Does my past military career of 17 years offer me a head start to be a leader in the business world? This is what I will share, the insight from an army veteran who spends 17 years of my youth as an Artillery Officer in the Malaysian Army, towards answering the opening question.
I joined the army at the tender age of 18 years and 6 months. And I stayed on for a good 17 years before I leave for the business world to explore my potential as a leader. I felt that I am well prepared after undergoing much leadership-enhancing development while I served the nation.
The army is always a tradition-bound institution where boys are turned into officers, by equipping them with various great training that the officers do form a pool of well-trained leaders for the business world, although that wasn’t the established mission of the army. However, by the quality and variety of leadership training, officers are always prepared to have high personal quality standards.
In the army and the business world, there are many similarities between the two. Both existed with the sole mission to win by outwitting the enemy optimally. To ensure that, both require highly trained professional leaders capable of organising, planning, and executing, primarily the premises of management with leadership. Upon reflection on my successful careers, both in the army and in the business world, I concluded that my stint in the army ingrained into me similar qualities and attributes of a professional leader in the business world while serving as an army officer. I am prepared for the leadership role via high-quality army leadership training and development.
Qualities
Below are typical personal qualities demanded of any officer and I have the great fortune of being ingrained with these qualities, which are constantly sharpened into focus throughout my army career.
Integrity. No officer will be commissioned when there is even a single iota of doubt on personal integrity. An officer must exhibit unquestionable integrity, otherwise, it can bring about dire consequences to lost of lives. We live and fight for integrity.
Mission-oriented. Every officer is trained to always be mission-focused and to do what is needed to achieve the mission. Nothing derails the upholding of the mission.
Confidence. Every officer must exhibit a high degree of self-confidence to not only instil confidence in others, most importantly have the doable spirit to continuously push forward despite the many obstacles present.
Followership. Followership is the ability and willingness to subordinate oneself to higher superordinate goals. No one, no matter the seniority is never bigger than the mission. Leadership humility derives from the spirit of followership.
Action focused. Every officer is charged with execution, he brings the plan to fruition including adjusting and adapting to changes. He will vigorously stay focused until the mission is accomplished. Nothing is done halfheartedly.
Agility. The fluidity of every situation demands that an officer is capable and able to adapt and adopt the fluidity as an opportunity to ensure the success of the mission. I am trained to seek out opportunities in every situation as every opportunity benefits us.
These qualities are born from years of being subjected to harsh operating conditions that are designed to break down lesser men. Being an officer, I am expected to always rise to the occasion and be the beacon for others to see the doable spirit in accomplishing the mission.
Personal qualities alone are insufficient factors of success, the attributes of operational excellence are to complement personal qualities to give the officers the all-rounded capability and capacity to excel beyond doubt.
Operational excellence attributes
When it comes to the operational excellence attributes, the areas in which the army trains its officers to be able to lead under any situation are tremendous, however, the following stood out as greatly beneficial for the business world.
Thinking capacity. Every officer is subjected to tough physical and mental exertion to ensure that he continues to have the capacity to think. That capacity to think even under tremendous physical and mental stress, allows him to strategize, plan and execute to achieve the mission.
Leadership presence. This is another crucial asset; leadership presence. The demand for order and calmness can be quickly restored with the leadership presence of the officer. It is so essential for execution that it equates to a thin line separating success and disaster.
Presence of mind. This aspect deals with the ability to deal with adversity and be a role model. There are specific strategic and tactical drills to observe under given highly stressful situations and this can only be done with the presence of mind that gives clarity to optimize the drills under the situation. The presence of mind enables the officer to see the forest from the trees, he reads the situation to make out a pictorial assessment.
Strategic thinking. A key attribute that allows the officer to keep his mission alive irrespective of change of fortune. The ability to respond strategically to change and fluidity be it in planning and execution counts that the mission continues to be achievable despite changes and disruptions to planning hypotheses.
Decision making. No officer can be shielded from making decisions, every officer is charged with ensuring there is no status quo nor inertia under any circumstances. A bad decision is way better than not making any decision. Every officer is trained in battle appreciation where SWOT analysis plays a dominant role in comparative assessment to derive the most appropriate response at any time. It is a data and information-based decision-making discipline and mechanism.
Opportunities and risks management. The role of an officer when planning his execution inevitably has to optimize any opportunity to reduce risk exposure. Plan B is mandatory as part of risk contingency. So every officer is trained and indoctrinated to check out opportunities and risks in every situation. He operates with his eye wide open and ears on the floor to capture the two sides of the same coin.
Principles of war. Every officer will keep the 10 Principles of War close to his chest each time he plans for execution. Adhering to these guiding principles improves the chances of success in execution. No officer will violate any of the 10 principles under any circumstances, it is the golden rule of success for any operations. This is why each officer must have unquestionable integrity to adhere to the Principles of War without fail. It reduces casualties including loss of strategic assets.
VUCA world. Every leadership situation encountered by an officer is always fluid with changes being the norm. The fluidity gives rise to the combination of VUCA elements making thinking capacity, leadership presence, presence of mind, and strategic thinking all necessary to thrive and succeed in a VUCA world.
Such training and work exposure to all these job skills and attributes enable any army officer to be a critical thinking strategist who makes things happen to achieve the mission. He is cut for pressure cooker VUCA world without doubt as I am writing based on my army career of 17 years. I am made to be a naturally born leader that can cope and excel in every leadership situation.
Every army officer is a good fit leader for the business world as he has honed his leadership qualities and presence over the years in a VUCA world. These qualities and presence are very similar to what corporations look for in capable business leaders to lead the business to success.
The army has a pool of good leaders that can fill the void of much-needed business leaders, what is needed is reorientation and adaptation to fit in and hit the road running.
To conclude, yes the army trained and prepared me well with all the skills, knowledge, and attributes to be an effective leader in the business world, as highlighted above. I did live up to that proverbial question, I thrived as a strategic leader in the business world.
