Making an Impact Takes Patience
Making an Impact Takes Patience
Transcript
You won't change the world in a year. It's just not going to happen. This is bigger than a battleship, and we're turning it left. It's like, turn left, turn left, turn left, turn left. And eventually, you know?
So I think one of the things that folks who have served in the military have a huge advantage over people who have never is, they understand what it means to care for the person to the left and the person to the right . They understand that running into battle is not God and country. It's person to the left and person to the right.
And the willingness to sacrifice oneself for someone that you don't even like, only because you have the absolute confidence that they would do the same for you, is a feeling that a lot of people who have never served don't have and may never have, that intense love. I had a marine explain to me that the secret of the Marine Corps was love. And I think that's true for all the services-- love of country, love of service, and love of your fellow soldier, sailor, airman, marine, or coastie.
And I think that vets, they're looking to translate direct skill sets to the professional world-- the ability to lead, operate under stress, make decisions with not a complete picture of what's going on. These are legitimate skills that absolutely have application in the private sector, without a doubt. And I think they must also remember to give themselves credit for, they know how to love. They know what vulnerability really is.
I have hugged more people in uniform than I've ever hugged people in suits. I've cried with more people in uniform than I've ever cried with people in suits. Crying in business is bad. Crying in the military is fine. It happens all the time.
I've sat around dinner tables, just telling stories from combat, and we're all crying. It's fine. And there's an acceptance of vulnerability, which I find very special.
I had an experience where I went to Afghanistan. I went to Bagram. It was a crazy trip. Everything went wrong, as you know.
And I came back, and the deal that AMC made with me was that they wanted me to go and look, and the deal was that I had to come back and report out to the generals about what my observations were. And I'll spare you the long story, but the short of it is, we couldn't get a flight home. And the flight we ended up getting home from Bagram-- it was me and two escorts-- was an unscheduled redirected flight, and we ended up bringing home a flag-draped casket.
So I flew for nine and a half hours on an empty C17 with a single flag-draped casket, and slept on the floor next to this casket. And it changed me. You can imagine. It was a very intense experience.
And it came back to Scott Air Force Base and was reporting out. And I was telling the story for the first time about what happened and why we find ourselves in this situation. And I choked up and I couldn't speak.
And in the private sector, if you choke up, people will say, take your time. They'll say, don't worry. They kind of let you off the hook.
And when I was choking up and couldn't speak, a voice in the back of the room, who just happened to be the four star, he said, go on, which is an entirely different instruction. It's not, take your time. It's not whatever you need to compose yourself, which is what they do in private sector.
In the military, it was, we got you. You're safe. Move on. Cry.
And I think that folks who have worn a uniform don't appreciate that that is second nature to them. And in the private sector, that is rare. And to bring that knowledge of how to protect people-- I don't mean in a combat situation. I mean just people feeling vulnerable, like, I don't think I can do this. We gotcha.
The whole idea in private sector that somebody is falling behind, and getting frustrated or complaining to your boss that they're holding us back and they're holding the project back, compared to, in the military, where someone's fallen back, you go back and you grab their webbing and you drag them, even though you're now last, or slow, or miss your target. These are skills that folks who have worn a uniform know. And they're so second nature, they don't actually realize how beneficial those skills are in the private sector. Because they're so second nature, they don't realize that they're skills.
I want folks in uniform to recognize the human skills that they bring, not just the technical skills that they bring, or the leadership skills that they bring, or the experience skills that they bring. But there's a long list of really intense human skills that make them stand out, especially amongst young people, and especially amongst fellow millennials, not that they're all so young anymore.
But amongst millennials who are struggling with how to form a deep, meaningful relationship, who are struggling with how to form bonds of trust, who are overly connected, but aren't connecting, these are all true. And I think where vets can stand out is, they know how to form relationships, and they know what it means to feel safe and to offer safety.
So I think one of the things that folks who have served in the military have a huge advantage over people who have never is, they understand what it means to care for the person to the left and the person to the right . They understand that running into battle is not God and country. It's person to the left and person to the right.
And the willingness to sacrifice oneself for someone that you don't even like, only because you have the absolute confidence that they would do the same for you, is a feeling that a lot of people who have never served don't have and may never have, that intense love. I had a marine explain to me that the secret of the Marine Corps was love. And I think that's true for all the services-- love of country, love of service, and love of your fellow soldier, sailor, airman, marine, or coastie.
And I think that vets, they're looking to translate direct skill sets to the professional world-- the ability to lead, operate under stress, make decisions with not a complete picture of what's going on. These are legitimate skills that absolutely have application in the private sector, without a doubt. And I think they must also remember to give themselves credit for, they know how to love. They know what vulnerability really is.
I have hugged more people in uniform than I've ever hugged people in suits. I've cried with more people in uniform than I've ever cried with people in suits. Crying in business is bad. Crying in the military is fine. It happens all the time.
I've sat around dinner tables, just telling stories from combat, and we're all crying. It's fine. And there's an acceptance of vulnerability, which I find very special.
I had an experience where I went to Afghanistan. I went to Bagram. It was a crazy trip. Everything went wrong, as you know.
And I came back, and the deal that AMC made with me was that they wanted me to go and look, and the deal was that I had to come back and report out to the generals about what my observations were. And I'll spare you the long story, but the short of it is, we couldn't get a flight home. And the flight we ended up getting home from Bagram-- it was me and two escorts-- was an unscheduled redirected flight, and we ended up bringing home a flag-draped casket.
So I flew for nine and a half hours on an empty C17 with a single flag-draped casket, and slept on the floor next to this casket. And it changed me. You can imagine. It was a very intense experience.
And it came back to Scott Air Force Base and was reporting out. And I was telling the story for the first time about what happened and why we find ourselves in this situation. And I choked up and I couldn't speak.
And in the private sector, if you choke up, people will say, take your time. They'll say, don't worry. They kind of let you off the hook.
And when I was choking up and couldn't speak, a voice in the back of the room, who just happened to be the four star, he said, go on, which is an entirely different instruction. It's not, take your time. It's not whatever you need to compose yourself, which is what they do in private sector.
In the military, it was, we got you. You're safe. Move on. Cry.
And I think that folks who have worn a uniform don't appreciate that that is second nature to them. And in the private sector, that is rare. And to bring that knowledge of how to protect people-- I don't mean in a combat situation. I mean just people feeling vulnerable, like, I don't think I can do this. We gotcha.
The whole idea in private sector that somebody is falling behind, and getting frustrated or complaining to your boss that they're holding us back and they're holding the project back, compared to, in the military, where someone's fallen back, you go back and you grab their webbing and you drag them, even though you're now last, or slow, or miss your target. These are skills that folks who have worn a uniform know. And they're so second nature, they don't actually realize how beneficial those skills are in the private sector. Because they're so second nature, they don't realize that they're skills.
I want folks in uniform to recognize the human skills that they bring, not just the technical skills that they bring, or the leadership skills that they bring, or the experience skills that they bring. But there's a long list of really intense human skills that make them stand out, especially amongst young people, and especially amongst fellow millennials, not that they're all so young anymore.
But amongst millennials who are struggling with how to form a deep, meaningful relationship, who are struggling with how to form bonds of trust, who are overly connected, but aren't connecting, these are all true. And I think where vets can stand out is, they know how to form relationships, and they know what it means to feel safe and to offer safety.