“Don’t act like a Marine.”  I am paraphrasing the best piece of advice I received by my then boss, and mentor Jon Oka.

How Marines Grunts Perceived

Bossy, loud, obnoxious, and lacking emotion.  Speaking about veterans in general, “they’re seen as doers, people who can sort of take action and get things done, but the consequences of that is people see them as sort of less feeling, having less emotion,” said Dr. Steven Shepherd, a marketing professor at Oklahoma State University speaking to Richard Sisk writing for Military.com.

Here are a some more stereotypes I have heard regarding the military in general:

• they can lead when their direct reports are obligated to do so but leading in the civilian world is not the same as leading in the military.
• Prior service members do not know how to take initiative.
• The military makes robots

A year after getting out of the Marine Corps, I started working for Jon leading a team tasked with replenishment, reverse logistics, inventory control, inventory maintenance, and customer service.  I did a good job monitoring metrics and making sure that we met them and take corrective action when possible deviation was detected.

I was focused on the mission and like a good Marine I took care of my team—making sure they had what they needed to get the job done.  All lessons I learned from the Corps.  I also picked up the habit of being direct, to the point, and assertive.  The truth is I fit the stereotype of a Unites States Marine grunt.

In the fleet, grunts follow orders—swift, immediate obedience to orders.  What is a grunt?  A grunt is the infantryman whether in the Army or the Corps.  Grunts are the ground stompers at the frontline everyone else is support.  There is room for initiative, swift thinking, and on the go decision-making necessary for successful small unit tactics that is another story.

I was good at barking orders and making sure they were followed.  One day Jon approached me and had a one-on-one with me. He told me that I was good at organizing, planning, and controlling, but that was not enough.  He gave me some advice.  He said that if I wanted to be a leader higher up in the chain of command that I would have to develop soft skills especially the ability to use diplomacy and navigate corporate politics.  He said that without that skill I would be successful, but that he did not see me leaving the supervisory or frontline management ranks.  Act less like a Marine

Fast forward to 2015, I was in my office when the Director of HR walked into my office and said that heard that I was a veteran.  When I responded that I was, he said that I must have been in the Air Force.  I responded that I served in the Marine Corps.  He returned that I must have been an officer to which I replied that I was enlisted.  He then said I must have worked supply.  I replied that I was an infantryman.  He then stated that I must never have been sent anywhere were someone was shooting at me to which I replied that I had.  He shook his head in disbelief.  The point I did not fit his notion (stereotype) of a Marine.

I have read some posts refuting the stereotypes.  My interactions with sailors, airmen, and some soldiers in San Antonio have taught me that in fact that stereotype does not hold true—the caveat to all servicemembers.  I have interacted with Marine Corps and Army grunts for whom the stereotype of lacking tact and IE/EQ holds true—I was one of them.

Of course, this advice is geared toward those already employed.  My intent in this post is not to address the obstacles in gaining employment of which there are many articles already written.  I will write about some traits inherent in Marine Corps’ grunts.

Marines run toward the sound of chaos

I cannot count how many times I have heard the saying Marines run toward the sound of chaos/Marines round toward the sound of gunfire.  Well, in my case both are true, the latter in a literal sense as rounds were aimed at us, and I have run toward chaos ever since leaving active duty.

I have made my career running toward organizations whose divisions or business units are in distress, running at financial loss, or have toxic cultures that need to me addressed.  Where others may have run away and preferred a turnkey operation with opportunities for nominal improvement, I have thrived while keeping a cool head, and bringing up morale.  I have been called the fix it guy more than once. 

My wife once told me something shocking.  She called me the fix it guy then added that what makes me different is that while other fix it guys are known for coming in and firing staff, I go in work with existing teams, develop them, and via influence get their buy in for my vision of how the operation will run.

Small Unit Tactics

Isn’t that what Marine squads do?  We cannot choose who is assigned to our squads.  We must train our teams to eliminate deficiencies and perform at optimal efficiency—all those gun drills. Marines sharpen their skills and develop teams.  The belief that Marines follow orders and cannot think for themselves is a fallacy.

Marines have been operating in small units with independence and autonomy since November 10, 1775.  They operate in small units with a high probability of injury or death, (my MOS had a 6 to 10 second life expectancy) someone always must be ready to step in, to think on their feet as the situation unfolds.  We were able to make decisions as long as the mission objectives were met.

I have plenty of examples where I made the call for high risk decisions that others before me were scared to make.  One example that comes to mind is when I took over an operation that was losing money.  After analyzing the situation, I made the call to give the staff a 16% wage increase.  The operation was paying below market rate and was experiencing high turnover.  Because of the high turnover, labor was being supplemented via a temp agency at a cost of a 35% markup.   I took a calculated risk that increasing wages would reduce turnover thus eliminating the need for temp labor.

The leadership team that reported to me said it was a crazy idea.  How can I increase cost when we’re already losing money?  My tactic worked, and I was able to return an annual 84K USD back to my P&L that would have been margin paid to temp agencies.  My mission was to get the operation back into the profitability.

Mission Focused

Leading teams during difficult times requires focus, determination, tenacity, and the ability to navigate ambiguity. This is the case in business as it is in a combat environment.  In both situations, the rules of engagement are not clear and/or are constantly changing. Irrespective of what difficulties pop up, situational awareness is necessary in order to navigate through and around obstacles while reaching mission objectives.

My Advice to Marine grunts is learn the soft skills, learn about emotional intelligence, and get a mentor.  Be proud of being a Marine, act like a Marine—adapt and lead.