ABOUT THIS EPISODE
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:39:07 You're listening to the Oracle MAVEN podcast, where we bring people together from the veteran affiliated community to highlight employees, partners, organizations and those who are continuing the mission to serve. Welcome to the main podcast. I'm your host, Chris Spencer. And in this episode I'm joined by Michael Halterman, vice president of the Honor Foundation's Vector Accelerator. I'm excited to bring back Hall T for a discussion surrounding the Honor Foundation's growth and success that includes Vector Accelerator accelerating the veteran journey to clarity, confidence and conviction for life.
00:00:39:09 - 00:01:00:12 If you're a service member within a year of separation or a veteran from any branch of the US military, you want to hear this episode and learn why you would want to consider leveraging this program to support your transition. Do you have a family member, friend or coworker who fits into this category? Share it and support the possibility of them finding ways to learn more about themselves in different ways they may not have realized possible.
00:01:00:15 - 00:01:24:20 We have all we need to become the person we want to be. Let's remember how to connect with others with sincerity and genuine intent as we continue the mission to serve. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy this episode and please remember to check in on your buddies and family Hall. These contact details are in the podcast description along with the links to the source of all the information you need to know to learn more about Vector Accelerator.
00:01:24:22 - 00:01:48:21 Paul T, What's going on? It's good to see you again. Chris Great to see you. Things are well, Good. Yeah, it looks like significant change is going on around you. And you know, and I think when you and I were talking because we kept in touch, you know, sporadically, but intentionally over the last three years. Now September 2nd is when I look back and know how long has it been and it's September crazy how fast, right?
00:01:48:23 - 00:02:14:25 Yes. Yeah. And, you know, it started out getting introduced to chef Jerry Bhatia, coworker, but also friend of mine here at Oracle, who runs the Oracle Veteran Internship program. You know, he and I were talking several years ago and he's like, you need to come down to San Diego and I'm gonna introduce you to some people. So he introduced me to psych armor, the good folks over at Psych Armor, which is just close to you, and then.
00:02:14:28 - 00:02:37:14 TMF Heather Kelly now. TMF And then, then you all and yeah, as fate would have it, you know, he had a scheduling conflict, so he sent me in to talk to I think it was just Jesse at that at that moment. But she brought union and we had that conversation. And then Hillary came in and we sat down at the table and kind of just shared vision.
00:02:37:16 - 00:03:08:00 Yeah, Took off from there. Yeah. And it's crazy. You know, half was half the size in terms of what who was serving. We had five campuses back then trying to figure out how to create the now five more campuses that we have. We're our team was probably a third the size so yeah non nonstop acceleration as we've continue to grow and now we've expanded because it's always been in our heart.
00:03:08:00 - 00:03:28:29 It's really hard when you go pitch take off and they soldiers, sailors, airmen Marine from broader military comes up to you and says, hey, do you have a program for for you know, all military? And at that time we did not. But it's always been in our heart to have it because it's really hard to turn folks away.
00:03:29:02 - 00:03:50:19 And so during that time period, we have been quietly working on this project known as Vector Accelerator. And yeah, and it feels really good to every veteran that comes up to you and says, Hey, I need help in transition. Say yes, brother, sister, I've got you. Let's talk about it. Let's let's get you into the services that we provide.
00:03:50:21 - 00:04:19:03 Yeah. And I and I agree because it's, you know, so if we can go back to that in the in the conversation that we're having, you know, as much as I was, I thought I was aware of what DHS was doing. I went to the site and I saw the mission and those things. I didn't have the intricacies as far as like the details and format, the intention, who's involved and what, what you know, what type of professionals are you bringing in to help support the program in and out of?
00:04:19:06 - 00:04:56:00 If you know? And so maybe maybe it'll do us some service too. If you could just recap initially to have the format and all of those types of things and then and then it will help others see why. Because for me, you know, really quickly slide it in. There is immediately after I started to hear more about it, it's the structure of it was so similar to the logic and common sense I think was in my head of how to get somebody in to see more about what it is that's going to bring value to that individual through a process that is the structure and stability that is often needed, you know, and pull it
00:04:56:00 - 00:05:26:01 out, you know, help nudge them towards the discomfort and then get them comfortable with that next evolution of their life. Yeah, Yeah. So quickly, quick overview. You know, I was ten years old. We've been serving special operations in a very specific way, Special Operations veterans, and really were trying to get to the active duty service member somewhere between eight and 12 months before they leave active military service, because the best time to get a job is when you still have a job.
00:05:26:03 - 00:05:50:25 And working through the transition while still on active duty. Service, we find is far more efficient and what's best for the service member. You want to find yourself in crisis with no answers. You want to work through a lot of the the really the transition is a a tremendous number of individual steps. There is a lot of change management.
00:05:50:25 - 00:06:19:10 But then there's also the transition piece, which is the psychological how do I in my heart and head deal with this massive transformation that's happening in my life? And so the way we do that is, again, try and get to them early before they've left uniform and we help them with the change management stuff that is necessary, but completely insufficient for what is really going to happen in the transition.
