Blake Hall
(Photo Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Nathan Knapke/Released)
The leadership skills you learn during your military service can fuel your life ambition if you know what to do. Here are some leadership lifehacks straight from the mouths of distinguished military veterans that can carry your to success.
1. The optimal time to act is when you are 70-80 percent certain.
Writer and former Delta Force operator Dalton Fury knows what it’s like to make quick decisions with limited data. He said that in order to bust a window of opportunity wide open, you have to take calculated risks.
“How much information or intelligence does a special operations unit need before they launch a high-risk kill or capture mission?” Fury said. “I argue that very rarely will the intelligence picture be better than a 70% solution, and at that point action should be taken.”
In short, take advantage of opportunity when you are 70 percent certain, or else you will be 100 percent screwed.
2. Don’t do today’s job with yesterday’s methods.
WWI veteran and American Legion founder Horatio Nelson Jackson famously quipped, “I don’t believe you can do today’s job with yesterday’s methods and still be in business tomorrow.”
He was talking about the automobile, an invention that was still new when he was a young man at the turn of the 20th century. Though naysayers claimed that ‘horseless carriages’ were nothing but a fad, Jackson believed in the automobile so much that he bet $50 (a princely sum in 1903) that he could drive across the United States.
Needless to say, Jackson won his bet and the automobile industry became a successful business.
When innovative solutions and technology comes along, don’t get left in the dust.
3. Embrace three-way communication.
Retired Lt. Gen. Frank Kearney learned during his military career that barking orders isn’t enough. Good leaders should have their subordinates repeat back their orders for confirmation. This gives a leader the opportunity to clarify any confusion.
In the military, this practice is called a ‘briefback.’
“We are in world where most communication is one way,” Kearney said. “Email is a classic example. We make assumptions that people understand our intentions, but just because you’ve sent an email doesn’t mean that people have read it, much less understood it. With three-way communication, you clear things up easier and faster.”
4. Drink your own Kool-Aid.
Simply believing in your mission isn’t enough to get others on board. U.S. Army veteran and CEO of Techli Edward Domain says that leader must dedicate every ounce of their being to achieving their goals.
“You need to be the chief Kool-Aid drinker of what you are doing. You need to believe in it more than any other human alive,” Domain said.
If you’re not drinking that Kool-Aid, who will?
5. Pain now means relief later.
General George S. Patton dispensed many pearls of leadership wisdom in his storied military career. Known for being both brutal and to the point, Patton summed up why procrastination is a harmful habit for leaders in a short sentence:
“A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.”
Tackling an intimidating project right away may be daunting, but letting it wait and simmer will
6. There are no bad units, only bad officers.
Ex-Navy Seal Jocko Willink doesn’t actually believe in leadership lifehacks. He writes in his book Extreme Leadership that leaders must take the brunt of every failiure. No matter where an issue originates, no matter who appears to be at fault, the leader is solely responsible for dealing with the fallout. Because at the end of the day, “there are no bad units, only bad officers.”
“Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame,” Wilnick writes.
Did we miss any leadership lifehacks that helped you? Share ’em in the comments.