John Osarczuk of First Command: Five Life and Leadership Lessons I Learned In The Military

Make sure the people you lead know you care. This requires you to tell them verbally, show them through your actions and deeds, and through all the other ways that you lead them. First Command’s CEO Mark Steffe talks about leading with courage, love and effectiveness. This carries through our leadership team and our team members feel it too. If they don’t, they let me know.

As a part of our series about “Life and Leadership Lessons Learned In The Military,” we had the pleasure of interviewing John Osarczuk of First Command Financial Services.

John Osarczuk is the Executive Vice President and National Director of Advisor Operations at First Command Financial Services. A former U.S. Air Force pilot, John leads nearly 600 advisors at First Command Financial Services to accomplish the company’s Mission of coaching those who serve in their pursuit of financial security. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Team, which guides the strategy, culture, and growth of the company.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?

I’m the oldest of five children and my dad was in the military. I was born in Germany when he was serving, and we eventually settled in Long Island, NY. My dad and two brothers are police officers. It was a traditional family, with three boys followed by two girls. I had a blue-collar upbringing, with a heavy military influence from my dad, as well as my granddad and his brothers who all served in World War II. Growing up with this background, as well as being the first born and having greater responsibility, both impacted my decision to join the military.

And what are you doing today? Can you share a story that exemplifies the unique work that you are doing?

I just celebrated my 20th anniversary with First Command and today, I lead the field force of nearly 600 financial advisors. We coach those who serve in their pursuit of financial security. My job is to make it easy for our advisors to serve our military clients.

I’ve experienced First Command’s work from both the client and advisor sides. Twenty years before I started working at First Command, I graduated from the Air Force Academy and became a First Command client.

I’ve been an advisor, district advisor, divisional leader and now in my current role as the national director. I’ve had the pleasure of helping clients pursue goals like retirement or paying for their kids’ college tuition. I understand military folks don’t join the military to get rich. They work really hard and deserve to be financially secure.

When I made the transition from client to advisor, I wanted to serve military families. I appreciated the entrepreneurship that comes with being a financial advisor, especially having come from the military where they tell you how to do everything and give you everything from your food to your clothing. My work at First Command has given me an opportunity to put all of those lessons to good use.

Can you tell us a bit about your military background?

After I graduated from high school, I entered the Air Force Academy. When I obtained my undergraduate degree, I was lucky enough to go to pilot school, which was one of my goals. I became an Air Force helicopter pilot and flew for about 10 years. I was stationed in South Dakota, and overseas. I also flew at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, with many stops along the way for different training locations. My military service was primarily during the Cold War. I wasn’t in combat and I didn’t deploy. But I did my military mission every single day by flying as a pilot. Although that might sound mundane, it taught me how dedicated people are in the military. I left the military in 1996 as a captain to try my hand in business.

Can you share the most interesting story that you experienced during your military career? What “take away” did you learn from that story?

During one of my first assignments as a pilot, I was in a search and rescue unit that also supported the missile silo fields located throughout the upper Midwest. This was during the Cold War when we had intercontinental ballistic missiles and our job was to fly things to and from the fields. When we had a three-day blizzard, which was not the ideal weather in which to fly, I saw folks outside in the middle of the blizzard getting the aircraft ready. To support the mission, they had to pick us up in Snow Cats, which is sort of like a tank on tracks that are meant to be used out in the woods. But, due to the severe weather, deep snow, and limited access to roads, they drove right through the housing area, running over mailboxes (in the middle of the night) to bring us to the flight line. The mission was important and didn’t stop for the blizzard.

At this point, there was no power on the base and we had to leave our families at home. I remember my wife turning the gas stove on and off to keep the house warm. Even though it was a routine mission, it showed how dedicated the military is and their commitment to the mission coming first.

We are interested in fleshing out what a hero is. Did you experience or hear about a story of heroism, during your military experience? Can you share that story with us? Feel free to be as elaborate as you’d like.

I didn’t see combat and my examples of heroism don’t include what we might think of in terms of the traditional definition of a hero. Someone who makes the ultimate sacrifice for others is always a hero to me. However, I’ve served with “everyday” heroes both in the military and in business. These are people who make sacrifices in their own lives for the benefit of others. Their sacrifices include simple things like not being in control of their schedules, where they live or when they go and when they come back. For the military, this is because they’ve sworn to put the mission ahead of themselves.

Based on that story, how would you define what a “hero” is? Can you explain?

In my service, I saw pilots fly in conditions that most would not choose to fly in because the mission had to be done. For me, another definition of a hero is anybody who sacrifices in the name of the mission or the greater good or for the benefit of others. I’ve seen this in business too — over the course of my almost 30-year career.