00:06:19:10 - 00:06:36:18 And I thought that was amazing that Heather Miller brought that up in a previous podcast and that was her favorite book. I didn't know that was a book. I've got to go search that thing out now because it's it's commonly known that is, there's a lot of unnecessary things. And just because it's on the checklist doesn't mean that it is completely what you need.
00:06:36:18 - 00:07:00:18 There's more to it. And so how do we tackle that at takeoff? We have a three month phased approach. Each phase is approximately one month long. It's changed slightly since we began, but essentially so you get three phases. But we start with the one place that kind of no other foundation starts with or veterans per organization is Who are you?
00:07:00:18 - 00:07:23:15 Chris When the title and the rank goes away and no one no one cares any longer that you're a pilot, a sniper, a logistician, a, you know, fill in the blank. The thing that you did in the military that matters very much to you when no one cares about that. Who's Chris again? You need to identify who you are and what matters most.
00:07:23:17 - 00:07:46:15 What are your values? What are you not willing to give up about you and what and and how do you articulate that? When you sit down, interview and you shake hands with somebody and they say, thank you for your service and that's it, And now it's how do you interview and how do you show up to that? Ready and prepared because you know yourself.
00:07:46:17 - 00:08:16:07 Unknown And so we spent a month with those active duty service members and veterans trying to figure that out in a very structured way. Once we've done that, then we take them into phase two, and that's where we do kind of the the necessary tactical change management things of LinkedIn and resumes and how to dress and really diving into how to pitch yourself, which are 32nd pitch, which are five minute, you know, and so on and so forth.
00:08:16:15 - 00:08:48:14 And then phase three is where we put all of the information together and then give them opportunities to get engaged with other veterans who are out in the workforce, civilians who have never served, who are doing things like sales, marketing and all the other different verticals. You'll find this stereotypical business across multiple industries so that they have different touchpoints and have gotten to utilize these skills in kind of a safe space to make the, you know, to to have the UPS's.
00:08:48:14 - 00:09:07:28 And and I need to work on this pitch and I mean, I need to change my language because the language I'm using is still Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and it's not civilian yet. So let me work on that before we release them into the wild and all the way through that, we don't let them do it alone.
00:09:08:01 - 00:09:39:27 That's such a key and fundamental portion of all of this. We layer in humans support at every layer we can. And so as soon as they come into the classroom, we put them in triads. So they've got swim buddies or rock buddies that they're going through the whole class with, and they do some pretty deep, intimate, rough work together to really help each other because some of these pieces and parts out, every individual gets a coach and those coaches help them with their individual needs in the transition.
00:09:39:27 - 00:10:08:14 Because even though you and I might be going through the course together, we're having wildly different transition experiences. Lots of things overlap. But like you've got kids and I do not. You live where you live and you want to move somewhere and mine's going to be different. You're looking at the tech industry and I'm looking at nonprofit, so we're all those differences we cover with giving them a professional coach and then once they get to a certain point, we drop them into the overall alumni pool, which is a it's pretty close to 3000 right now.
00:10:08:16 - 00:10:33:18 And then they can reach out to all of those alumni. We're spread throughout the United States and they can start answering and asking questions. And so support, support, support all the way through. Then obviously, our staff are very much involved at different levels and in different ways. And so, you know, the big takeaway is diving into who you are is probably one of the most important things to do.
00:10:33:20 - 00:10:55:09 And we fundamentally make sure that they're supported all the way through, that they don't ever feel alone all the way through the hiring process. And even in like the first years of employment and that's where our mission statement really comes alive. We serve others with honor for life. So the next mission is clear and continues to impact the world.
00:10:55:09 - 00:11:15:11 We will serve you for the rest of your life once you graduate with THC from any of the programs. We're always going to be here. There's always going to be levels of support available to you. We're never going to forget about you. You can always come back and take a class, talk to alumni, get answers, and yeah, that's that's the basics of what we do.
00:11:15:13 - 00:11:46:24 Yeah, that's, that's a great, great recap. I mean, the key, the key thing hearing this is the support that's in place, the human centered focus. And as you were speaking, I realize and you probably know this, but I realized, like you're kind of stripping away the things that help compartmentalize how to how to use your past and your experiences, but focus on the like you have the future, but you're also you becoming.
00:11:46:24 - 00:12:17:27 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that starts with some of the the defining moments that occur is probably the realization like I've, I found myself to be consistent. These areas I've been this is the way I've been the whole time. Yeah. Just added layers, accumulated things in such a way over my experiences, however long you were in. And now I'm leveraging that, you know, and then, you know, being able to understand when to use the tools that I've developed over the years.
00:12:17:27 - 00:12:41:12 But you know, the right tool, right, right job and then build new tools and then but the, the amazing thing is the number of people that will continue the new the new tribe as they develop and now the scenarios playing in their head of who they can look to left and right for the new the new evolution, you know, face to face you wherever you are in your life stage.
