The difference between business and war.

This is a topic I find myself thinking about more often than not. Mainly I believe that people in general understand and excel at things they feel most comfortable and confident with. When you can put an unfamiliar scenario or topic into terminology and draw on past experiences you have had through your life, you will understand them and relate to them in a more positive and effective way. You can train your mind to learn anything you want by doing this. But I digress a little.

By the comparison between business and war, I am not trying to trivialize the boots on the ground. Being an ex-soldier myself, war in it's rawest form is a very dark subject. What I mean to do with this series of posts is generalize and raise specific points of tactics and training I have had and how the parallel between being in the trenches is the same with business as the military when it all boils down to it. Many of you in the business world may already be familiar with some of the terms I bring up. I'll be separating each topic into it's own post as time goes on. Here is the first.

I will start with the most basic. If the fundamental steps are not taken before your work day or before your next mission, you have already begun the process of failure.

Discipline defined: 1 a : control gained by enforcing obedience or order b : orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior.

My personal definition is "Doing the right thing all of the time regardless of who is or is not watching."

The concept of discipline was drilled, pounded and beat into me as a recruit in the US Army. The wonderful Drill Sergeants I had made sure I/we understood this from day one. Because without it, the transition between being a civilian and becoming a soldier would never happen.

The same concept rains true in business. Following direction and doing your job seem like adolescent comments, but where would you be with out them?

Day one of basic training after the initial shark attack. (This is the event that takes place the moment you walk off the bus. When the fear of God is being thrown at you. A dozen men that look like NFL linebackers, that want nothing more than to yell and yell some more.) I was standing at attention in formation getting directions from the Drill Sergeant running the 40 man platoon and before he released us he gave one order that superseded everything. "Each of you will drop and do 15 push ups after you are released. Not just this formation, but EVERY formation for the duration of Basic Training. There is a standard in the Army and everyone will meet it, my platoon will exceed it!" You could feel the unpleasantness in the air from the recruits. Formations can be held 4 or 40 times a day, between that and the daily regiment of push ups that were going to be dealt out by all of the Drill Sgt's as physical punishment, that was surely going to be a lot of pain. To lock in the deal, he made a statement to the other Drill Sgt's and their platoons that we would have this extra duty and he wanted to know if someone did not comply.

From that moment on in every formation, if it was at 1PM or 1AM we would drop and follow our orders. We hated it. At first we were laughed at by the other platoons. We had to do twice as many push ups as the rest of the unit. They and we thought that having to do this was for the shear pleasure of our Drill Sergeant. His own personal evil desires. We sweat for his smile. Even when our Drill Sgt went away for a couple of days and the other Sgt's could care less if we did them. Even telling us we could take a break while he was gone. We did them anyway. Partly because we feared a man that was on vacation, partly because we knew we had to.

Towards the end of Basic Training our platoon hit the final phase of training. Since our platoon was breaking training records and being as high speed as we could. The Drill Sgt congratulated us on our work thus far and asked what we would like as a 'reward'. We could have anything within reason. The concept of a reward was well beyond us at that point. We were machines, we did what we were told. We didn't know what we should ask for. One of the recruits asked if we could stop doing the extra push ups and only do the ordinary 150-200 each day. The Platoon Sergeant asked if the rest of the recruits agreed with this. All of us looked around at each other and then agreed that this would be a great 'reward'. By the look on the Sergeants face we either called his mother a 4 letter word or just ran over his beloved dog. He said something so profound that only a Drill Sgt could have thought of it.

He explained to all of us that from this moment on we were no longer required to do the push ups at the end of each formation. But there is a distinct difference between a good soldier and a great one. That difference is discipline. Even though we are no longer required to drop, if we want to retain our honor we would exercise discipline and continue the push ups because it is the right thing to do. Each of us had been following this order for months and all of us had received the pain as well as the benefits. We had been able to get stronger than many of the other platoons which helped us break those records. Which was how we got into the position we were now in. Discipline is doing the right thing all of the time. Don't cut corners and do your best. Hold yourself to that standard and develop it continually. That's discipline. That's what we had exercised. He told us to remember that. He made a statement to the other platoons assembled in the area that we were no longer required to do the push ups.

He called us to attention and released us. One by one we dropped and threw out 15 push ups. By then 15 was a piece of cake. After a few seconds we started standing up and realized that we could have asked for anything. An extra 30 minutes of sleep, a day pass, anything within reason. We chose to ask for something that was literally 12-15 seconds of time and as easy as reciting my 3 General Orders. Doom on us. We were recruits, not the sharpest forks in the drawer.

We continued the extra duty for the duration of Basic Training. With all of the other classes and events that transpired, we kept the idea of discipline in our heads. Without being asked or told we did the right things. Knowing that discipline was what made us better than we ever were.

That belief is just as true now in business as it was for me in Basic Training for me over eight years ago. Do the right thing all of the time regardless of who is or is not watching. Do you hold yourself to a standard in your daily work life? Are you making all of the calls you need to make everyday? Even when your boss is out of the office? Do you meet and try to exceed the standard? There are many capable and promising professionals out there. Only some of them are actually disciplined. That's what separates the good from the great.

All of us know what the standard is. If you don't, you better ask someone quick. The idea of the standard is for you to know what is expected. What is expected is for you to exceed that standard. Work hard, lead from the front, do your job.

For the next post I'll go over one of the fundamental planning techniques I know. The OPORD or Operation Order. These are used all of the time in the military and I'll explain how they will help you gain laser focused clarity on your job or project and give you the road map to execute and complete your task.