While not heroes in the traditional military sense, we see people sacrifice in the business world. They take extra steps to take care of a client. At First Command, I’ve seen advisors go above and beyond by volunteering hours of their personal time, and donating money to support folks in the military. One story that exemplifies this is of an advisor, working with a military client who was killed on active duty. This advisor went over to the client’s house and showed the spouse how to use the lawn mower. While this isn’t part of the job, it’s just something you do because it’s right and is an example of an everyday hero. I’ve witnessed dozens of stories about our advisors doing things like meeting with a family, in many cases a widow, and helping to set up a budget.

Does a person need to be facing a life and death situation to do something heroic or to be called a hero?

No. And I don’t mean that to take anything away from the sacrifice and courage of people who have faced life-and-death situations. In the military and especially in business, we try to create situations that don’t call for heroism. The military tries to be as safe as possible, but the nature of military service is that life-or-death heroism is called upon on a regular basis. In business, it’s different and we’re not going to call on somebody, in most businesses, to have to make those kinds of sacrifices.

The job of leadership is to make sure we aren’t propagating a hero culture where people have to make sacrifices that we shouldn’t ask them to do, but we see them do it all the time — like when they work nights or travel on their own time. Especially at First Command, we see our employees put forth extra time and energy in the name of service to other people. Those are heroes.

Based on your military experience, can you share with our readers 5 Leadership or Life Lessons that you learned from your experience”? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Be an example to the people you lead. This includes not asking them to do things you’re not willing to do. This sentiment comes from my military experience and something I learned very early in my career. I carry it into business. I realize that if you’re leading people, you don’t have to be the expert, but they have to know that you understand their job and that you understand the good (and bad) parts of and what it takes to do their job successfully.

2. Always be present and accessible for the people you lead. Being present means listening to them, engaging with them, and understanding what they’re doing. This includes making the time for them when they need to engage with you. My team knows if they say they need me, my rule is I will stop what I’m doing and pay attention to them. I try to give them the code words to say, “Hey, I really need your attention on this.” I give them permission to call me out when I’m losing sight of what they need. Then we can stop and I’ll say, “All right, I’m here for you. What do you need from me?”

3. Enable those you lead to act. Provide them with the resources, training, tools, money, and teams they need to do the thing that you ask of them. Empower them by giving them the ability to take action, whether it’s a team that is leading or a team that is doing. Part of this is creating a team environment where they feel safe to take action. This means feeling safe to fail and pursue success. This is empowerment, authority and accountability. You can’t have authority without accountability and you can’t have empowerment without accountability. I believe people want to be accountable for their results.

4. Avoid telling people how to do things. I learned this in the Air Force Academy and it’s a revision of General George Patton’s quote, “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” The sentiment is if you lead people, and you tell them what the mission is, you expect them to use their skills and knowledge to get it done. If you are constantly telling people how to do things, they’re going to resent you as a leader. It goes back to accountability and authority. While sometimes people want you to tell them how to do things, as a leader, you have to resist the urge because they want and need to own the problem or the task. When they’re successful, they own the credit for the success.

5. Make sure the people you lead know you care. This requires you to tell them verbally, show them through your actions and deeds, and through all the other ways that you lead them. First Command’s CEO Mark Steffe talks about leading with courage, love and effectiveness. This carries through our leadership team and our team members feel it too. If they don’t, they let me know.

Do you think your experience in the military helped prepare you for business? Can you explain?

Yes. In the military, we see many examples in a very short period of time of both great and not-so-great leadership. Military experience matures you beyond your years and provides confidence that you can do hard things. My time in the military gives me perspective when facing business challenges and situations.

My military experience helps me calibrate so I don’t overreact to things. This also harkens back to having the confidence to do hard things. This helps me not get too emotional for the wrong reasons, to be patient and to take the time needed to make the right decision. I have experiences and perspective to say, “Okay, we’re in business. This is important and this could be really critical, but it’s also not life and death.”

The military also gave me experience and training in a very short period of time. I’ve taken this into the business world and it’s a reason many companies like to hire military folks. At First Command, more than 90% of our advisors are former military and military spouses. This helps them to understand what our clients are going through. When helping with financial planning and financial coaching, we’re dealing with one of the key focus areas in somebody’s life — their finances. It helps to have a calm influence, and a broad perspective to help people navigate when they see dangerous financial situations like debt, credit cards, loss of wages, etc.

Many people in the military are taking care of elderly parents and a financial advisor has to have perspective to help them deal with this important situation. We’ve tackled situations like this before, so we help them borrow our confidence to know that we’re going to come up with a solution for this one as well.

As you know, some people are scarred for life by their experience in the military. Did you struggle after your deployment was over? What have you done to adjust and thrive in civilian life that others may want to emulate?

I did not deploy, but was stationed overseas. I work with many people who have deployed many times and teammates and advisors at First Command who have the scars of deployment. We manage it in a business sense every single day, given our clients, advisors and employees have military backgrounds.