00:12:41:12 - 00:13:09:18 And that yeah, that's probably something that. Do you think it requires a lot of investment in trust what do you think the main I guess contributor to being able to establish that is it's all relationships and relationships are all trust at the end of the day. Right. The the deeper the trust, the better relationship. And that's from friends to partners to, you know, you name it, whatever, whatever title you want to put on it.
00:13:09:18 - 00:13:41:07 It all begins with can I trust you? Right? And we try and build that in at every single layer. Now, you know, back when I joined and came on staff in 2018, I had had really long conversations with individuals about why they should, why they should come through to achieve. And we've built trust over time with the community because now we're ten years old and we have thousands of individual examples and we love seeing alumni.
00:13:41:07 - 00:14:04:17 Unknown A LinkedIn posting, I got this new job, I've been promoted. I made a career switch. When most people don't make a career switch because I knew how to do it and I did not feel stuck, right, Because I had a I had a community around me of that alumni network that allowed me to go from, you know what, this this whole real estate thing is not working out.
00:14:04:19 - 00:14:24:27 And I'm not finding a passion here. And but I'm not stuck. I can get to Oracle because I know one or two folks that work there. They're also alumni and I can have a conversation with them. The trust is already built, and now I get to have a conversation with the hiring manager because of, again, trusting relationships. And we all say it's networking, right?
00:14:24:27 - 00:14:52:18 But I think the reality is it's community building. And the more communities you can build, the more you can link those disparate communities together and the more together all of us can get harder and more complex things done. Yeah, that's that's a great a great flip on on the term, right. So networking in some traditional, conventional thinking, we you know and it's from could be generational I don't know but you know we say networking most people understand that.
00:14:52:18 - 00:15:18:13 Many people understand that for for what it used to mean. But it doesn't really get to the essence of what it is. And that's what you're saying I'm hearing is the relationship and trust is the community building you're just establishing now another extension of the things that you had into the things that you want or need. And there's the incentive is personal, right?
00:15:18:13 - 00:15:38:28 Whereas networking probably doesn't describe it like that. Networking, I think, sometimes can feel transactional to a degree. Yeah, right. It can feel transactional. But the reality is all the veterans that I've had the privilege of working with, they don't want a transactional relationship. They really want to help you. And they're asking for a little bit of help also.
00:15:38:28 - 00:16:08:14 And them asking for help is really hard. Like, it's really hard because you get taught regardless of which branch you went through, be self-sufficient, figure it out, do it yourself. And so being able to have it build a community where the trust is reciprocal and knowing that if I if I extend my trust in saying that I'm vulnerable and I need your help with this, that it will be reciprocated with, you know, helping me find the answer to that thing.
00:16:08:14 - 00:16:37:09 And and certainly that veteran is going to help you And in return. Yes. Yeah, that was you articulated that better than I did. Yeah. It's it's that I've had time to think about it. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. All right. So, so then, you know, so when, when did the what sparked the idea then, to feel like now's the time to spin off into doing something that was in your hearts?
00:16:37:12 - 00:16:59:13 It has been, I would say, simmering in the background probably since the very beginning. I would give credit to all the way back to the founder because it was simmering in his head. Matt Stevens, our current CEO, has been here now for coming up on six years. He he it has always been in his mind and but it's always how right?
00:16:59:13 - 00:17:29:20 Because no matter no matter what you want to do, whether it's Oracle or real estate or finance or you're always resource constrained, always right. So we had to scale to a certain point to where we had enough resource, mostly time to be able to work on a world class curriculum that was right for a broader audience. We knew that the curriculum works because we have a we have ten years of of test case with special operators who are pretty tough customers.
00:17:29:23 - 00:17:54:23 They're going to give you harsh feedback in the moment. The critical piece. Yeah, the absolute critical piece. You know, when the time allocation, the money allocation, the most critical thing though, was the human and that was Casey Volunteer. Casey volunteer is a master builder of technology products. And this is only her second one. She's on her. She's moved on and she's on to her third one now.
00:17:54:26 - 00:18:18:01 But everything she touches, it's not gold. It turns to platinum. I mean, it just so everything that you see that's built out in there from the marketing, the language, the colors, the fonts, she just did a tremendous job. And then making it all work and work the first time from the get go. So she handed off an amazing product to me.
00:18:18:03 - 00:18:46:18 But I absolutely have to say, you know, she was the critical piece that made this happen. So having the resource of time, having a few more members on the team, some great, great, great civilians here who got passionate about it and do various parts of business, worked on it in their spare time. And then we started to collaborate, you know, then we started, you know, then you get some technology around it and you start sharing ideas in one space and it got some real momentum.
00:18:46:18 - 00:19:13:12 And then we we got some funding and then that's where that was the big change, right? So resource allocation and and the need to show up in the market, if you will, with a world class product, right. Oracle can't just launch something willy nilly. It has to be of of Oracle value before the world can see it, right.
