The title of this essay probably scared most readers away immediately: “Reflections on being a Major.” To put many at ease, this idea was not my own. Like any great idea a Major has, it usually comes from somewhere else. A senior, either by rank or experience, utilizing the art of inception, plants a seed. This idea generated itself from a Colonel, a very good one, I might add. Colonel Kevin Benson, U.S. Army, retired, to be specific. His recent Strategy Bridge essay, “Reflections On Being a Colonel,” left me with a half empty glass of bourbon and some requisite soul-searching as I sat in silence contemplating my infinite shortcomings.
I am at the midpoint of my career and my life. After reflecting on Colonel Benson’s career, I had my own thoughts on what I had done, what I am doing, and what I have left to do. What came from my silent reflection was what a great mentor and Colonel told me the day I was promoted to Major: “Ryan, if Colonels are the conductors of the train, then Majors are the ones shoveling the coal.”
The transition from company grade to field grade officer is unique, and probably one of the hardest transitions in the career of a military officer. As a company grade officer, most development is internally focused. Young officers spend much of their time learning officership through the study of manuals, orders, and directives, all the while in search of their own leadership style. The switch to field grade requires officers to make a 180-degree turn from self-development to subordinate development. The internal focus shifts to external through mentorship and teaching. In a sense, the team captain trades in his or her cleats for a clipboard and becomes the assistant coach. For some, this transition comes naturally, and for others, not so much.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I were watching the Netflix documentary Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates, a documentary series that explores the life and legacy of the legendary Microsoft creator and philanthropist. To paraphrase one of Bill’s employees, Gates has more time in the rear-view with less time ahead of him, but he still feels the call to make an impact on the world. That sentence sent me back to Colonel Benson’s essay, leaving me wondering what good I had done, both personally and professionally, up to this point in my career and in my life. I came up with three suggestions I would like to offer future wearers of the gold oak leaves as I have found this to be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable periods of my life. My hope is that these recommendations find use in all of the services as many of my peers have echoed similar sentiments.
Practice Perpetual Optimism
No factor can influence a group or individuals more than perpetual optimism. Perpetual optimism is a factor I took for granted until I worked with very senior service members who continually came to work excited for the day ahead. Senior staff have so many little things that go awry, that anyone able to successfully navigate this constantly changing environment cannot get wrapped around the axle by the minutiae of daily challenges. Secondly, they always seem to have the attitude that everything will work out for the best. This attitude is usually coupled with a tremendous work ethic to combat the day-to-day friction, but in the presence of these officers you can rarely tell if it is the start of a long weekend or emergency crisis.
I found as a newly minted field grade officer that I could set the tone in my department and provide an environment focused on the positives to my subordinates. Outside of my office I could not control much else as it was the commanding officer’s or higher headquarter’s intent we set out to achieve. Inside the confines of the department I was entrusted to lead, I could foster an environment that sought to avoid negativity while providing solutions to higher echelons. In our pursuit of the commander’s intent we could focus on shaping those aspects we could in fact control.
I took for granted how challenging it was to foster this outlook daily compared to the senior service members mentioned previously. Experience is the greatest factor allowing senior officers to remain positive…but also realistic. Determining what can actually be affected and knowing how to successfully navigate these situations as they arise comes from experience. Also, knowing what actually requires attention or is important vice something that seems important comes from a keen eye senior leaders have developed over decades. I am reminded of what a senior officer and mentor once asked me, “Ryan, is that really the hill you want to plant your flag on?” The point: know what you can and cannot influence, and decide where you want to focus your efforts. Also, know what is worth fighting for and what you’re willing to double-down on throughout your career.
Optimism also makes the not so easy days a little less harsh, and over time, you will find yourself and your team in a more productive state focused on the big picture goals, not missing the forest for the trees and quickly circumnavigating the small friction points along the way.
Perpetual optimism should not prevent majors from articulating a shortfall in a plan to the boss. For example, if your boss is not aware of the risk associated with a certain plan, it is incumbent upon a major to articulate, through data and information, why the plan has shortfalls and what actions can remediate those shortfalls. One should not look on as someone continually bangs their head on the wall when there is a door just to their left. Optimism is great, but telling the boss the ship is about to sink is better when you can prevent it from happening. Optimism should never be confused with blind obedience.
