THE LIFESTYLE ENTREPRENEUR

Read time - 3 minutes

If you were forwarded this email from a friend and want to subscribe, go here.

My favorite boss

I wrote a brief post recently about the traits my first real boss had.

I was lucky enough to encounter a great leader in my first position as a platoon commander in the Marine Corps. His name was Kevin Yeo - he was my company commander of Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines. He led us through the invasion of Iraq successfully with 100% mission completion and no deaths.

This actually is pretty lucky for a few reasons:

1. The bar for leadership at this level - company commanders of infantry platoons - was moderately high, but also very inconsistent. Case in point the next two company commanders I encountered were extremely mediocre, and the third one actually got fired in Afghanistan when one of his Marines lost a machine gun in a river in the mountains.

   I could have easily started with #3 - a guy who was so bad I literally had to ask him to stop farting while we were in a 1:1 in his office once, for real.

2. Our early leaders are critical to how we behave as leaders ourselves. We’re all exposed to role models throughout our lives. There are many who hold higher weight than others - our teachers, coaches, and first bosses. Getting a great one to start things off is really lucky.

3. The first time someone starts as a platoon commander in the military is an extremely formative time. It’s so formative that I remember initial periods of that stint better than almost anything I’ve done since - including the early years of starting my companies - which to be honest is pretty blurry.

I spent a lot of years not thinking actively about his leadership, rather it was just subconsciously there as I moved into leadership roles and started my own companies.

The past few years I’ve started writing content daily, and also transitioned to a coach who helps other leaders build better businesses - so I actively think about his leadership much more now.

I write about leadership traits often - spinning them in different ways based on different situations - but here are a few core leadership traits that come to mind when I think of what made Captain Yeo such a solid leader.

These are universal traits that apply to any leadership scenario - running companies, parenting, coaching teams or people, anything - hopefully a few resonate and help you next week or month.

1. Leadership by example - This is always my #1 leadership trait because it’s the most important in my opinion and can get you 80% of the way there in any leadership situation.

   I remember doing a field exercise in Camp Lejeune, NC, where the platoons did a day’s worth of activities in the field. Patrols, raids, movement to contact, all the standard things we did as rifle platoons in the woods to train. In the evening I was with Kevin and his First Sergeant while the platoons were doing an exercise where they had to get from one place to the other. Our job was to evaluate their performance, provide critique to the squad leaders, and also arrange the logistics so their training was realistic. We could have easily gone from the start point to finish point via vehicle, but since the Marines were on foot so would we. He took off on a jog with his gear on, and First Sgt and I followed. His pace was so fast I nearly fell out of the run, but we made it and they were able to make fun of me a bit for barely keeping up.

2. Humility - From day 1 in our platoon, Captain Yeo demonstrated humility with his platoon commanders and all the Marines. We met daily and whenever one of the lieutenants had an idea, he talked through it and was open to allowing us to try it out, because he wanted the best ideas, not just his.

3. Listening - He took extra time to do 1:1s with the lieutenants, and also had an open door policy to all the Marines. Every day we were in the field you’d find him talking to the Marines about their families, asking how they’re doing, asking what’s on their mind. They loved him for many reasons, one reason was because he listened to them.

4. Pushes the team - He pushed us HARD. Our field exercises were long, arduous, and as realistic as possible. The Marines bitched tirelessly about how hard they were - but when we went into combat we were so ready they were thankful we trained so hard.

5. Empowering others - He always drove decisions down to the lowest man possible. When I was brand new, like less than a month into the company, we did mountain training for a month in California. We had to get the whole company up a mountain at night for an exercise, and he made me navigate us. I successfully got us there, but for the rest of our time together the Marines called me “GPS Jones” because they thought I got them lost.

6. Recognizes success - Marines are seriously mission oriented people. We’re always planning for the next thing. Despite that - he always took time out to recognize wins and standout behavior from the men of the company. It created a spirit of competition and celebrating eachother’s success that carried through our combat experience.

7. Providing feedback - He not only provided feedback when I did something wrong, he talked through things regularly enough that I knew I’d receive productive coaching every step of the way. This allowed me to develop confidently, knowing exactly where I stood with him.

8. Repeating often - He spoke to the platoon commanders and whole company regularly, often repeating the mission and values that we held dear. Doing this until things felt repetitive was important, as all teammembers knew exactly why we were doing what we were doing.

Kevin Yeo was a great leader for many reasons. He was probably naturally gifted at it, but he also worked hard at it every day. He got better during the time we were together, showing his commitment to his craft. And most importantly, he cared about the people in his command.

I’m thankful I got exposed to him early in my career, it’s shaped who I am as a leader, parent, friend, and man in general.

I hope a few resonate with you, have a great rest of the weekend.

I’ll talk to you next week,

Mike

Thanks for reading The Lifestyle Entrepreneur

If you were forwarded this email from a friend and want to subscribe, go here.

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you:

I’m a Professional EOS® Implementer. That means I’m a teacher, coach, and facilitator who works with entrepreneurial leadership teams (typically growth oriented business leaders with 10-250 employees) to develop three things:

• Vision - getting teams 100% on the same page with where the company is going and how to get there

• Traction - Applying discipline and accountability to achieve that vision

• Healthy - Creating healthy, functional, cohesive leadership teams

If you or a business owner you know would like to hear more about EOS®,

Please click here for to schedule a free intro meeting.