00:19:13:12 - 00:19:34:03 Even though it might be a minimum viable product. Your minimum, I'm sure at Oracle is is much different than anyone would conceive of at this point. We feel the same way, right? It really has to be world class as a minimum viable product and we're going to make the changes as we get the customer feedback. But it's an it's got to be good from the jump.
00:19:34:03 - 00:20:06:09 So a lot of little individual things had to coalesced. And we have not officially launched yet. We're we're still quietly making it happen. And you'll see like an official launch 2025 and and a lot of co-branding from Daughter Foundation and Vector Accelerator and other great partners and I think there is there and and you're saying it without saying it is you know because the pride you're taking in the work and then the outcome, you know, you want to make sure that that trust and the brand that's been built.
00:20:06:11 - 00:20:33:22 Yeah. And then the trust that's been established isn't diluted with, you know, hasty thinking or a haphazardly effort. Right. Just to try to push something out. I mean, it's taken as long as you've said to get to that part where the risk is high because what what will happen will, you know, does it does it dilute the uniqueness of DHS program if by extending it?
00:20:33:22 - 00:20:54:13 Did that occur, that QUESTION Yeah, yeah, I know that's a valid question and that's absolutely something that the staff has struggled with to, you know, how how do you maintain high value, high touch, Right. That's one of our internal mantras, high value, high touch to every single fellow, every single alumni, every single coach, every single partnership and all the communities we build.
00:20:54:16 - 00:21:20:28 And how do you do that in a completely modality? Because we're going fully online, there's almost no human touch. So how do you do? High value, high touch when it's completely asynchronous online and, and, and there's no all these levels of support we've built in all these in-person opportunities. You can't scale that to 200,000 every single year. You have to make tradeoffs.
00:21:21:00 - 00:21:50:00 And so going into this completely different modality of completely online, we really took some painstaking look at the details and how exactly does this information in this format lands with the individual and is it actually serving them? So we had we had to answer a lot of those questions up front. And they have to believe then the risk is the risk reward factors, because now it is online.
00:21:50:03 - 00:22:28:06 Your reach has a higher potential, which is that's huge. And then by design, Right, Right. And you can tell I've gone through it and, you know, maybe talk about later my experience, whatever, maybe don't. But the idea, though, I mean, it's it's fantastic because the fact that now you can extend the reach and you're talking about, you know, if you're within a year of separation or after and maybe because of what you talked about earlier, you know, my choices were including relocating to this place where access to a physical place isn't isn't available.
00:22:28:08 - 00:22:49:21 And you're allowing people to be able to have that option. And then because the brand and the trust that's been established, you can invest, taking a chance and going through it, which I'm biased because I've gone through it. So with the extension of now having it being accessible. And when, when did you first when was it first made available?
00:22:49:25 - 00:23:16:18 How long has it been in play to where you've had the time to go through some of the pilot programs and talk a little bit about the experience? Sure. So we we did the first, we did an alpha and a beta test internal to the staff and then external to go to great partners like yourself. And, you know, veterans who have experienced the transition, know what it's like and allowed everyone to give their inputs.
00:23:16:19 - 00:23:38:09 Hey, change happened to glide change, small dog to puppy. This doesn't make sense. Like all of those little things. And then there was some very tough feedback right up front like this. This flow of these chapters does not work like you need to flip this around. And so we took that. All of the feedback from the Alpha and Bravo tasks and then we moved it into a pilot.
00:23:38:09 - 00:24:02:00 We did a pilot one and two, and then we really focused on folks that did not know each draft. This is the first time there. Or maybe they have heard of a takeoff for the brand, but they haven't. They've never touched the product. And so it went out to veterans in transition or active duty military members in transition, and veterans who have already transitioned, who have no in-person experience with have got their feedback.
00:24:02:00 - 00:24:28:15 Again, those little tweaks, some bigger tweaks even occurred. We got offered the idea that, hey, maybe you should do some video, some extra material. So we decided, okay, let's to a podcast in conjunction with and we'll do the whole first season on the chapters. So if someone has time, they want to get in depth about a chapter now, then go listen to a podcast episode that is focused on that chapter.
00:24:28:16 - 00:25:02:28 They can really dive in. And then and then after that there was a bit of a pause. Cassie decided to take a new opportunity with it. With another company. We had a shift internally who's going to take it over ultimately was decided on myself. And so for the last approximately four months, we're kind of in a we're ramping back up to really and I'm trying to drive awareness largely right now, do some recruiting, but really to give us some momentum going into 2025 and then that'll be are our kind of official launch date.
00:25:02:28 - 00:25:30:09 I think we'll we'll probably place in the history books. This is when it actually started. So a little bit of a convoluted answer, but we've been we've been working on it and it's been exposed to about just shy of 200 folks in 2024 with what we're looking to. You know, my internal metric for success is can I get a thousand graduates in 2025?
