When I raised my right hand and swore an oath to serve, I couldn’t imagine how the lessons I would learn in uniform would follow me long after my time in the military ended. Yet as a CEO of a firm that advises boards, CEOs, and leaders across the C-suite, I’ve found that the core principles of leading soldiers are the very principles that help guide others navigating the C-suite.
Leadership isn’t a theory; it’s a lived practice. It’s something tested in real time, under pressure. While the corporate world is far removed from active duty, the core truths of effective leadership remain: they are about people, planning, and trust.
What I learned as a Captain in the U.S. Army, I carry with me every day as a CEO. Here are three of the most important takeaways from my years of service that translate directly to any leader on the frontlines.
People First, Mission Always
In the military, trust is forged by demonstrating absolute commitment to the well-being of the unit. This high-stakes environment solidified my leadership philosophy: “People first, mission always.” This is not a soft sentiment; it’s a foundational principle of operational readiness. When people know the leader cares, they bring the resilience and commitment needed to achieve the mission.
This leadership requires humility and self-awareness. To serve your people effectively, you must be willing to acknowledge your own room for growth. The Army uses a formal debrief called the After-Action Review (AAR), a tool I now use frequently at our firm. The AAR is a conversation that forces leaders to ask: What went well? What could have gone differently? This process promotes continuous learning and accountability.
This practice models the humility required to learn from mistakes. As General Colin Powell famously said, “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” This perfectly encapsulates the purpose of AARs: they are a mechanism for radical humility, openness, and service.
Contingency Planning for Decisive Adaptability
In uniform, you quickly learn that plans rarely survive first contact with reality. Conditions shift, environments change, and the unexpected is a given. To lead effectively, you must master the art of pivoting and adapting on the fly.
The military calls a chaotic operating environment VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity). I was on active duty during the 9/11 attacks, a moment when I watched leaders around me put their training to work, drawing on a deep reserve of calm to help their teams stay focused on the mission. And I do my best to emulate that cool-headedness now.
As General Stanley McChrystal has said of both business and military action, “Efficiency remains important, but the ability to adapt to complex and continual change has become the imperative.” Leaders who stagnate become actual liabilities to their companies. Your goal must be to build systems that are resilient, not brittle.
Consistent and Distributed Leadership
A final, foundational element is tied to the responsibility of a leader to actively create conditions of trust and alignment. In the Army, trust was literally a matter of life and death.
In the corporate world, you earn that trust through transparency and empowerment. When leaders are open about decisions, it builds the confidence of their team. But the ultimate goal of earning this trust is achieving distributed leadership. People need to feel ownership and be entrusted to lead for their endeavors to move forward quickly. When a leader believes everything rests with her alone, the dynamic shifts to command-and-control, making it impossible to keep pace with constant change.
Teams that trust one another move faster, innovate more boldly, and weather storms more effectively. This is done deliberately, through consistency and integrity.
Conclusion
Ultimately, when I reflect on my career, I see a clear through-line connecting my time in uniform to my work in business. My time in the Army taught me more about teamwork, relationships, and the importance of trusting among colleagues than any other experience.
The contexts are different, but the principles endure: caring for your people, planning for change, and building trust. These are not just military or business lessons, they are human lessons. My commitment to these foundations is my way of honoring every single person with whom I served. I am reminded every day that leadership is about service to people, to mission, and to truth. For leaders and those who hire them, that is a lesson worth carrying into every room.
Post Views: 206
