0:14 hello gotta record the session there we go hello and welcome to business lessons from the military I'm your host Kevin bemel and we are here every Tuesday at 11 A.M Pacific Time 2 p.m eastern time and an hour in for Central and Mountain I was just talking to someone in Central Time so it's always uh fun to uh I talk to a military uh colleague uh you know that that uh I don't know well and get to know him better uh he's actually
0:50 going to be a guest coming up on a show in a few weeks with his wife so um you can just you know I'll tease you a little bit about it just just just to leave it there so uh today we are gonna start on the next uh group if you will of uh War Marine Corps warfighting Doctrine and and really get start building in deeper and deeper than we have before on how to apply the how to apply um military lessons to starting growing
1:26 improving your business whether whether you're an entrepreneur whether you work for a company it doesn't I think these these uh lessons are equally applicable and so let's let's Jump Right In and especially since this is based on the military they're asked to be a PowerPoint that's uh pretty much required so uh you know for those of you who are in the military you know of what I speak and here we go okay so um business lessons from the military and as as I typically mention this is
2:02 all um by way of working within the three pillars of attainment um we are generally working here in the Pursuits um pillar within the finances realm although the lessons do apply uh to other things especially to relationships and certainly as we I get get into ours our self our identity our mindset I think you will find a lot of these apply all right so today we're going to talk about the conduct of War applied to business that's why you say we're really going to get into some of the nitty-gritty here get into some of the
2:37 details okay and throughout Marine Corps warfighting Doctrine you will see this term maneuver Warfare I know I brought it up in past shows maneuver Warfare really is the fundamental Concept in how the Marine Corps looks at pursuing combat operations now what's interesting is over the last certainly decade or two
3:13 business I think has evolved very much in a Direction that's compatible with the ideas contained within maneuver Warfare and when I Was preparing for the show earlier this morning a thought occurred to me and I I wanna I wanna bring this up because I I think it'll it'll help see why I feel there's such a strong connection between the military between military lessons and how they can be applied to business so in America we live or we we operate
3:48 under a a capitalistic system and people will argue it's not pure capitalism it's certainly not atavistic capitalism that's for sure but in general we we have our economic system is capitalism and one of the features of capitalism that I think doesn't get talked about very often perhaps because it sounds so negative but is indeed in many ways one of the um reasons why capitalism is as Churchill called it uh the worst
4:24 economic system except for all the others okay is contained within capitalism is is a a sense of um I lost the the phrase now creative destruction okay so capitalism is in a constant process of destroying in order to create something new okay so let's let's take a you know a famous example um going back you know over a hundred years ago now 120 years ago or so the automobile had been invented
5:00 um but it was not a widely adopted uh uh technology if you will right there was people still got around um in on horses they still had horse-drawn uh vehicles and there was a still a thriving industry in buggy whips which are whips that you you would sit in your buggy and you'd you know whip the horse to get it to go faster um and and makers of buggy whips you know they sort of just sloughed off the idea of the automobile it was noisy it was unreliable it scared
5:37 horses they hated it um the roads there were no roads were not compatible with automobiles you can come up with all the explanations you want as to how you know someone could convince himself that you know the automobile was just a flash in the pan it was never going to last compared to the horse which had been the motive of human Transportation at that point for literally Millennia right and where are all the buggy whip manufacturers today they're all gone they they got put out of business over probably about a 20-year period during which time the automobile went from you
6:14 know a nascent technology to being widely adopted in part because uh you know Henry Ford came along and he figured out a way to make an automobile that could be that that people who worked for making the automobiles could afford to buy right and so it became a consumer product and it just basically wiped out horses as as a means of transportation that's the reality so it destroyed the buggy whip manufacturing business but it opened up the manufacturing of
6:49 automobiles and far more people were employed manufacturing Automobiles and and it necessitated a much larger number of skilled people to design the automobiles to run the factories to make the cars and and as much as we hear about the you know how awful it was working on these assembly lines and yet um I'm not sure that assembly line work was any you know less boring or more boring I should say than you know Farm
7:24 labor and and things like that so you know setting those issues aside which are probably better you know discussed over uh you know a a glass of bourbon or rye um the reality is is is is what the automobile industry created was such a Leap Forward word for economics for societal growth Etc so in the midst of the destruction wrought by capitalism of things like um the the buggy whip business and you know um blacksmiths you know who had to
8:01 shoot horses and all that kind of stuff barriers um a new technology came and now we're starting to see um as as electric cars become more common and they're talking about hydrogen power cars and all these other things we're starting to see the next evolution of transportation technology and and while it may not happen as fast as um the the conversion from horses to to cars um still it it's it's little by little probably going to destroy the automobile
