Service to School Servant Leadership Series: Andrew Webber
The Service to School Servant Leadership Series highlights the contributions, selfless service, ideas, and personalities behind the Service to School team.
What is your Service to School position and describe what you do in your position?
I interact with JD Applicants when they initially contact S2S, flush out their professional goals and expectations, and then pair them with mentors as appropriate.
What is your favorite book and why?
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. It an insightful, candid inside look at the profession of arms that is scarily relevant today. Tolstoy’s story of how society copes with the realities of war, and how their professional military doesn’t need or want to is absolutely spot-on. He created a timeless picture of the Napoleonic wars, and did better than any historian I’ve come across. The parallels between Tsarist Russia’s officer corps and the US Army’s officer corps are clear and unsettling; Tolstoy’s writing was so close to home it hurt a little to read it.
What is your favorite movie and why?
Mad Max: Fury Road. It’s a post-apocalyptic Norse Saga. Besides being ridiculously entertaining and visually stunning, the movie really nails the human condition in an environment where things are unstable and human capital is a surplus resource.
Who is your favorite military leader and why? (can be a historic one or a boss you had in the military)
Vo Nguyen Giap. No military leader in the 19th or 20 century was singularly successful in translating the lessons of the French Revolution into a useful methodology for winning modern war. His focus on building political will allowed him to not only succeed militarily, but to create a lasting victory. I think Eisenhower was very similar to Giap in understanding modern war, but Ike had every advantage, while Giap was outgunned and outnumbered; therefore I think Giap is the most admirable military leader in modern history.
Where are are you currently and share a little bit about yourself?
I am a second-year law student at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago, and am excited to spend my summer with Fenwick & West’s Seattle office.
While I’m dinking around in law school debating points of law I’ll never face in real-life, my wife, Deedee, supports me and my 3-year old daughter, Guinevere.
What do you want to do 2–4 years from now? Long range?
I hope I’m working for Fenwick & West in Seattle, helping growing companies develop and tackle the barriers they face. I’ll keep on that path as long as I feel I can add value to society.
What school transition advice do you have for veterans?
For aspiring law students, I’d say they need to research the profession, and find a concrete, well-thought-out “dream job”. The job should be a real job, in a specific location with a specific firm. Then, they should work backwards from there and assess target schools based on the chances of them getting the “dream job”. This will put them in the best position to “win” at law school. Obviously, the specifics of the “dream job” changes during law school, but you’ll still be headed in a good direction.
What general advice do you have for veterans?
Give yourself time to get to know yourself and your new operating environment. There is enormous pressure to have the next thing lined up pre-transition. Shape conditions post-military in a way that allows you to spend huge chunks of time thinking, studying, and exploring the big, bad world.
Best advice you ever received?
“Help however you can.” Sometimes that means volunteering to work in a non-profit, sometimes it means being proactive at work/school, and often it just means helping a neighbor, or opening a door for someone. My life is much more interesting because I try my best to follow this advice.
Worst advice you ever received?
“Don’t do anything that hasn’t been done before.” A well-meaning commander of mine gave this advice to me in Afghanistan. Although this is sound advice for a professional military officer looking to manage their career, it is the worst advice possible in today’s environment. Organizations today, more than ever, are demanding creative problem-solving, and the organizations that aren’t willing to take risks and empower people to do “new” things probably won’t stay relevant for very long.
Most memorable military experience?
Although there are many experiences that are “memorable” in the sense of being impossible to forget, I do have a few “cherished” memories. One of which is the conversations I had with Afghan and Iraqi leadership during my various deployments. Once you were both culturally and linguistically savvy enough to understand certain things, and you’d proven yourself under fire, you could really have frank, thoughtful conversations about life and the state of things.
Parting thoughts?
Work very hard to figure out life after the military; there is enormous pressure to do what others think you should do, but do your best to resist it and make your next steps as deliberate and as purposeful as possible.
Service to School is a 501(3) non-profit committed to helping our nation’s veterans earn admission to highly selective colleges and universities. Our mission is to help every transitioning military veteran win admission to the best college or graduate school possible..
Are you a transitioning veteran thinking about applying to college to earn your undergraduate or bachelor’s degree? Sign up for help from Service to School.
