Our friend Nick at Ranger Up read this great article about how veterans make great entrepenuers...until he got to the part about why. The author thought that it was intuitive that veterans would NOT make great entrepenuers because they come from an inflexible profession... But something else is highly counterintuitive about veterans being suited to entrepreneurial life. Discipline, duty, and strict regimen are major factors in military life. In the business world, and especially for entrepreneurs, focus is indeed important but so is flexibility and adaptability. And managers can’t successfully motivate employees the way officers “order” their troops. That’s a whole different ballgame. So Nick writes in sarcastic retort: ...I had just turned 23 when I took my first platoon into Kosovo. I had 39 guys under my command, four Bradley Fighting Vehicles, worth a kajillion dollars, and eight up-armored HMMWVs. We lived in an embalming station next to a Serb church that was a high value target for the Albanians. When it rained, rat and bird *** rained down on top of us. My Platoon Sergeant actually got tuberculosis from it. I saw my company commander no more than once a week and had complete autonomy over multiple towns in my sector. At the beginning of our time there, there was significant violence between the Albanians and Serbs, including a grenade attack on a kindergarten. There were riots, we were shot at, and generally had a terrible rapport with all parties involved. It was almost as challenging as having a really big PowerPoint presentation due for the VP of It-Doesn’t-Matter-I’m-Not-Going-to-Do-Anything-That-Will-Place-Any-Risk-On-My-Career-Even-If-It-is-a-Brilliant-Idea-So-I-Will-Sharpshoot-Anything-That-Comes-Before-Me and you just didn’t know how you could possible finish it in time. Well…maybe it wasn’t quite that serious, but close… Go read the whole rant.
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/xBRN6Wf5TpA/when-you-p-off-a-ranger.html
Posted
Nov 19 2010, 03:29 AM
by
BLACKFIVE