00:25:30:11 - 00:26:04:00 I think that's achievable based on throughput and and rates of completion. Yeah, I agree. And that yeah it sounds pretty typical of right people right time and you know achieving a certain threshold and then a change right and it's and it's it makes sense because it's evolving and it's scaling and then you know where that where the the experts can come in and certain phases is key.
00:26:04:00 - 00:26:22:00 And what's nice about it is the continuity. I mean, what I heard, what you were saying is there's still continuity in all of this and there's still from the focus is still trying to strive to improve the small things because there is that logical flow when you're an impressionable moment that you probably are hyper focused on those little things.
00:26:22:00 - 00:26:40:27 And those are the one those are the things that get you to have the confidence, to want to do the things. Some of the things that you talk about, you know, allow myself to be vulnerable, allow myself to ask for help, allow myself to go through a thing where I'm guided through somebody else that has to know me just enough to keep me there to learn more about me.
00:26:40:29 - 00:27:02:02 And then we can start to get into the meat of who you who you were, who you are, who you thought you were, who you think you are, that you want to be. Yeah. Yeah, it makes sense. Yeah. It's interesting. I heard a quote most recently that we are, and it was by a psychology a I forget the I forget who it was exactly.
00:27:02:02 - 00:27:42:20 But essentially she stated, We are nothing more than the few stories we tell ourselves, but we are also nothing less. So be careful the stories you tell yourselves. And on the surface you can kind of swipe that away and like whatever. Like you can kind of. It's not. But when you really dig into that and you really start to analyze how you talk to yourself in your own head all day, every day, and what is the consistency of the story, How you maybe don't talk to yourself so nicely or how you you think and tell yourself about your past military service, your past career, whatever your career was is.
00:27:42:22 - 00:28:06:26 It's interesting how that plays out in your day and how you show up to the next thing. And then I started to realize, like, I am just but nothing less than the stories, the collection of stories that I tell myself about myself. So be careful. Yeah, because you can convince yourself either side it's worse or it's better than the reality of it.
00:28:06:28 - 00:28:31:16 Absolutely. And it is why we work on the stories inside of Vector Accelerator that you tell yourself so that you're telling the right story. When it goes external. Yeah. And that perspective. So I'm glad we landed there because we probably skipped over the excitement of talking about the stuff that we have. But so let's, let's talk about, you know, it went from takeoff.
00:28:31:16 - 00:29:01:23 It shifted over. There was a there was context in a theoretical approach to improve and extend. But now it translated into this, you know, a vector accelerator. So the the typical rundown vector, the mission, you know, the program, the pragmatic approach, you've touched on all that stuff, but that summarize it and construct kind of give people a clear vision on what it is, what you're trying to achieve, how you're doing it specifically and the timing and and things like that.
00:29:01:25 - 00:29:22:24 So who's it for? It is for active duty service members about one year from transition. So that means if you're getting out today or you're getting out about a year from now, you're the right person and we would love to catch you earlier than later. If you're a veteran, there's 18.1 or 18.2 million living veterans, according to the most recent VA.
00:29:22:24 - 00:29:50:01 And since this study of 2023, it's for you too. There are 18.1 or 2 million open seats in available. So if you're in nine or ten and you're like, I want to take a seat from a young soldier, young airman, you're not. It's for you too. So if you fit that in those categories or in that in that category, then please join.
00:29:50:03 - 00:30:17:09 It's 100% free. It's 100% online. There are no mandatory due dates that you have to show up to. We do offer a right now it's only once a week, but we do offer a once a week check in called Azimuth Chat. So anybody who's going through the course at any point in the course can just check in and have a human interaction with other folks doing the same thing, thinking about the same things as you.
00:30:17:12 - 00:30:39:21 And then you get to start to build your community because then you can hear from other soldiers, sailors, airmen, marine guardians about what their transitions like the resources, the other resources they found, what is working for them in the curriculum, and maybe what's not working for what is sticking that just doesn't feel right in the curriculum. So what's the curriculum?
00:30:39:21 - 00:31:29:10 It is ten chapters and the idea of the ten chapters is not to again help you with LinkedIn or resumés or any of those things explicitly, but implicitly. What it does is help you build the idea in your own mind of who you were in your time and service and how that plays through who you are today. Understanding your value, your values, what your priorities are in terms of when I talk about priorities, you're going to have endless opportunities come at you, and the immediate pressure is going to be, I have rent, I have a mortgage, I have the obligatory bills, I've got kids, I've got to get through college.
00:31:29:10 - 00:31:52:11 If you're at that stage or or on and on, and you're going have a lot of financial obligation, more than likely, where am I living? And on the Maslow hierarchy of needs, that one's really important. It's the base, right? You've got to take care of that. But the reality is it goes through all the way through Maslow's hierarchy of needs of who do I want to become, what makes me successful?