Be the Type of Person You Joined to Serve With
I spent the better part of my first decade in uniform searching for a mythical being. I was in search of the officer I joined to serve with. I read books about iconic leaders throughout military history and was eager to serve alongside them. Many of us have an idea of what the ideal leader is and look forward to working on a team with them. The problem is that we do not always get to choose our team—or our leaders. Bad leaders often teach us far more than the good ones. So, what can we do?
We can wake up every day and try to embody the characteristics we deem important. If we think a leader should be smart, physically fit, and emotionally sound, then we should spend our days seeking to be just that. We should wake up early and get to the gym, spend time reading and studying, and continually develop ourselves morally and ethically. This is not to say we must be exactly the same. Quite the opposite, we must articulate our own definition of success and try to achieve it daily.
John Wooden, the famous basketball coach from UCLA, was more upset with players if they did not achieve their full potential than if they won or lost the game. “This is important to recognize: that success and winning are two very different concepts in the world of Wooden and that success is the foremost of the two.”[1] Success is what we personally define in our lives, our professions, and our roles in a unit or staff. Having a keen sense of my own definition of success allows me to better facilitate the achievement for my subordinates in their own endeavors. This should not be confused with the nation’s expectations of us as members of the profession of arms when called upon to fight a conflict. Failing in practice or rehearsals is much different than failing in combat; as coaches we must provide our subordinates the former to mitigate the latter. Success however, transcends our time in uniform and lasts a lifetime. Can we look ourselves in the mirror at the end of our career or lives and say we succeeded?
John Wooden and his players. (UCLA)
Again, making the switch from team captain to assistant coach rests in helping your team achieve their own 100%. Which brings me to my last point.
Write Your Retirement Speech
Stephen Covey speaks about writing your own obituary. For many in the military with combat deployments and inherently dangerous jobs, that may be a bit too grim, or maybe something they’ve confronted before.[2] Instead, I recommend field grade officers write their own retirement speech. For many services, retirement at twenty years is a very real thing when you don the gold oak leaves. I think it’s a good practice for any professional to contemplate the end of his or her career. With my promotion came a sense of calm that this one could be the last. At the time, I did not think much of it, but as the years ticked by and future promotion boards were published, I realized that individuals more qualified than myself weren’t finding their names on the select grade rosters.
A young Lieutenant Pallas defined success as a mostly individual effort, and understandably so. Learning my primary military occupation and studying countless manuals and tactics allowed me to add value to the team. Prior to that, I was not of much use or benefit to anyone. The large focus on personal development dissipates over time, evolving into subordinate development as one transitions from company to field grade. Pablo Piccasso once said, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”[3]
If I could tell myself at the start of my career any of this, I would say, “You’ll learn more than you’ll ever teach, you’ll show up to work every day content to be in the company of men and women who chose and continue to choose service over self, and at the end of the day, or a career, it’s yourself you have to look at in the mirror.” I would also tell my younger self that there are only two gold ranks in the military, and so far, the second one has made up the best years of my career and my life.
Ryan W. Pallas is a Marine Corps officer. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and do not reflect those of the Marine Corps, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
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Header Image: Heather Myers pins her husband, Maj. Daniel Myers, intelligence officer, Command Element, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, with gold oak leaves during his promotion ceremony held in the unit’s conference room aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif., Aug. 1. (Cpl. Emmanuel Ramos/USMC Photo)
Notes:
[1] John Wooden, Steve Jamison. “The Essential Wooden: A Lifetime of Lessons on Leaders and Leadership.”(New York: Mc-Graw-Hill. 2007), XI.
[2]Stephen Covey. “The Seven Habits of HIghly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic.” (New York: SImon and Schuster, 1989).
[3] Pablo Piccasso quote retrieved from: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/607827-the-meaning-of-life-is-to-find-your-gift-the on November 14, 2019.