Image credit – “Why and how to delegate works: by Nguyen Vu Hung (vuhung) | licensed under CC BY 2.0.
In this second part of our exploration into how veterans can add value to the corporate world, we focus on two core skills: Leadership and Teamwork. Veterans come naturally equipped with these attributes, honed through experiences that cannot be gained in any other profession.
Leadership
As Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, once said:
“A leader is the man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don’t want to do, and like it.”
This quote encapsulates the essence of military leadership. Veterans have the unique ability to lead teams into high-stakes situations, motivating them to make tremendous sacrifices. If this isn’t leadership in its truest form, then what is? In today’s volatile world, this brand of courageous leadership is precisely what’s needed in the corporate sector.
Consider this passage from a veteran’s application essay, vividly portraying what such leadership looks like in action:
“On a cold winter night, while returning from an operation, our team was ambushed by terrorists around midnight. In a harrowing 30-minute firefight, five team members and three civilians were gravely wounded. Faced with a difficult decision between pursuing the fleeing terrorists and evacuating the injured, I instinctively chose the latter. During the evacuation, I sustained five gunshot wounds, one of which struck my spine, rendering me temporarily immobile. Despite my injuries, I knew I had to take control, as no one else was left standing. I crawled to the main road and flagged down a passing army truck to evacuate the wounded to a hospital 60 kilometers away.”
This isn’t the script of an intense war film—it’s the lived experience of a Colonel in the Indian Army. After facing such trials by fire, no corporate leadership challenge would seem insurmountable to this leader.
Team work
Esprit de Corps —a term that encapsulates the military’s intrinsic team spirit—best describes how veterans approach teamwork. For them, teamwork is a way of life, and at times, it’s a matter of life and death. Consider this reflective extract from a veteran’s essay:
“Early in my military career, I was a Company Commander deployed along the snow-capped mountainous border in Kashmir, leading three platoons. With militancy on the rise, a routine patrol turned tragic when one of our soldiers stepped on a mine. He was critically injured, and as we carried him back to our post, he told me how his modest income was the sole support for his family in his village.
It struck me then that martyrdom wasn’t just about gloriously sacrificing one’s life for the country—it had real financial consequences for the many lives dependent on that soldier. As we trekked 90 minutes back to camp, I reflected on the words of John Bunyan, ‘You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.'”
This sentiment is deeply moving. Who wouldn’t want to work in an environment where leaders exemplify such values? In such corporate settings, team members would naturally look out for one another. It’s a well-known fact that during tough times, individuals often become more self-focused. However, this is precisely when team spirit is most needed. Veterans, with their ingrained sense of camaraderie, are ideally suited to foster a culture where collaboration and mutual support thrive.
The Veterans we have interacted with have another special quality. Despite undergoing intense experiences that could harden most hearts, they remain full of life, empathetic, and trusting of those around them. Therefore, they retain a strong internal core and an innate optimism about the future allowing them to think afresh when starting a second innings in their career. This promotes a learning mindset which in turn best positions them to pick up new technical skills at any stage of their lives.
Whether it’s a startup, a big company in the throes of disruption, or a corporation wanting to protect its territory, this cohort is great source of leadership talent for all of them.