“Just Because An Individual Is Highly Skilled, Doesn’t Mean That They’re a Benefit To Your Team.” Leadership Lessons Learned From the Military with Michael Fauscette

I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Fauscette, Chief Research Officer of G2 Crowd, a platform and community to review and share experiences about business software and services. Michael served a software analyst for IDC for ten years before joining G2 Crowd as their resident expert on all things related to digital transformation, from cybersecurity to AI.

Chris: Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your “backstory”? Can you tell us about your military background?

Happy to speak with you. I served as an officer in the US Navy for 10 years in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. For a number of reasons, that time changed the trajectory of my professional life. I would say that, before my service, I had high potential, but lacked focus and commitment. Professionally, I was a wanderer. I walked out of that service with the confidence, understanding and determination to be successful. The Navy stretched me. It moved my boundaries way beyond what I ever thought possible.

Chris: What are your “6 Leadership Lessons Businesses can learn from military experience? Please share a story or example for each.

1.A manager’s job is to get things done. A leader’s job is to advocate for your team and give them what it takes to be successful.

When I reported to my first ship and took over a division, I was told by the officer I was replacing that the division was full of lazy, incompetent troublemakers who had to be pushed hard to get anything done at all. But I decided to go into the assignment with an open mind and see for myself what was happening.

I quickly learned quite a lot about the team; the simple summary was that they were short on resources, people, supplies and time to get their job done. Their attitude was shaped by the view that no matter what they did, they’d just continue to be in trouble, getting embarrassed and being yelled at in public. But that wasn’t who they were; they were only living down to the expectations that were set for them. I started fighting to get them what they needed, and more importantly, I started fighting against the narrative that had been set for them in a loud and very public way.

I fought for them without any real experience or expectation of it working. But amazing, it did work. One day, during a particularly rough period getting ready for an inspection, two of the more senior petty officers asked me if I would give them a few minutes at the beginning of a meeting alone with everyone before I joined them. One of those two men had been identified to me as the worst of the bunch, the ringleader for most of the trouble. But I agreed and waited outside the space, close enough to hear what was happening. What I heard was the “worst” petty officer in the division dressing down the entire division because they were letting down the only officer that had ever stood up for them. People will live up or down to your expectations; set the right expectations, support your team, and make sure they have what they need to get the job done and they will surprise you.

2. Everyone fails sometimes. Failures are defined by their failure but successful people understand that it’s a learning experience. The learn and move on.

All initial military training is, in some way, designed to teach this lesson. It’s fundamental to military ops that you learn quickly, adapt and keep going.

3. Don’t win the battle and lose the war. Some battles aren’t worth fighting.

I grew up in an environment that taught me to always stand up for what was “right”. On the outside, this seems like the correct approach. But the world is rarely binary, and every battle has to be taken in context. You have to ask yourself: if you win the argument, do you gain anything of value, or do you make an enemy that will prevent you from being successful in the future, or block your strategy in some way. This is learning to think holistically and strategically. Every action creates some reaction or outcome. Does this action help and support your overall strategy and goals? If the answer is no, then it’s likely that the battle isn’t worth fighting.

4. … and some battles you have to fight simply because it’s the “right” thing to do.

There’s not a lot more to say about this lesson. There are times when sticking to principles trumps everything else.

5. Small decisions can have huge long-term effects

When you’re taught navigation, you learn that a one-degree course variation can, over time have a huge impact on your destination. For every half nautical mile (NM), one degree off course will only put you off by .0008 NM which is not much. But if you’re traveling from San Francisco to Washington, a one-degree course variation will put you outside Baltimore, 37 NM off course. Take a trip around the world from Washington, DC and a 1 degree variation puts you in Boston, 378 NM off course. You learn to take care of even the smallest decisions.

6. A leader knows when a team member’s presence is more detrimental to the team than being without them, and takes swift action to remedy the situation.

Just because an individual is highly skilled, doesn’t mean that they’re a benefit to your team. I learned this lesson trying to “save” a sailor who had an incredible amount of untapped potential, but was a disaster personally. His personal problems were spilling over, poisoning the efforts of the whole division. I went far beyond what should have been done to try to turn the situation around, to the detriment of the division and its goals. A senior officer helped me see that it was best to let him go, and took the action that I should have taken much earlier. Making difficult, timely decisions is just a part of leading.

Chris: The future of many industries rely heavily on millennials and gen-z in regards to consumers and talent. Can you tell us something you or your company is doing to stay ahead with attracting both?

I’d say that the future of all industries ultimately relies on millennials and gen-z. Millennials are now the largest group in the workforce. Generations are shaped by a lot of things, and in the case of millennials and gen-z, there are business and political issues that help create their unique view. Here are a few things that we’ve done to play to those expectations and work styles.

Promote from within when possible

When possible, offer employees the flexibility to get involved in projects that fall outside their specific role, but leverage a skill that the employee has or is developing. This keeps the employee engaged, and shows that you are willing to be more flexible and allow them to develop skills that are important to them and to the organization.

Involve them in decision making when possible or at least give them a view into how strategy is set and how decisions are made. Transparency is important.

Provide mentoring and guidance, especially around weaknesses and skill gaps. Offering opportunities to learn new techniques and skills either by doing a closely monitored project or attending some training.

Chris: Can you tell us one person in the world, or in the US whom you would want to sit down and have a drink or cocktail with? He or she might see this. :-)

I guess that depends on whether that’s just people living now, or anyone alive or dead. If it’s the latter, I suppose Ernest Hemingway is top of the list. With his storytelling ability and life experience, I can think of so many things to ask and discuss. I am intrigued with artists that had a unique view or perspective and walked in the face of the conventions of their time. I would also love to meet Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh. I’ve been an avid photographer nearly my whole life; I have a long list of famous photographers that I’d love to meet, but in particular I’m intrigued by Diane Arbus. That’s a pretty good list of dead people, but no-one that’s alive today. That choice isn’t hard though: US Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Thank you so much for joining us!

Chris Quiocho is a combat veteran and pilot of the United State Army. Millennial leader and CEO of Offland Media, the premier marketing and digital media partner for business aviation, host of the Jet Set Podcast, and public speaker.