8:37 business as we know it today or certainly as we knew it you know 20 30 years ago where the internal combustion engine was was the technology I mean there really wasn't any other way to power a car now there's electrical there's natural gas there's all these there's all these other things so um contain within that creative destruction that's a part of capitalism is the need for maneuver Warfare or the the the ideas contained within maneuver Warfare which is probably more to the point okay
9:13 and um we we hear about um there's this term you hear in in business a lot um disruption right so disruption I I would argue is creative destruction taken to the next level and maneuver Warfare or the principles of maneuver Warfare let's let's speak it that way are really the principles that allow disruption to happen Okay so let's get into these now and see why that's
9:49 the case okay so when we we think about maneuver oftentimes what we think about is sort of maneuvering on the ground or maybe maneuvering in the air like an airplane maneuvering or a ship maneuvering sort of what what you might call spatial maneuver and certainly that is from a warfighting standpoint that is one aspect of maneuver where Marine Corps Doctrine really is looking though is beyond that very narrow concept of maneuver and they're applying it to psychological maneuver
10:26 technological maneuver as well as temporal issues like spatial maneuver Okay so we want to be agile we want to apply maneuver to every single part of our business okay so we want to have maneuver in finances we want to have maneuver in marketing we want to have maneuver in Project a product development and service development we we want to constantly be looking on how to move within those various Realms in
11:03 the overall space of business okay and we and we and we also want to be thinking how do we develop maneuver as a psychological concept how do we build that in instead of thinking linearly how do we get our our new product new service people thinking that I'm a maneuver basis how do we get our finance people thinking on a the maneuver basis okay because that's where we can CR you know we can disrupt and make leaps
11:41 toward our goals and toward wherever business is going to go in the future okay so the thing about maneuver whether it's psychological whether it's technological is number one it's rapid and number two it's focused okay we cannot be rapid and dispersed at the same time all that's doing is more quickly depleting all of our energy whether it's physical energy mental energy spiritual energy doesn't matter dispersed rapidity is just
12:18 it's just um it's just making it diminish more quickly okay so we need to be focused in our rapid movements okay and and that and feel if you'll go back we I talked about um focus in general and it really means like being very targeted where are we going to put our our energies with respect to finances when are we where are we going to put our energies with respect to marketing okay and this is
12:53 where I think businesses get off base is they set all these sort of grandiose goals or whatever and brand awareness and all this kind of yeah no so what we want to do is is get down really what are the fundamental issues within our business that we can work on and one of them is we want to play to our strengths okay we we want to to the extent we can avoid having to deal with our weaknesses and play to our strengths and the way we deal with our
13:29 weaknesses is we get someone else on our team who's strong in that area where we're not okay that's how you deal with weaknesses for the most part okay so we want to move rapidly we want to be very very focused and again in all areas of our business sales marketing um new product and and and services development and how we're doing our financing now by the way in things like financing and it's certainly an accountancy okay we don't want to be breaking the rules of course and in fact we don't want to be ever breaking the rules we don't want to break the bounds
14:05 of of moral business con conduct of ethical marketing that sort of thing okay so I'm not saying we want to be so rapid and focused that we're breaking through any sort of norm and anything goes white to the contrary we want to recognize those boundaries and work in a rapid-focused way within them so that we're leaping forward but we're not leaping outside the boundaries and doing
14:40 something that may be illegal or immoral that then is going to potentially put us out of the game and and that's where I think when we talk about disrupting I think people get too rap they want to disrupt everything no we want to be ethical honest business people okay we just want to look for opportunities to really Drive our businesses forward okay and we want to bypass to penetrate okay if we've got if we see some kind of looming
15:15 hurdle coming up we don't necessarily have to just batter batter batter batter batter b-a-t-t-e-r at that hurdle until we get through it the best way to to deal with that hurdle may be can we just go around it can we avoid it can we go over it and we tunnel under it okay or can we sort of take it at a glancing blow and not have to deal with it a whole lot in order to just get around it more easily more efficiently
15:51 Okay so let's let's let's take an example okay let's say that um uh let me come up with one here real quickly uh oh okay so let's say that we're in times like this right there's there's a lot of economic uncertainty that we're dealing with what does that mean in terms of what's going to happen to our businesses are we going to get more sales or sales going to get contracted are we going to
