Military Success Traits

Award Brings Credibility to Veteran Hiring Initiatives

Once again, Bradley-Morris earned recognition for its veteran hiring initiative. For a second consecutive year, the company received the HIRE Vets Medallion award from the United States Department of Labor. It is the sole honor awarded at the federal level for hiring veterans. Enacted in 2017, the Honoring Investments in Recruiting American Military Veterans Act of… Read more »

Military Success Trait – Decisiveness

Successful leaders who are good decision makers exhibit another military success trait – decisiveness. They understand the importance of execution while applying their moral compass to the decision. Being decisive helps them to get a jump on the competition, see around corners and/or to quickly pull the plug on a project that isn’t tracking to… Read more »

Military Success Trait – Accountability

I’d like to highlight another of the leadership pillars that is instilled by military service: the military success trait – accountability. By being accountable and “owning up”, leaders can move past the blame game and give deep focus to learning from outcomes that were unanticipated or negative. Examining small failures provides a new awareness that… Read more »

Military Success Trait – Character

Successful business leadership is mutually inclusive with another military success trait – character. While some businesses can show short term gains with executive personnel possessing less-than-stellar moral fiber, long-term success can only be fostered from strong character. For this reason, middle-manager positions, the front-line of many businesses, offer an opportunity to insert developing leaders who… Read more »

Military Success Trait – Drive

Some are born with God-given talent and exceptional ability but most successful people must rely on another military success trait – Drive. Business leaders must develop an ability to push out of their comfort zone, to find a way to deliver results for their customers and shareholders. Drive is how you get up again after… Read more »

Military Success Trait – Feedback

Military-experienced personnel are accustomed to receiving feedback. The military has ingrained a continuous improvement mindset that takes advantage of reviewing and renewing. When they conduct an operation, evolution or a causality drill, they immediately review their performance. It’s not to pass out blame but rather identify weaknesses in processes, equipment, execution, etc. The undisputed champion… Read more »

Military Success Trait – Culture

In Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Advantage, the author discusses how the customs and approach of a team, their culture, can be the competitive advantage in modern business. That is, marketing, strategy and execution are only as effective as the team that is doing the work. Dysfunctional teams lose their effectiveness in the noise of their… Read more »

Military Success Traits – Communication

One of the first skills I was taught in the Navy was to repeat back all orders. It’s another of the military success traits – communication. Repeat back the order to insure the proper instruction or guidance was received. It works. This is a military success trait that has served me well throughout my professional… Read more »

Military Success Traits – Discipline

In this post, I’d like to discuss one of the most well-known military success traits – discipline. A disciplined-mind is goal-focused, organized and able to “nug through” difficult tasks. A disciplined body is healthy, fit and ready to get to work. Developing a disciplined mind and body isn’t exclusive to the military, but the military… Read more »

Military Success Traits – Benevolence

Benevolence may not seem like one of the military success traits at first glance, but consider all of the humanitarian missions conducted by the U.S. military at home and abroad. Examples of military compassion abound online and in the news. Our service members are good people who care about the well-being of others. There are… Read more »