00:31:52:16 - 00:32:40:00 When I look back at my life and I tell my story about myself, and so what we're really trying to do is not so much help you with the change management of get a LinkedIn, check that box, get a resumé, check that box, get an interview, check that box. We're trying to help you with the transition that is going on in your head and in your heart about who you are and who you're becoming, utilizing everything that you've learned over the last four or 30 years in the military so that you can move that into the next phase of your life, not feeling lost, confused, bewildered sometimes about how did I end up with this
00:32:40:00 - 00:33:00:19 job? Or how did I end up in State X? I took this opportunity and it's the wrong opportunity. We want to help you filter through all of that and go on this journey before you have to do it. All the deadlines are right upon you because you just got your 2014 and it's crunch time and you haven't thought about any of this.
00:33:00:21 - 00:33:23:06 So that's really what we're trying to do in a nutshell. Yeah, so that's the substance behind this, the top layers of activity for prep. You know, you're talking about the tasks oriented focus of the resume and the profile and the, you know, the typical like we talked about the networking component to make yourself marketable, to show people the perception of you.
00:33:23:08 - 00:33:57:00 This this is more focused on the depths of you being comfortable and confident in knowing more about what you want to do, the way you want to do it, how you want. You're more in control of it. Whereas before it might have been at the mercy of orders, whatever they may be, location or role, you know. But but you're it sounds like you're also continuing to establish and maintain the core of the person itself that, yes, retains those things.
00:33:57:00 - 00:34:21:06 You're not using the things that you've acquired. You're just learning how to leverage those things in the new scenarios in your life stage. Absolutely. And so I can tell a personal story going into networking, going into community building, going into building my LinkedIn and all of those things on the surface. I didn't want to do any of it.
00:34:21:09 - 00:34:41:10 I just didn't. All of it was new is foreign. There was a lot of critical. It felt like very critical decisions I had to make. Where's my headshot? What is my title? How do I explain myself to the world? What happens when I make a post? What happens when I follow somebody? What happens when I put the wrong?
00:34:41:12 - 00:35:03:27 What if I put the wrong line of information on the resume? And that's the thing that gets me. You know, to miss an opportunity. You get hit with all of these seemingly critical decisions that you have to make in mass. And these are all decisions you haven't had to make before. And it wasn't until I had done a lot of other veterans for organizations, and they're phenomenal.
00:35:03:29 - 00:35:51:00 They do a great job hiring heroes, great organization, hire our heroes, great organization, and many, many others. But it wasn't until I went through the Honor Foundation and I went through phase one and really started to pull myself apart. And this is what we're doing in Vector, pulling myself apart, really understanding my own story. It wasn't until at the end of that, plus a little bit more time having comfortable conversations with fellow veterans, working on talking about myself, quite honestly, that I could go have a conversation, intelligent conversation with someone like, I don't know, someone who's been in banking as a VP of banking for 20 years at Wells Fargo, or someone who's been doing
00:35:51:00 - 00:36:15:13 real estate for 30 years. Like I had a really hard time and I see this happen with all of my brothers and sisters in the veteran space. They don't feel comfortable because they don't know who they are yet. They don't know how to talk about themselves. But as soon as they they they figure that out, the the switch flips and they're just they're able to navigate those social environments so much better.
00:36:15:16 - 00:36:40:23 And then you're building communities and it just it works. Thanks for that. And and you're right, once once you get to the part, because I'm not trying to oversimplify it, I'm trying to find the right words to explain it. But you know that the ability to do the task itself is less the issue, right? The comfortability, the unknown of now it's different.
00:36:40:23 - 00:37:09:28 I mean, if you I mean, comparatively, probably this is not doing it justice. If I'm if I'm serving and I'm in going to a new unit. Do you have a relationship with some NCO somewhere else or it doesn't matter you have a relationship with somebody else, maybe where you're going and then you reach out. And the point of that, I think, is the essence of what we're really talking about is the the understanding of the known is one thing, but the the acceptance of the unknown and the confidence to maneuver through that when it's now affecting things differently.
00:37:10:00 - 00:37:32:21 A mission is things I'm no I'm going to go execute whatever the mission is. But if it's going to affect me personally or my family, we sometimes convince ourselves that there's higher risk. I have to do it differently. And maybe you do, maybe you don't. But this is just clearing the pathway for you to see that. Now you have a common the Common Core understanding of what it is that is going to be needed.
00:37:32:21 - 00:37:55:27 And some of it is not too much different than what you already know to do. You're just now seeing better about how you can, you know, establish facts in your head to tell yourself what it is that you need to do so you don't get distracted with the abyss of the unknown because that that can be consuming as the two extremes can happen, you can feel like a total imposter.
00:37:56:03 - 00:38:16:09 Yes, and I did. I felt like a total imposter. I'm talking to a senior vice president of corporation acts or executive vice president. I don't know if I'm supposed to call her Stacy or Mrs. So-and-so or senior vice. Like, what do I call this person? Right? I got an opportunity to talk to CEO. What do I call you, Bob?
