0:00 to business lessons from the military I'm your host Kevin bemel and we are here every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time to talk about military Doctrine military history and the practices of great military leaders and apply them to our business and professional lives so that we can have greater success and also take advantage of the tremendous amount of resources that the military uh spends um both in terms of uh Financial Resources but also the time that military people spend in being trained
0:38 and learning these lessons and applying them um in Garrison and on the battlefield so um like to bring these to you always thought that uh this is a a way for um myself as a military veteran to um in in some respects return the support that my fellow citizens gave me and my military colleagues over over the years so today um kind of an honor of um the upcoming uh Independence Day holiday I want I decided I would tell a story about my
1:14 father it's it's one of my favorite stories that he told me U as as a boy growing up and um just as a little bit of background so very early in my military career when I was stationed at on okal in Japan uh a chaplain colleague of mine asked me if I would speak to of all things the um US milit US milit US army unit I should say um that was there in okanawa now prior to him asking me this I didn't even know there were any um US
1:52 Army Personnel in okanawa and strangely enough um they were running the port there a job I would have thought the na was much better suited for but in any event I accepted the invitation and I told this story and and it went over very well and I hopefully you'll you'll see why so this the story dates back to the mid1 1950s my father was a a recent uh college graduate he had gone to college um with a uh naval Reserve officer training core scholarship um the
2:30 University of uh Minnesota in Minneapolis and uh now he was on active duty uh with the Navy and he was um he he was assigned to um a destroyer called The Fitch and they were um uh transiting the Atlantic Ocean and heading into the Mediterranean now if you can appreciate this is just a you know roughly eight nine 10 years after World War II so Europe is is still rebuilding and it was also a time when
3:08 um uh the formalities of society were were much uh much more common um so for example uh in Daily wear men wore at least a sports coat if not a suit and a hat right and my dad tells this is not the the gist of the story but my dad tells a funny story about how the captain of his ship ordered his uh crew that if when they were on Liberty um that they they you know in in civilian clothes they still had to wear a hat and and they were in you know these young Sailors were were incensed by that but
3:44 they had no choice because that's what the captain ordered so um but nonetheless um so the the ship was um uh transiting or was was sailing in the Mediterranean um off the coast of France so southern France and um as and my dad was at the uh at the time um that this story takes place um he was he was not on on duty he was not on watch um and so he was just kind of hanging out um I I guess outside the bridge of the ship as
4:20 he tells it so he had a pretty good view of what was going on um but he had uh you know no command responsibility because there was someone else had what's called the duty he was he had he had the the con as we say in the Navy and so my dad is just kind of hanging out up there and as he's watching things progress he sees that the ship is very likely to run down of all things a channel buoy now um that may sound like not a big deal but at the time I I
4:56 don't know if this is still the case the French were very s sensitive about their channnel buoys being rung down I guess it happened with some frequency and um while I you know my dad didn't go so far as to say that running it down would have sparked an international incident um what it could have resulted in is the French saying you know you you you you're Sailors on that ship you knock down one of our Channel buoys you got to stay on the ship you can't come have you know Liberty in southern France um and so um thinking quickly my dad um ran down from
5:35 the bridge grabbed a couple of my dad my dad by the way he was a he was an officer at at the time of the story he was an inen I believe um and so he you know he's young officer new newly out of uh college and you know on active duty and so he grabbed a couple of sailors and they launched one of the ship's boats and my dad's intention was to pull the buoy out of the way of the ship because at the point where he noticed it he the ship was not going to be able to turn quickly enough to not run it down that was the basic problem and so they
6:12 you know they have one of these motorized launches you know with the outboard motor on it they launch it and they speed off and somehow instead of you know easing up to the buoy and and and moving it the way my dad intended the boat and rammed the buoy instead and he basically stove in the boat so you know meanwhile the the officer on wa Who had who had you know watch on the bridge or had um the con of the ship on the bridge I guess sees this he orders
6:47 the ship to stop you know and they they fish my my father and the two other Sailors out of the water along with the boat which is now you know as big hole in it right and um you know my my needless to say my my father was was um scared right I mean he's new to the ship he's he's new to the active duty Navy and he's figuring oh oh no like I'm gonna end up I'm gonna I'm gonna get thrown in the brig basically right the the captain's gonna put him in
7:22 jail and confine him to bread and water or something like this and um but anyway you know they they pull them out so you know the the three of them go they you know they dry off they put on you know clean clothes and the um executive officer it's the number two um person on the ship tells my dad that the cap that he's to report to the captain's cabin his office basically right and so you know my dad is standing he tells the story he's standing outside the door of the captain's cabin at attention the
