Thank you for joining us for the Story & Experience Podcast. We invite you to read, watch, and submit your story and experience at adventisthealth.org/story. The Story & Experience Podcast was brought to you by Adventist Health through the Office of Culture.