“I’m looking out for #1.”
Or “Do as I tell you or I’ll fire you.”
Simply stated, military leaders lead via mission and corporate leaders lead via money.
When I meet entrepreneurs without military training, most lead by placing importance on “paychecks” and “stock options”—rather than on “mission.” Their team will do what the leader wants done, as long as the paychecks keep coming.
If you ask anyone who has been in combat, they will tell you that as a situation becomes more hazardous, the teamwork gets stronger.
In most businesses, the opposite is true: Team work disintegrates when conditions become hazardous. When the going gets tough, civilians fix bayonets and often stab each other in the back.
What makes this book different from other books written for aspiring entrepreneurs is that it focuses on core strengths and leadership skills… because all entrepreneurs must be leaders.
The New York Times posted this quote by Pvt. Michael Armendariz-Clark, USMC on September 20, 2001, “We signed up knowing the risk. Those innocent people in New York didn’t go to work thinking there was any kind of risk.”
That quote can be applied to all entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to become an entrepreneur. It’s obvious that there are risks entrepreneurs must take… and they’re the same risks that employees avoid.
Different Leadership
While flying over a battlefield in Vietnam, I noticed something that startled me:
We were getting our butts kicked.
The South Vietnamese, our troops, were fleeing—not fighting. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops were, literally, shooting them in the back.
Back on our aircraft carrier, during the debrief, I asked my commanding officer, “Why do their Vietnamese fight harder than our Vietnamese?” As you might guess, my question was not answered.
In the world of business, the same is often true. Many business leaders believe that leadership is simply telling people what to do, paying their employees more, or threatening to pay them less or fire them.
Other leaders, like Steve Jobs, have the power to create Apple fanatics, customers who swear undying loyalty and devotion to a brand to buying its products. Think of it this way: Apple does not have to sell its products. Loyal customers buy their products.
If you want to be a great entrepreneurial leader, it is important to know the differences between selling and buying, inspiration and motivation.
In my first squadron in Vietnam, my first CO inspired us to both fly and fight. Most of the young pilots loved him. We would die for him.
In another squadron, most of the same pilots despised the new CO. We did not trust him, nor did we believe a word he said. He used manipulation and intimidation to get us to do what he wanted done. I would not follow this leader to the latrine.
In the 1995 movie Braveheart, Mel Gibson plays William Wallace, a revolutionary in the Scottish people’s fight for independence and there is a scene where Robert the Bruce, the future King of the Scots (played by Angus MacFayden) asks his father a question similar to the question I asked my commanding officer. Robert the Bruce wanted to know why William Wallace and his troops fought harder than his troops. He wanted to know why William Wallace’s troops fought for free, had no food, no money, no shelter, and yet fought so fiercely. Robert the Bruce also said he had to force his troops to fight, threaten to take their land away, even to harm their wives and children, to get them to fight for him.
Robert the Bruce wanted to know exactly what I wanted to know when I asked, “Why do their Vietnamese fight harder than our Vietnamese?” I had thoughts of my own on why that might be the case…
There are those who lead via intimidation and leaders who lead by inspiration. Your job is to decide the type of leader you want to be.
Corporate Leadership vs. Military Leadership
Entering the corporate world in 1974 was quite a shock. I had been in a military environment for nine years, four at the Academy and five in the Marine Corps. It took me about a year to comprehend the difference between the two environments—corporate and military—and the differences in leadership styles.
Finally I began to recognize and understand the differences. In the military, leadership is internal. In the corporate world, leadership is external.
In the military, a culture of leadership begins when a new recruit enters boot camp, or a future officer enters officer candidate school or a service academy. The military culture is infused into each person, morning and night, whether an enlisted man or woman or an officer candidate. If the new recruit does not fit into the culture, they are washed out.
When the military promotes its new leaders, the new leaders come from within, not from the outside. They come from the ranks. In other words, the Marine Corps would never have a Commandant who was not a Marine.
In the civilian world, leadership often comes from the outside. A new employee is given a brief interview, shown to their desk, and expected to do the job.
When a new CEO is hired in the corporate world, they are often hired from the outside. Rarely have they been infused with the culture of the organization they are expected to lead. In many cases, the only thing the leaders and the employees have in common is that they all work for the same company.
Today, as an entrepreneur, running my own businesses, I focus on internal leadership. For example, because The Rich Dad Company is an education company, we have a company culture that respects education and learning. Every week, the entire company reads, studies, and discusses articles or subjects that keeps us in touch, up to date, and aware of financial events affecting our customers, our families, and our world.
Some of the subjects we study are real estate versus stocks, Keynesian economics, the gold standard versus paper money, taxes, and financial panics. Bottom line: The Rich Dad Company practices what it preaches and what it teaches to those we serve.
You have no idea how difficult this simple cultural event—making and taking time for everyone in The Rich Dad Company to be students—can be. We are, after all, an education company… and that is the culture that must be instilled and supported. A few previous leaders of our company (brought in, ironically, from the outside) would hold meetings, only to tell people what to do. There was no education, no learning, and very little two-way communication. It was leadership from the outside, not from the inside. Those leaders were asked to change, or leave.
Another example of the Rich Dad culture is that every employee is encouraged to be an entrepreneur and to start their own business. There is no fear of being fired for being a part-time entrepreneur. All employees are encouraged to ask our CEO and President, as well as Kim and me, for advice about building and growing their businesses. We have employees who are building real estate investment businesses, movie and documentary film businesses, and on-line marketing businesses. We put a high priority on practicing what we preach within our own company.
All of you who have served in the military know that the military branches are educational organizations. Everyone, from enlisted men and women to senior officers, are constantly learning. The military is a culture of education—from day one.
This is not true in the civilian business world. I remember being disgusted when I went to corporate “educational” events where people came to party or play golf, rather than learn.
To become a successful entrepreneur, I strongly suggest you take the military’s culture of constant education and constant training to heart and instill that culture in your business. It may take awhile, since most civilians without military experience may have gone to school, but most have not worked in a culture of constant education and training.
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