7:59 door is open he can hear the captain and the executive officer talking about things unrelated to the the situation my father was involved in and they they talked for a while and my dad is sitting there you know sweating it out right um and uh and finally the executive officer walks out into the passageway with a call a peeway on the ship right you can never say things you know completely out it's got to be an abbreviation so walks out of the pway he sees my dad standing there in detention and he says Mr bemel the
8:34 the captain will see you now so my dad you know pivots you know doing his his best you know marching and he walks up to the captain's desk and he snaps to attention he says you know andon bemel reporting as ordered sir you know the captain is sitting at his desk and uh and and to so to to set the scene a little bit the captain of of this Destroyer was absolutely idolized by his crew so he had started out in the Navy
9:10 as an enlisted guy and had worked his way up he was what was known um at the time you don't hear this this um phrase that much anymore but he was called a Mustang which means he was an officer who had started out as an enlisted man and so he really knew what what the plight of everybody on the ship was like and you you know Navy life back in the 50s was was not what it's like today I mean on some of these ships you still literally slung a hammock now I don't know if that was the case on the Fitch
9:45 um but I mean the the conditions on shipboard were while they're not luxurious by any stretch of the imagination today they were much less so you know 75 years ago or 70 years ago I guess would be closer to the mark and so so you know here's this he was a he was a a Navy Commander he was a um that's an' 05 it's one step below the um Navy Captain the the term Captain it is used for the senior officer who's command of the ship whatever his rank is so you can
10:21 have a lieutenant who's you know captain of a you know small boat for example um or a lieutenant commander could be captain of a sub Marine for example like in World War III that was not uncommon right so the captain is sitting at his desk and my my dad is in awe of this man as is pretty much everybody on the ship and so he's you know he like I said he snaps to attention and all that and the the captain says oh good Mr bemel please have a seat and my dad is telling me this the way he's telling me the story he's like he's mystified by this and he's like
10:56 he's never heard of a of a a sailor being chewed out while he was sitting right and and he's he's so he says to me sir and the captain says take a seat Mr bemel take a seat so so my dad sits down and he the captain proceeds to ask him a whole bunch of questions starting out with so you know Mr BML tell me what happened you know my dad describes the situation pretty much as I just described it to you I saw the Channel buoy I I knew the French were very
11:31 sensitive about their Channel buies and so I didn't think the ship was going to be able to steer out of the way so I thought I would launch a boat move the buoy over keep it from getting damaged and um you know and it unfortunately didn't go right right he say so you know how was it that you ended up you know hitting the buoy instead of M he says well sir I I guess in our excitement to um you know get out there and and and you know complete our mission we we were not paying careful enough attention and and so we you know we ended up hitting it or we we misjudged the waves or
12:06 whatever whatever it was my dad never really told me exactly how he ended up hitting the buoy and St staving in the boat but but he did and then and the the captain asked him question after question after question going over the whole thing and and ask you know well what might you have done instead of you know what you did and and all these things and he spent I guess I don't know like an hour talking to my dad about this this thing which which by the way for the captain of AIT of a ship you're usually very busy that's that's a long
12:41 time you know to spend on something like this right and so he so he you know ends up asking so the captain says to him okay well very well very well Mr bemel carry on my dad is sitting there and he's like carry on and the C yes sir Mr bmel you're you're you're excused and so my dad stands up and he you know you don't you don't salute indoors in the Navy so he didn't salute the captain but he kind of you know came to attention for a moment and he turns and he starts
13:16 walking out of the captain's cabin and you would have to know my dad he had a way of of telling stories that was just quite hilarious and so so he says you know he say I'm walking out he says I I I I can't believe that this is it and so I just couldn't help myself he said I stopped before I left the office and I I turned around and I said captain and then the captain looks he says yes Mr bemel he said he said sir I I I don't understand he said I I wrecked one of the ship's boats I I
13:52 I obviously didn't do the right thing he I he said I just this is it I'm I'm not going to be punished the captain said well no Mr bemel I he said no not at all and my dad is but I I don't understand her why and he said well come back and sit down for a moment Mr bmel so my dad goes back and sits down and and and the captain says he says you know there's a lot of things I can teach a sailor but I cannot teach a sailor to
14:29 take initiative and you took initiative okay it didn't exactly work out the way you had wanted it to work out now that happens and that's why we have this conversation and I think if you take initiative the next time you take initiative it'll work out better but he said I I cannot teach a sailor to take initiative and you did and and I want you I want to encourage the members of my crew to take initiative because I can't be here all the time telling them what to do I need officers who will Who
