Enlisted at 18, CEO at 30!
Leadership lessons from working with and interviewing those who proudly served our country
The successful leaders I spend time with share a number of common traits. One of these traits, as I have recently begun to observe, is that many of them started their professional careers by enlisting in the military at 18, graduating from one of the military colleges or participating in an ROTC program. Either there’s something in the water at those places, or there’s something about the military (and those who rise in its ranks) that makes for a successful business leader. I think it’s the latter—and I’ll tell you why.
Let’s start at an organizational level: Like many successful corporations and start-ups, the branches of the military identify top-performing talent and move them into more and more specialized roles to optimize the functioning of different teams. Successful private companies and military units also rely significantly on small, high-functioning teams.
Then there’s the individual level: It is hard to imagine a situation that requires more effective leadership and teamwork than a military engagement. The following leadership qualities make a person successful in those situations, and they are massively transferable to the business world.
- The ability to process insane amounts of data and arrive at the best possible decision given the circumstances in the shortest amount of time
- The ability to inspire others around you to perform at new levels when the natural human instinct is to flee to safety or shut down
- The ability to think clearly and thoughtfully and act rationally when others around you are starting to “lose it”
- The ability to complete an objective (or not), then move on and quickly engage in the next set of decisions requiring attention
How did I arrive at those four qualities? First I recalled the many successful leaders I have worked with in my career and distilled them to a few who have had the greatest influence. Interestingly enough, one of these is a former Marine from the South who now runs a business that generates over a billion dollars in revenue per year. He is a great team builder, runs a very effective management system, inspires his direct reports to do more than they thought they could and can process vast amounts of information to arrive at a decision in short order.
Then I interviewed a friend of mine who served in a specialized branch of the Marines and now runs a technology start-up. He put me in touch with two similarly successful veteran friends, and I interviewed them too. All three leaders (and my Southern Marine friend) have those four qualities in spades.
It was quite humbling to do those interviews. All three of my subjects made significant sacrifices for our country, and none of them has any interest in being viewed as a hero. Each man has quietly built on years of training and combat to achieve success in both the military and in the private sector.
Here are some words of wisdom from those interviews:
- Lincoln Osiris – CEO
Never be afraid to say “I don’t know,” and always surround yourself with smart people. It is best not to be the smartest person in the room!
- Phillip Bogdanovich – CEO
Break down the problem. You cannot panic in front of customers or employees. Solutions to problems arise when you start assigning jobs and making progress to find a path that was not before known or understood.
- Robert Wold – Student / Leader
How do you provide a clear vision to people across multiple seniority levels and backgrounds? With great interpersonal communication skills. Knowing people and how to communicate with them on a personal level is a critical success factor in all organizations. You have to connect with people at a personal level if you want to build great teams.
I have learned over the past 25 years that successful leaders and CEOs have common skills and DNA that allow them to emerge into these leadership roles. Those skills get battle-tested and hardened in environments ranging from start-ups in Silicon Valley like Y Combinator to multinationals like Salesforce.com to our military branches and academies.
Regardless of where those leadership skills are forged, we are lucky to work alongside those who inspire and teach us daily—those who grow companies that make us proud to wear that logo tee to our favorite Starbucks.
What have I been reading lately?
Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by General Stanley McChrystal – A great book to help frame why teams of teams move more quickly and generate better decisions in the environment we live in today! The four-star General provides detailed examples about why the organizational design of the 20th century is not equipped to deal with 21st-century data and information flow. The book gave me great tools to utilize today in my current role as vp sales and biz dev and provided a great appreciation for the complexity of managing at a mega scale.
What have I been listening to lately?
Social Media Marketing Podcast by Michael Stelzner – The episode from July 3, 2015 on YouTube Community development with Tim Schmoyer was super informative and provided a number of great learning tools.
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