00:38:16:12 - 00:38:43:26 I don't know. And then you get the other stream. I was a pilot, right? I've made thousands of critical calls. Like anyone's going to want me at their company. Like, there's. They're like the two extremes in that you've got to figure out how to build trust with other humans and and do it in a social situation and understand their language and adapt to it.
00:38:43:28 - 00:39:08:21 And then the nuance of the language of that industry. And you can't do any of that confidently if you can't show up authentically you and open and willing to take in new information and adapt, but be able to tell your story. Yeah, settle in, settle into the second step. The first step is saying yes to an opportunity, Right?
00:39:08:21 - 00:39:29:22 And that's it. In this case, I want I want help, I want support. I want to do something, whatever it is. Second step. Now you can just settle into hey, that that felt right. More. I still have a question. So now I'm again comfortable being curious and out loud, I guess is the best way to say yes to the out loud.
00:39:29:22 - 00:39:52:08 Yeah, right. I mean you know, this this intuition, right? This intuitive approach that I know. I feel like I know what needs to be done but in that but is the thing that which I guess we can kind of just narrow it down to what we talk about that but is now your hesitation, your procrastination, your self-doubt, you know, for whatever the cause is this is the construct that helps you through that.
00:39:52:08 - 00:40:13:04 So what what are what are some of the common mistakes that still occur? We've probably touched on in here, but explicitly, what do you think the common mistakes on two ends and the individual in this situation and then the people that are making it clear after we won't talk about the ones that make no effort to help support anybody in the communities or what have you.
00:40:13:04 - 00:40:45:21 But we'll talk about the ones that are trying to what are some of the common things that we can pay attention to to help provide or shed light on? You know, we're still doing this and we need to do it differently or and then companies or organizations trying to help. We're still doing this and we can do this differently understanding that every single veteran who comes, if you're trying to recruit veterans, if you're trying to bring that goodness into your company, regardless of the size of the company, realizing that every single veteran has a heart to serve.
00:40:45:23 - 00:41:08:24 I mean, we are service members. It's in our name right? We are service members. And so the only thing that we're looking to genuinely do is find a new hard problem that is complex and we want to help you solve it because we want to provide value. We're 100% team driven, motivated individuals who really want to work well with the team.
00:41:08:24 - 00:41:41:21 And we we want all of those things because whether we did it for four or 40 years, that's what we were doing. We're solving really complex global problems with great teams and that's that's all we want to do next. So the gap, the area that could really help recruiting efforts and retention efforts and great American companies that are looking for for veteran talent is have a training pipeline and really, really think about it.
00:41:41:21 - 00:42:07:15 You know, build it the best you can. But they get a veteran on board to lead that thing for you because they're going to be able to help you navigate what it should really look like to get someone to go from years of service into what it's like being at Oracle and you have to do that because their entire life's context to that point has been in it just a different industry, right?
00:42:07:15 - 00:42:51:15 They're making an industry change, so help them understand your company, the insides, the the, the nuances, the culture, how things actually get done, if that's what culture is, how things actually get done. And if you do that, you've fully empowered them to be the most successful they can be. And look, we we know this works. How do we We can absolutely pick a date in history and say, yeah, this whole veteran thing works because the millions of veterans who came back from World War Two have put our entire country on a a bull market largely for decades.
00:42:51:15 - 00:43:30:10 And they all just came right back years of war in places all over the globe and came right back to be management. Frontline workers starting their own companies, going into academia like we know it works. An entire generation did it. And so if companies spent some time investing and training and making sure that the veteran understands how things work at your account, at your company, and how they can lay out how they can be successful, help them work on figuring themselves out a little bit and give them a little grace while they're doing that.
00:43:30:12 - 00:44:10:20 Veteran or Vector Accelerator would love to be a partner in that. Yeah, I think you'll see much higher recruiting, retention and success rates overall, do you think? Thanks for that. Do you do you think that there's a portion of folks that maybe had held formal leadership positions that, you know, as as they shift? Do you believe that maybe there's an emphasis by certain organizations in general to maybe leverage the leadership from them, expect leadership from them like they want.
00:44:10:23 - 00:44:33:20 They have this desire to be a formal leader versus now that they're coming out because of how exhausting or for whatever reason, they might have shifted their mindset. Today, I just want to be an icy, an individual contributor. I know I have the capabilities, I know have the potential and the skill sets and those things. But I want to break how do you how do you navigate that scenario when there's an expectation of certain kinds?
00:44:33:22 - 00:44:58:23 Well, I guess what I would offer the best way to do that is just have an honest conversation and build build a real relationship with that individual at the individual level, not just blanket. We're going to treat all veterans. Here's the box. We're going to put them in and we're going to once they're in that box, there's always going to like, Hey, Chris, I know you've been the Army now for 30 years and you're getting out as an six colonel.
00:44:58:25 - 00:45:24:11 You shows on your resume that you've led upwards of thousands of people for even up to a year at a time in a complex combat environment. Do you want to continue to lead at that level, or would you like some time as just an individual contributor on team? Because really what we're trying to do with our company is make sure that you're in the right spot so that you can be the most successful.