15:05 will do that who will get things done and he said so there's no point in punishing you that's only going to that only going to subvert your initiative my dad is he's he's just if he was in awe of the captain before he is virtually worshiping him at this point and he said 'w sir I appreciate that very much and K says you yeah you're welcome Mr baml he says is anything else and he he says well no sir and my dad gets up to go and he said and
15:42 says my dad is walking this time the captain stop he says one one more thing Mr B my dad turns he says he says now keep in mind I just spent the cost of a boat training you so put the training to good work to good use know I mean you know the guy obviously the guy had a sense of humor too right who could not I I have to tell you in all my years in the Navy I never had a commanding officer quite like this man I I had some wonderful commanding officers that I worked with some terrific men and
16:19 women um that I really enjoyed working with but but none who quite could could meet this this individual and and my my dad like floated out of that office right he just he just he first of all he couldn't believe his good fortune in having a commanding officer who would look at the situation that he looked at it but afterwards he really examined what the um what the captain had said to him and he realized how wise this man was indeed
16:55 when we when you think about it it's almost impossible to train people to use initiative or to take the initiative so I'm I'm working on a situation right now where um the former owner of a company has almost systematically beaten out of the staff any sense of taking any kind of initiative and it's it's really it's really terrible because it's it's a company where a lot more could be accomplished if if the
17:30 people there had the um self-confidence to to take the initiative um and and all I can do is assure them that um if they do take the initiative even if they make a mistake I'm not going to clobber them right I I I I I really believe that the philosophy that the captain of my dad ship had is exactly right so well of course sometimes we have to punish people if someone steals from us no we can't Overlook that
18:06 that there has there has to be a punishment for that we we definitely want to you know discourage that kind of behavior and indeed punishment is there to discourage Behavior right whether the punishment is you know being fired being suspended something like that right having that kind of negative consequence should be reserved only for things that happen that we don't want to happen again now we need to be
18:42 careful in examining that because obviously the captain of the boat the captain of the ship didn't want another boat stove in okay but that was the result of the primary action taken the primary action taken was an attempt to solve a problem and indeed as as ridiculous as it sounds running over a channel buoy a real problem for for the ship something that as I mentioned a minute ago could have meant that the entire crew would not have been allowed to have Liberty in southern France okay and that would have
19:17 been a big hit to the morale of the of the crew keep in mind they had just sailed across the Atlantic Ocean that's generally speaking not a pleasure cruise on a destroyer okay so we need when we when we're dealing with things going wrong in our businesses in our in our professional practices one of the things we need to look at is when something goes wrong is did it go wrong because something was happening that just should not have happened I I I use theft because that's that's an obvious case or
19:52 did something go wrong where the person who did the wrong thing was working to help the business out they either made a mistake or they misjudged the situation or there were outside circumstances that caused their best intentions to go arai and if that's the case punishing that person is is not only in uh um not only not a good thing to do it's actually completely counterproductive because the next time
20:28 time that that person has an opportunity to potentially Drive our business forward help us better meet the mission they're going to hesitate to do that for fear that if something goes wrong they're going to get punished again right so this is this is the lesson that um that I I took from the story that my dad told me and it's it's it's a leadership lesson um number one o obviously because we're talking about the captain working with the Sailor but it's also a lesson
21:05 for those of us who are dealing with leaders so I was talking to a friend of mine last night who was describing to me a situation that happened to him on his job you working last week and his supervisor didn't like something that happened and I guess just totally went off on him screaming at him and after my friend told me you know described the incident to me I said I said why do you think he did that he said I really don't know I
21:43 really don't know and I said well it's completely counterproductive I mean you were not doing anything wrong basically the per the the supervisor was upset that things weren't getting done fast enough well I don't see how screaming at somebody in the workplace is going to help them work more efficiently faster you know get things done more quickly I I just don't see how that's going to happen they're they're they're doing their best presumably to you know get their work done as quickly as possible now if we
22:18 want to help people work faster I think we're much better off sitting down with them and and and explain to them gosh we were thinking you were going to get this done more quickly what what has been um impeding your progress let's let's talk this through what can I do as a leader in order to help you work more efficiently or more work more quickly right because if we yell at the person the person may genuinely be doing their best or they may feel look I'm I'm giving it my best effort and all I do is get yelled at so
22:54 there's no point in doing my best because even when I do my best I get yelled at well that's counterproductive right so we as as employees or as as service providers as professionals if we have a client yell at us right we also need to look at that and say you know a was was the tongue lashing Justified okay now let me say as a general principle I don't believe in yelling no matter what the situation is I don't believe in in bad mouthing and
