Mission Critical. Michael Abrams

      Foreword

      I left the US Army in 1984 as a captain with two Meritorious Service Medals and with the confidence I’d honed over four years of military service. I also had a bachelor of science in finance with high honors from Lehigh University’s engineering school. So for me, when I enrolled in Stanford Graduate School of Business, academics weren’t an issue.

      But I quickly stumbled on a problem: given all that I’d been through as an Army officer, I had trouble taking the concerns of my civilian classmates seriously. The biggest challenge some of them had faced was failing a test. In contrast, I was used to commanding soldiers in tough conditions, like those at Fort Irwin in the Mojave desert, where 114 degree heat and full chemical protective gear caused the troops to drop from heat exhaustion. A bad grade on an exam simply didn’t seem to hold the same stakes for me as it did for my civilian counterparts. On paper, I was ideally placed to make the transition smoothly, but I felt very separate from the civilian student body. Yet my “paper” credentials continued to serve me well: with strong academics and the leadership record of an airborne-qualified US Army officer, I graduated from Stanford with eight job offers.

      It’s no mystery why top companies race to scoop up veterans who are able to translate their military experience to their civilian résumés. Veterans are adept at working with a team. We’re trained to make decisions quickly, even with limited information. After all, we’re used to dealing with adverse conditions like long hours and life-or-death situations. But, while companies today have finally come to see vets as a desirable pool of talent, they tend to forget about them once they’re in the door. Even for those of us who look like a perfect fit for the business world, certain obstacles can get in our way once we’re working alongside civilians, keeping companies from realizing returns on their considerable investment in hiring and training veterans. However, by taking steps to ease the transition for veterans into their civilian careers, companies can reap rewards for years to come and can maximize their human capital investments.

      When I left the military, very few transition programs existed, so I designed my own on the fly. I recognized that I needed to work on my ability to empathize with civilians, particularly women, so I joined a women’s issues group at Stanford. At first I had trouble relating to the slights that concerned them, which seemed worlds away from the overt sexism I had encountered in the military. But eventually I learned to be more empathetic on a civilian scale, to put myself in their shoes and consider situations from different vantage points.

      Still, avenues of communication were littered with stumbling blocks. My military training had not prepared me for the kind of inclusive communication required in the corporate world. In the military, decisions are made hierarchically. When I was in a senior position, I gave orders and they were followed. There wasn’t time to wait for a discussion. Once I entered the workforce, however, coworkers expected me to solicit their input on a decision, to reflect on their words, and to respond. I had to teach myself how to listen actively—something that’s proven valuable and that I still work to foster.

      Another challenge for me—and for a lot of vets—is learning how to make lifestyle choices. In the military, I was told when to wake up, what to wear, and what to eat. Now I had to figure out how to dress professionally, how to deal with my personal finances, and how to manage real estate. Being empowered to make lifestyle choices is a very attractive aspect of civilian life, but it’s a bit like developing muscle strength: it took time and practice before I felt comfortable—rather than overwhelmed—making these little everyday decisions.

      Of course, fitting into the civilian workplace wasn’t just about learning new things. Even though some of the little decisions proved tricky, the big decisions never daunted me. I was trained to be decisive, even in situations where I have limited information. I often find that in civilian settings, people overanalyze problems because they’re afraid to make decisions. But frankly, perfect information just doesn’t exist. I often say to myself, “If this were a combat situation, people would be dying by now.” The truth is that in business it’s often necessary to make decisions with imperfect information, under pressure, and after receiving tough feedback, and the military gave me the confidence to do so.

      There are many other skills I learned in the military that made me the leader I am today as CFO of Moody’s. For example, I’ve worked all over the world, so I get along well with people from different cultural backgrounds and make a multicultural team perform well.

      My experience can speak to some of the strengths veterans bring to the corporate world, as well as some of the challenges they face making the transition. But veterans are a diverse group, with a range of strengths and limitations. One of the great contributions of the research by the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI) has been to illustrate the distinct challenges that different groups of veterans face as they transition to civilian careers. I was in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) as a civilian, and, after serving in the military as an officer, I went back to civilian life for two years of business school. That eased my transition. I was also fortunate to leave the military without a disability or family challenges. I was fortunate that my family understood why I entered the military and what I experienced during my service.

      As a smaller percentage of the US population enters the military or has a family member who serves, veterans’ experiences grow more unfamiliar to the average civilian, exacerbating the stigma and alienation veterans face upon their return. CTI’s research also shows that veterans of color face a double burden of bias in the workplace as both veterans and minorities, and that they tend to avoid talking about their veteran status to compensate. In my experience, people tend to see me as a woman first and may or may not realize that I am a veteran. So I do everything I can to educate others about how my time in the military shaped both my leadership style and my core identity. I believe that having female veterans actively self-identify and champion their military service can help change assumptions from their peers.

      It is important to realize that the obstacles veterans face are not insurmountable. Leading companies are already working to ease veterans’ transitions, with help such as skills translation programs, résumé-writing workshops, and awareness training. But the real key to building a better transition program is to provide opportunities for veterans to leverage their military experience as they confront new challenges. In my view, having mentors and sponsors who are sensitive to veterans’ issues or are veterans themselves is invaluable. By taking the time to truly understand and invest in veterans, companies can help them adapt their military leadership strengths to stand out in the corporate sphere. Veterans are always going to feel a little bit different, and that’s as it should be. In the right environment, those differences will make them shine.

      —Linda Huber

      Executive