Marine CEO’s in Fortune 500 companies

This is a diversion into another branch — Marines, bear with me — but many years ago the Army ran a cool print ad. It showed two photos of four men, side by side. One was of them in some kind of Army uniform. The other was of them in a business suit. The headline read: Before they were captains of industry, they were second lieutenants.

Each of the men depicted was the head of a major company. Sure caught my attention. Later, in business school and corporate life, I knew quite a few former second lieutenants and ensigns.
 
MidCakePa said:
This is a diversion into another branch — Marines, bear with me — but many years ago the Army ran a cool print ad. It showed two photos of four men, side by side. One was of them in some kind of Army uniform. The other was of them in a business suit. The headline read: Before they were captains of industry, they were second lieutenants.

Each of the men depicted was the head of a major company. Sure caught my attention. Later, in business school and corporate life, I knew quite a few former second lieutenants and ensigns.
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I remember that ad.
 
Postscript: My secret dream is that DD has paired photos like that someday. “Before she was a captain of industry, she was a second lieutenant.” (Ensign works too, though it lacks the poetic ring. 😉)
 
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MidCakePa said:
Postscript: My secret dream is that DD has paired photos like that someday. “Before she was a captain of industry, she was a second lieutenant.” (Ensign works too, though it lacks the poetic parallel. 😉)
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Before she was a captain in industry, she was a captain in command of a Navy warship at sea, 3000 miles from shore (and oh yeah, going in harm’s way).
 
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I work for a large manufacturing corporation with about 40 plants in the US. They have “Fast Track” program specifically for leaders who recently separated from the US military. We have had Marines, Navy, and Army veterans come through and most are SA grads. They are brought in, groomed, and given a quick succession of 1-year assignments in various roles before moving to larger leadership positions in the company. Their value as leaders and decision makers in the company is very noticeable and their success rate in moving up is pretty darned good. I’m fortunate enough to get to work with each of them in their first year as they learn the company’s ERP.

Stealth_81
 
Reminds me of a time about 20 years ago when I was visiting one of our manufacturing plants — I worked for a giant food company — with my boss. Two days before, I had to tell my boss that plant rules required him to shave off his beard though he could keep his mustache (he still had to wear a kind of hair net around his mouth and chin).

The line engineer who was giving us a walking tour was about 30 years old, clean shaven and exceedingly polite. My boss, a bit of a sarcastic jokester, said to him at one point, “You know, I don’t get it. I have to shave my beard to keep hair from falling into the food, but I can keep my mustache, so hair can still fall into the food. Where’s the logic in that?”

Said the line engineer, unfailingly polite and sincere: “Sir, I really don’t know. I just recently joined the company from the Navy, so I just do what I’m told.” Turns out he had been a sub officer. I’m sure working at a plant that produced breakfast cereal was a bit of an adjustment for him.
 
Right about the time I was leaving the Navy, I read an article about how business' really liked to hire junior military officers (O-3) due to the responsibility and leadership experience they get at a young age. However, the article also included a caution againt hiring midlevel officers (O-4/5) who had a tendency to be bureacratic and set in their ways, and couldn't adapt to the flexibility necessary to suceed in the business world. Finally, there was the person coming out as an 0-6; those that made O-6 generally had a very successful career had were the types that could succeed at anything they did. I don't recall the article even mentioning FOGO's --that's a whole different world.
 
MidCakePa said:
Said the line engineer, unfailingly polite and sincere: “Sir, I really don’t know. I just recently joined the company from the Navy, so I just do what I’m told.” Turns out he had been a sub officer. I’m sure working at a plant that produced breakfast cereal was a bit of an adjustment for him.
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My father did a bit of consulting for industrial businesses after he retired, and he indicated that the former submarine JO's that he worked with were among the best (and highly sought after). They understood preventative maintenance systems and did things right the first time.
 
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