23:29 and and flinging invective and all that kind of stuff I I just think in general that's counterproductive but um if if a if a if I've done something wrong and a and a client is upset and they and they express how upset they are to me over what happened the first thing I have to ask is is this legitimate okay or are they do they have you know is is what I did something that I I shouldn't have I shouldn't be doing or shouldn't have done okay and that's that's important
24:05 for us to recognize sometimes we as followers or we as provide service providers we need to look deeper into a situation before we respond because if if if someone treats us inappropriately and we just react to it and explode back on them that's not going to help the situ situation at all whether we're a professional service provider whether we're an employee in a company and our our supervisor gets on our case yelling back to the supervisor
24:40 probably isn't going to help the situation however if we keep our cool and we can explain to the supervisor why we think the supervisor's reaction is inappropriate okay and we can do that diplomatically we may Advance ourselves much more so um than than we would ever think was possible okay so both sides need to look at a situation where there's you know where there's the I don't want to call Opportunity the possibility of
25:18 conflict okay and and and look at what's really going on here if there's some kind of punitive action taking place is that really the way to solve the situation and in particular to prevent happening again what happened in this incident okay and in doing so are we going to prevent other good behaviors that we really want okay so to take it back to the
25:56 story it's it's incredibly important for us to develop team members who will take initiative and like I said a couple times already it's it's I don't I don't know that I agree 100% with the c with the captain that it can't be taught but it is incredibly difficult to instill in our team members the um not the necessity sort of the the impetus to take initiative okay that's something that we
26:32 learn from from our youngest years and some of us learn it and some of us don't now my my dad taught me to take initiative and and interestingly enough as I think back about my life the times when I took initiative even when things went wrong that those were not the times my dad got on my case and in fact generally my dad only got on my case when my mom told him to but but he recognized that like him he wanted his son to know that taking initiative is a good thing now obviously we want to take
27:08 initiative in a way that pushes the mission forward that that helps things out but we can't we cannot make a demand on our team members that says take initiative and always have it work out well because that's just not how life is so we've got to be willing to accept that when our people take initiative sometimes things are not going to work out the way we would like and nonetheless in order to keep their confidence and keep them taking the initiative we're much better off
27:43 evaluating what could have been done better next time rather than punishing them and so that's that's the lesson that I I want to impart to you today this B business lesson from from the military from my dad's time as a young ensen in the United States Navy and when you when you think about it as we head toward Independence Day the celebration of the anniversary of the founding of our country so we all need to take the
28:20 initiative to make things better um and and and that's a one-on-one Factor like the captain with my dad okay that he he you know it would have been even less appropriate for him to chew out my dad in front of other Sailors that is not the way we bring about positive change the way we bring about positive change typically is through one-on-one interactions with our fellow citizens our fellow Americans we talk to them understand
28:56 them engage with them that's what the captain did with my dad and and and it had a LIF long impact on my father in fact you could make the case it it it the impact is lasted Beyond his life because here's his son you know half more than half a century later relating this story to you so this Captain's Legacy hopefully will go on and on and on and when we emulate how he handled this you know small
29:32 crisis situation and how he strengthen my dad as a leader who in turn strengthened his son me as a leader we can carry on that Legacy forever so I I I thank you for for tuning in and and listening to the story it's it's a it's a particular uh pleasure for me to share with you the stories that my dad told me from time to time about his time in the Navy um because like I said he's he such a great Storyteller I have some other stories
30:08 that um I'll I'll share with you on on on future episodes of the show um but but I I thank you very much for joining me and um before I sign off so tomorrow on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. is my show uh people making money and my topic is I can't remember oh yes we're I'm gonna be talking about how to prepare a realistic budget so I don't know about you but I I really chafe against the
30:45 idea of having a budget and having to stick with it nonetheless it's an important thing for us to do to have financial success to build wealth to be able to stay on track professionally and so I'm going to show you a a a very simple way to do it that I think will work it has helped me I will say that and uh and so hopefully it will help you and um and so hopefully you will join me tomorrow and and if not uh I do want to wish you a a wonderful meaningful independence day and thank you again for
31:22 joining me and uh if you have any comments thoughts please share them in our social media the links will be uh in the show notes after the show posts happy to respond to them and uh signing off as I always do Marie darling great person like my dad you are my bell courage at all times my friends