What was the one piece of advice you got to make your transition to corporate life easier?

Keep in mind that it is not the military, and sometimes a military mindset works against you.

I am a teacher, but I currently work in private security. With the preponderance of veterans in the workplace, I made the incorrect assumption that approaching my job as a hard-charger, with a high-speed-low-drag approach was the way to go. One co-worker (a combat arms NCO in the ARNG) called me an over-achiever, and the people with EMS/LEO background took great exception to it.

The suspense is killing me Jeff, what was the advice you received?

I like you came from the enlisted ranks and have been with a fortune 100 company for amost 28 years and have done pretty well advancing my career into senior management.

I don't know that it was advice I received specifically so much but a state of mind that I gained from the Marine Corps. I worked hard, outworked my peers, was focused on results, not activity. I leaned on the leadership skills I learned and tried to make myself invaluable to the company (as much as any one person can be anyway).

I also learned that being close to customers, big customers, was also very helpful. When you help drive revenue and profit for a company you become valuable to them and many will repay you for that effort.

I found it pretty easy to advance past many folks. I started at the bottom of the company and did it the old fashioned way.

Don't loose sight of your principles, and maintain discipline. Tact will get you everywhere, and being over bearing will get you no where. Don't forget where you came from and don't loose sight of where you are going.