16:27 hit a recession are we not going to hit a recession stock market is going to go I'm not going to go up all of those are potential hurdles that we have to deal with okay so one of the ways to penetrate those hurdles would be to avoid them okay so rather than waiting for the recession to get here maybe we want to take a look at streamlining our businesses now okay and it may mean laying some people off you say well if I lay people off that's going to make a recession more likely perhaps okay but if you hang on
17:05 to people okay and and then we do hit recession and you have to let them go and now all of a sudden employment isn't as strong as it is now is that better for the people that that you know are not essential to the operations of your business I would think no right now the the employment Market is very tight and so someone can find a new job much more easily than they can if we're actually in a recession okay and and indeed you may be
17:40 able to be in a situation where you can give people more time so that they they can job search while also keeping the job with you but you know they've got maybe two months to transition or something like that okay so rather than dealing with that hurdle farther down the line where you're you're gonna have to sort of batter through it and deal with all of the um all of the stress and anxiety of of having to let people go and and then you know they're upset because the job market isn't good and gosh I wish I had done I wish you would let me know about
18:16 this six months ago or whatever is look at your Workforce now optimize your Workforce if you have people on the payroll who who really aren't necessary or the work they do is not necessary it's not part of the rapid focused effort that you need to make then start working with those people either to transition them into a more crucial role in your organization or finding somewhere else to go where they'll have greater job security than
18:52 you can currently offer them okay that's a way to bypass a future hurdle okay now and that plays into the next thing sees the initiative okay don't sit around waiting to to respond to what the competition is doing to respond to what the market is you know not is but may throw at you okay do we really want to wait until we're in a recession to deal with being in a recession or it would be better to I I like this word I used a
19:27 minute ago optimize our businesses now or at least make plans for how we're going to deal with a recession or make maybe it's mile maybe it's harsh maybe have a couple of different options on what we do take the initiative now make those plans have those discussions talk to your people okay maybe there's some people who are working for you they're really not particularly happy in their work and they would be happier somewhere else okay and maybe they're they're hanging in there because they feel a loyalty to you you're a great employer and they
20:03 feel like I you know employee you know the labor market is so tight right now I just I don't feel like in good conscience I can leave and leave you in the Lurch say hey you know what I'm trying to figure out how we're going to deal with all of this and and if really if you're not happy here then let's work together on a plan where you can find somewhere to go happy where you can be happier you can go somewhere where you'll be happier um and and you will be you'll be better off and I'll be able to shrink my Workforce
20:38 um but without you know a lot of hard feelings on people because people are able to go on to something that's even better than what they were doing here so seize the initiative okay and talk to people you know there I mean you said well I don't wanna I don't want to stir up uncertainty if you think that people aren't feeling uncertainty honestly you're probably kidding yourself a little bit I think most people are feeling pretty uncertain right now I think it's better to put them on the table instead of leaving letting it be the elephant in the room right just put it on the table and say and be honestly I don't know where this
21:15 is going to lead but I would like to get your input what do you see ahead how do you see your situation are you liking your work here are you not liking your work here do you feel what you're doing is making a meaningful contribution and and just ask people a lot of questions and and figure it out sees the initiative okay now the key thing and and this is this is why I'm dealing with this last is in order to operate successfully in
21:50 maneuver Warfare you have to be able to cope with uncertainty and and and the most successful people in business today are the ones who have the strongest stomach for uncertainty okay I I brought up this example before because I just think it's so it's I mean it's such a great show and movie uh How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying right and there's the famous song that about the guy he only does it the company way he doesn't want any change
22:25 he doesn't want to take any risk okay that sort of employee today is really kidding himself that is not the business environment of the 50s where you go to work for a company and 30 years later you retire and you get a defined benefit pension and a gold watch those days are over okay the nature of business is uncertainty today and to be successful in business we have to consistently be working to be able to better cope with uncertainty
23:00 okay and one of the ways we can help our people do that is by talking to them about the uncertainty in the business getting their input and explaining to them look I I'm not trying to make you feel anxious or stressed out we are in a a more than usual uh time of uncertainty in the economy and business and rather than deal with this on my own and then end up surprising you with things that I've come up with I want us to share in this
23:36 so together we can better cope with whatever the future may hold for us whether it's continuing as a team whether it means some of us have to leave I I don't know the answer to that right now what I do know is we have to confront the uncertainty in order to deal with it and we're stronger doing that as a team okay I've used this example often enough as well because I do again I think it's so pertinent to the business world and