I also saw my family members grapple with the aftereffects of deployment. I remember my great-uncle never recovered from his experiences in World War II. Military veterans are in the business world and around us every day, leading productive lives. In our company we feel it’s important to offer them friendship, a non-judgmental ear to listen, understanding of their needs and honor their sacrifices. At First Command this is part of our values and our culture. It can be as simple as allowing them time for a VA appointment — even if it comes at a critical time — you have to understand without being intrusive or judgmental that this is how the process works.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I work a lot on strategy to prepare for the future. And since the entire world has changed considerably since COVID, our customers also changed the way that they want to be served. We see their relationship with technology has changed a lot. Our clients are tech-savvy and highly mobile and the nature of the military is 24/7. So, we are working on ways to be the company they need us to be not only today but in the future.

We are anticipating where the military members are going to be in the future. How do we make sure we can service them with the technology they need? We are serving clients who may be on a submarine underwater for months on end, or who are deployed in a combat zone, or even just deployed in another country and don’t have access to financial advisors. Technology gives us some tools to address unique challenges like these. It also presents us with ways of communicating and presenting information so that it doesn’t have to be face-to-face. But we want them to still feel the personal touch and benefit from the coaching and advice that they need, even if they happen to be in a time zone that’s 12 or 15 hours different.

We call it the technology-enabled advisor. Our communications have to be some of the best in the world. We have to be able to present data in a way that the clients can digest. We recognize the needs of folks in the military today are different than they were for me. I’m working on the First Command of the future and that’s pretty fun stuff.

What advice would you give to other leaders to help their team to thrive?

In a leadership position, I think it has to be about having a team that feels they can openly communicate with the leader and each other. It’s the leader’s job to create a safe space for the team to interact in. Often, we are leading in a place where we rely on innovation and creativity. We ask people to use their experience and it’s critical to have open lines of communication. Where I see leaders fail is when they talk about open communication, but don’t practice it themselves. And, they punish it in their teams, which is a sure way to destroy a team.

What advice would you give to other leaders about the best way to manage a large team?

You have to start with having the best talent and encourage that talent to thrive and be productive by creating an inclusive team environment. We talk about the war for talent, and as a leader, you’re never going to know who the most talented people are if you build a team and people don’t see themselves being a part of it. You need to build a team where they can see themselves engaging. Make it a point to maintain a sense of inclusion and security in that team for them to be able to thrive and perform.

For team members to perform at their level, they need to feel secure in their role and leader. Talent is attracted to a team because the leader creates an environment where the talent wants to be there. If teams are having trouble attracting talent, they need to look inward. The top talent is out there, but it’s important to ask “What am I doing that those people don’t want to be part of my team?” That’s a much more proactive and productive way to address it. Talented people need to feel appreciated and valued and part of a team.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I’ve been lucky to have many people who helped me along the way. My dad was a really hard worker and I’m absolutely sure I got my work ethic from him. It’s a foundational piece that helps me succeed in my current position, which I’ve been in for three years. The person I succeeded in this role mentored me for five years and he kept investing in me. I learned what the role of a leader is from this experience. I tell my team that part of your job as a leader is to make little leaders. And to give them experiences and challenges, pick them up when they fall down and tell them to try again. So many people have done that for me.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

The mission that First Command has is noble. We work for military families who are really well deserving. The fact that my work for them enables me to help advisors serve those people is putting goodness into the world. The impact is greater than one person, it can extend to generations. When kids see an example of how to be financially responsible, odds are they’ll emulate that and teach it to the next generation.

I experienced this at First Command 38 years ago and I’m happy to pass it on. And we started out small, 50 or 100 dollars a month. It wasn’t really all that hard, but I had a coach who helped keep us disciplined. That’s a humble way of trying to put goodness into the world.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would love to see a spirit of entrepreneurship flourish. It might seem like a mundane goal, but I’m not sure it is flourishing today. But it’s small businesses that actually make the world go around and somebody’s got to take a risk to do that. Most of the people who create wealth in the country are small business owners who took a risk, believing they had the skills and experience necessary to go out there and try it. Many of them failed many times, but they got back up and created things that are changing the world. People who innovate the most are those with an entrepreneurial spirit, whether you’re a small business or you work for a company, having an entrepreneurial spirit is something that works in both environments.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

First Command’s founder was Lt. Col. Carroll Payne. His son is Chip Payne, who is still a board member on First Command. When our new advisors join, Chip addresses them and shares the history of First Command. He uses a quote that his dad said all the time. It’s from Thomas Edison: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

It applies to the work we do today in the world of finance and I realize I saw this in my dad too. He went to work in a police officer uniform, which is his version of overalls. It doesn’t matter what you are doing, but if you do the work, the opportunity will present itself.

Thank you so much for these amazing insights. This was truly uplifting.

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