That’s a lot of letters and certainly not the path I expected to be taking.

I made the decision to enlist in the military very quickly after I realized college directly after high-school wasn’t going to end well for me. I’ll be the first to admit, I wasn’t ready. I am certain, at the time of my enlistment, I couldn’t have fully comprehended how enlisting was going to change my life.

• I knew I liked to travel, but I didn’t expect 6 moves in 10 years.
• I knew I wasn’t interested in college, but didn’t have a clue that I was I was going to be in school for 6 months and 9 days [5 days a week for 8 hours a day] immediately following basic training.
• I knew I had the potential to be something, but an instrument/autopilot technician working on F-4s and combat talons was never in my vocabulary. Me, special forces, who would have imagined that?

I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and presented with an opportunity to backfill a logistics position in 1989 (dating myself) which led me to a job as a Manpower Analyst - spaces not faces, as they would say. I learned industrial engineering techniques to measure jobs, people performance and evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of operations.

As much as I joined the military to leave school, as soon as I was eligible to begin college, I registered. No kidding, two days in to my first college class at Miami Dade Community College, I received orders to relocate to Germany. It took me eight years but I graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Management and collected a host of A.A.S. degrees along the way. Within days of graduating, (from Park University) I found myself with another set of orders to San Antonio, Texas. I expected to be in Texas for maybe a couple of years, so I immediately enrolled in an M.A. program and was able to complete this in 19 months. I had definitely discovered my joy as a lifelong learner. Then, as you might have guessed, another set of orders came but this time, I declined.

The best decision I ever made was joining the military.
The second-best decision was choosing to get out.

I spent the next 12 years learning what HR was in the civilian world on the outside and worked while obtaining my M.B.A. The organizations that employed me (4 of them) shaped me, molded me, showed me the good, the bad and sometimes the downright awful side of being an employee (internal and external to HR). But I was still learning. The discouragement and frustration of losing my positions, not once but twice, taught me that my talent wasn’t in being an employee, it was in being an employer.

I was the right person on the wrong bus.

In August 2007, I courageously opened my own company, SeeKing HR, during one the worst economic times in recent history. I do NOT recommend this.

I used my son’s college fund to launch the business and stay afloat for 36 months.

Being an untested and unknown CEO, I craved guidance and mentorship. Fortunately one of my previous employers was there for me. We struck a deal on our second day of operation and remain business colleagues to this day. I’d like to say that the road to success was an easy one, but it was a journey paved with many, many roadblocks, mudslides, torrential rains, an international pandemic and a winter storm that nearly shuttered us for an entire week.

I look back at all those days in the military and the character lessons I adopted still hold true today.

• Be loyal - to a point. Trust is recognized, earned, valued and appreciated.
• Be persistent. No does not mean never, it means not right now.
• Be courageous. Calculated risk can take you far. Weigh the pros and cons and make an informed decision. Often times an informed decision requires rapid action - TFTR, @Larry Broughton.

As you read this and consider what’s next for you - maybe it’s entrepreneurship, maybe it’s holding a C-Suite position, maybe it’s being a master woodworker or maybe it’s being the best HVAC technician ever. Just remember to “do you.” The world is full of possibilities and life definitely is not a one size fits all.

BTW - I paid the college fund back in triplicate!!

SeeKing HR is a full-service human resource consulting firm solidly grounded in industrial engineering techniques (measuring jobs and people), performance management and employee engagement. Let us help guide you to what’s next. Your Move ®