24:11 especially when we have younger employees who want to feel that they are a part they are an important part of the organizations for which they're working you take a submarine in particular an attack submarine there's about 110 120 crew members on that submarine and everyone from the most Junior to the captain of the boat is expected and welcomed to share ideas on how to run that vote better how to make it a more effective tool of whatever it's doing
24:47 Gathering Intelligence being a deterrent to a particular action that an enemy might take Etc okay and in fact a a well you won't have a semen uh Apprentice on a submarine but a semen or a petty officer third class on a submarine will think nothing of saying hey Skipper do you have a minute I had an idea that I want to share with you and unless that Skipper is not a good one he's going to say absolutely man or hey shipment
25:23 I got something to do right now uh let's get together in whatever an hour or 30 minutes let's get together you know in in in in three hours and and and let's uh go over this thing or let's or or I I can't do it today but but grab the EXO and talk to him about it or whatever he's not gonna let that idea just drop for two reasons one is it may be a great idea that will make his boat run better and he needs that and two he doesn't want to teach that Junior crew member that what he thinks
26:01 is not worthwhile to the contrary he wants that Junior crew member to understand your ideas are valuable you're a valuable member of this crew and and we're going to listen to your ideas whether we Implement that or not that's a separate issue but we're going to listen to them we may debate them we may try them or we may not try them right now but we may try them later or we may reject them but we're going to give you a hearing because even if this idea isn't a good idea or it's an idea
26:36 we don't adopt the next one you come up with could be and it could be an unbelievably good idea that is going to really raise the efficiency of the operations of this boat the same is true in our businesses and and that's that's we I think we we think of it as being well maybe in marketing that's the case because there's all this social media marketing all this new stuff that like me I this stuff didn't even exist when I started in business okay not just there in product development in sales in every part of the business
27:12 young people can have ideas because if for Noah well if for no other reason then they're not so invested and and and um uh I guess invested is the best word in how things have always been done so they have a different perspective than you know old guys like me can bring to a business and and they bring a fresh Outlook and that can be very valuable they also may be involved in kinds of things that that we're not involved with like like video games okay I used to poo poo video games honestly but what I
27:49 found is there were many great lessons that can come out of video games and and that can be applied to business and and they're worth listening to they're worth considering okay so we're we're we're we're almost up on time here um so I I encourage you to you know wrestle with these ideas think about them how can they be applied to the business to your business or the business for which you work and and and really give that some thought even if it's only in you know in one little way
28:24 you use it test it out see if it works for you I think you find that I think you'll find that it will I can tell you this is how I'm these are the these are the principles I'm applying to my own business as I you know rebuild okay and and and it's it's going to be trial and error by the way unfortunately that is true in combat as well we we would might like to think okay we we build this combat plan and we execute it and you know nobody gets killed and then it goes off and no no it's like Von Mulkey said no plan survives first contact with the
29:00 Enemy okay but we still need the plan we still need to follow our principles and and then be able to maneuver or adjust be rapid and focused bypass to penetrate seize the initiative and continually increase our ability to cope with uncertainty in order to really make our businesses successful so that's what I have today I want to thank you for joining me and tomorrow um is uh my show uh people making money
29:37 at 12 30 p.m Pacific Time 3 30 p.m eastern time I'm going to go ahead and stop the sharing here and let me I'll tell you what the topic is for uh tomorrow oh yes so tomorrow I'm going to talk about um give you a comprehensive list of issues to deal with if you're negotiating for a job and or if you need to hire people these are the issues that you want to be prepared to address to them in order to make sure that you're
30:12 offering them the most enticing package that you can we're in a tight labor market these days and we really need to be looking more giving a harder look at how we work with with our people okay so we're going to do a a very deep dive into that tomorrow that's people making money 12 30 PM Pacific 3 30 p.m Eastern go to my Eventbrite page um well you know I'm going to start putting a link to the event by Eventbrite uh page in in the show notes
30:47 go to my YouTube channel look at past um uh episodes of the show and that way you'll you can see what it's about you can join us live streaming online or you can join the meeting live using the Eventbrite link and then next week starting on Monday is uh Preston Estates weekly um that's a show dedicated to that somewhat narrow um part of of the business world so it's an opportunity to figure out how you can enhance your business by working in that Arena and then a week from today we'll be back here for business lessons from
31:23 the military continuing on with our discussion of the theory of War applied to business so thanks again for joining me uh today I appreciate it very much wishing you a wonderful rest of the day and signing off Marie darling you are my bell and inspiration all the best folks