As America celebrates Veteran’s Day, I want to honor the soldiers that I had the pleasure of leading and serving during my time in the US Army. The best way to do this is to share my top 5 leadership lessons that I learned as an airborne ranger and show how they can be applied in the battlefield that is entrepreneurship.
# 1 – THE TROOPS EAT FIRST
A leader must be humble enough to realize that their number 1 job is to take care of those they lead. This means that that their subordinates get the best of them, their efforts and the supplies. One way this is demonstrated in the military is that when it is time to eat, all the troops eat before the leaders. This ensures that the troops receive the best MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) selection, the juiciest steak, and the sweetest and freshest fruit. Troopers need to be full and satisfied so they can do their job to the best of their ability.
Similarly, entrepreneurs realize that it is their employees that are often “on the front lines” interacting directly with their customers. As such, entrepreneurs should ensure that their employees are full of confidence and satisfied with their ability to serve customers. An entrepreneur does this by ensuring that the employees needs are taken care of before theirs. I wonder how many entrepreneurs have not taken home a paycheck because it the employees needed to be paid first?
# 2 – YOU CAN’T TEACH WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW AND YOU CAN’T LEAD WHERE YOU WON’T GO
I remember being a young Lieutenant at Fort Bragg, NC and conducting a team land navigation exercise. This is where a team of 2 or 3 soldiers use only a map and a compass to get from point A to point B. Before, I go any further, I should tell you that I am terrible at land navigation. The first land navigation course I passed was during Ranger School and that was only because God had mercy on me. This particular course was devised by a sadist, who put the navigation points in the most nasty, swampy, vine-infested locations possible. When my team and I came across one of the more treacherous points, I told the guys, who were very much my subordinate, to stay on the dry ground while I went go into the swamp and checked the point off the map. I felt this was one small way that I could demonstrate to them that I would never ask them to do anything that I was not willing to do myself.
Entrepreneurs must know that their employees are looking to them to teach and lead. I will never forget a story that a friend of mine told me about their boss that required everyone to cancel their weekend plans in order to stay at the office and finish up a major proposal. The problem was that at 8am on Saturday, the boss was on a plane to Mexico because he had non-refundable tickets to his vacation. #majorfail
#3 – THE 3 “C’s” OF COMMUNICATION: CLARITY, CONCISENESS AND CONFIRMATION
One of the most difficult things that I did in the military was help the people of Al-Adil, Iraq (a suburb of Baghdad) form a local government that was representative of the people. Obviously, there were major communication challenges. I learned that, despite using an interpreter, the communication challenges could be overcome by using clear and concise communication; and by asking confirmation questions to make sure that everyone was on the same page.
Thankfully, most entrepreneurs don’t have to use interpreters to communicate with their team and customers, but these keys of communication are just as applicable to them as they were to me, in Iraq. I challenge all entrepreneurs to analyze their next 3 interactions with subordinates and see if they use all 3 C’s.
#4 – IDENTIFY CRITICAL TASKS, GIVE CLEAR EXPECTATIONS, THEN GET OUT OF YOUR TEAM’S WAY
When I first arrived at the 82nd Airborne Division, I was told the secret to the division’s combat jump successes during World War II. The leaders knew that the battle plans would not survive contact with the enemy, so they drilled into every trooper an understanding of the critical tasks that MUST be accomplished if they were to have even a hope of success. Sure enough, seconds after the first paratrooper jumped out of the airplane, chaos broke out. Despite heavy losses, unknown obstacles and separation from their fellow soldiers, the paratroopers formed new teams and achieved the most critical task of the battle.
I think that this is the most difficult lesson for some entrepreneurs to learn, especially if they are “doers.” Giving up control, especially of critical tasks, can mean that the task is not accomplished properly, which may lead to failure. What many entrepreneurs don’t realize that this is the beauty of empowerment. If your employees know the importance of what MUST be accomplished, then they will find a way to get it done. I would also bet that the entrepreneur will be surprised at their employee’s creativity, ingenuity, and efficiency.
#5 – IT IS ALL ABOUT PERSPECTIVE – UNLESS YOU HAVE BULLETS FLYING TOWARDS YOU, NOTHING YOU DO IS LIFE AND DEATH
Like many of our service members, I have been in situations where there were people that actively wanted to cause me harm. Sometimes this meant that bullets were headed in my general direction. I was only able to get through these situations by focusing on the mission and ensuring that I had the back of my teammates and that they had mine.
I have been through some tense situations since getting out of the military, but none of them included bullets in any way. So, when I find myself not being able to deal with what is going on, I remember the times when I was deployed, and that gives me a tremendous amount of perspective.
I would like to take a minute and thank all the soldiers that have shown me what true leadership is. This is not an exhaustive list, but I would like to specifically thank: Dario Lorenzetti, Chris Doneski, Jose Vazquez, Daniel Stober, Randy Dawson, John Condliffe, Chess Lamm, Jason Hicks, Steve Smith, Ed Reinfurt, Eric Nantz, Dave Anders and Mike Fluck.
Greg Martin is an entrepreneur’s insider to the banking industry and passionately believes that every person was uniquely designed for a higher purpose and calling. Greg guides entrepreneurs in defining and achieving their purpose and calling. His deepest passion is living life with his wife of 17 years and their wonderful son.
Get In Touch
College Station, Texas
(910) 257-8286