00:45:24:13 - 00:45:45:26 And if you don't want to lead right now and you want to take some time, you should feel empowered to do that. And conversely, if you're ready to just jump straight in and you want to we want to put you on a leadership track sooner. Well, let's talk about what that could look like. I mean, in my mind, that is that is how simple it could be.
00:45:45:28 - 00:46:10:24 Yeah, that's that sound. And it is simple. And I think that's and thanks for sharing that because that does share the perspective. You know, you as as in your role now taking on the leadership position which carries the influence on the style, the approach. It's good to hear your perspective on that because it does account for those those subtle differences, you know, and then sometimes you just take it for granted.
00:46:10:24 - 00:46:29:04 And now the opposite of that would also be the fear of not doing that. And that probably gets broken down in the process of your ten chapters to where you can identify maybe you don't realize that you don't want to do that, but you felt compelled. That's the only thing that you feel the need establish since then. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:46:29:04 - 00:46:50:00 I one of the questions we ask is, Tell me something. You're great at that you never want to do again. And people have promoted you because of this. You've won awards potentially for this. But what do you never want to do again? And it is an opportunity for someone to take a deep breath and go, you know, I've done adult day care for a really long time.
00:46:50:03 - 00:47:06:15 I no longer desire to do adult day care. I want to be an I see I want to be an individual contributor on a tremendous team solving hard problems. But I'm just not in the phase right now where I want to make those hard decisions. Maybe I just need about a year. Maybe they won't even be able to articulate this part.
00:47:06:18 - 00:47:33:13 I need a year at Oracle before I feel comfortable in that position. I need to really understand the language and the nuance, how a vertical, how to verticals collaborate together or how potentially they don't, but how you navigate that political environment. And then after a year, I might come back with a different answer. You know, that's that's definitely something we work on.
00:47:33:16 - 00:48:00:28 Yeah. Do would do do you or has there been in your weekly calls a conversation where you either observed the need or been asked to connect dots in the scenario of, Hey, I'm in the situation, I've, I've been out, I'm in the situation at work wherever I work. And this is the scenario. This is the the organizational scenario, whether it's a company or a business or a team.
00:48:00:28 - 00:48:29:22 Here's the organizational scenario I'm in. Can you help me? Can you help me navigate that where you're you're taking a process from separation focus and then you're actually tailoring now to their individual situation? And have you ever had to deal or had to address that? I would say that's that's come up more than once. There's a gentleman who's at another tech company right now who's gone through that a little bit.
00:48:30:00 - 00:48:54:09 And he's he's been a civilian now for about four years. And, you know, he's he's still trying to figure out it's a very large tech company, much like Oracle. So trying to figure out the the culture and the totality of the how you get things done in a monolithic size company where naturally, I think veterans want to move fast.
00:48:54:09 - 00:49:15:24 They want to they want to from we call it from flash to bang. We want it to be very fast. But things move slower in corporations of larger sizes and for good reason. Right? There's share prices involved and so on, so forth. So yeah, I would say that's the stereotypical conversation, maybe a bit episodic, but it definitely happens.
00:49:15:27 - 00:49:36:00 Yeah, Yeah, I would imagine. And that's part of it. D d as we, as we kind of wind down the conversation d Where's the sweet spot for transition that in your experience, because there's no science to it and I'm going to ask you to speculate too, where it now gives somebody the impression on the timeline because it is different for everybody.
00:49:36:00 - 00:50:14:02 But where's a sweet spot that you found in your experience, individual experience, yours or self? Excuse me? And then those that your help supporting their transition. Yeah where you see it's a it's clear this shift is occurring and so there's a I'm six years into it right myself I'm six years into I'm coming up to that in January officially as a transition service member and I would say that it goes in phases and it's, it's, it's like, like a sine wave.
00:50:14:02 - 00:50:39:18 There's there's highs and lows. You have epiphanies and moments. I remember about two years into two years into my transition, I woke up one morning, literally my eyes popped open. My first thought was, I think I made it. I've been paying my mortgage now for two years. My relationship with my partner is stable. I have teammates that I love.
00:50:39:18 - 00:51:18:08 I love what we're doing together. Both of those things were extremely important to me. Love, Love what you do, love who you work with are things that a lot of veterans are looking for, but not necessarily. And it finally hit me like, I think I've made it like this. This is it. And so fast forward two more years and I found myself having interesting conversations with other veterans who are kind of at that four and six year and even ten year mark of of having a epiphanies of I've really become somebody else.
00:51:18:08 - 00:51:45:13 And now I'm wondering potentially what the next chapter is. And I feel empowered about that, at least the ones that if not through THC or the ones that have found success and know how to multiply that success. And so going back to the original question, like where's the sweet spot or where's how long does transition take? Maybe as another way of of asking that question.
00:51:45:13 - 00:52:20:03 I think it unfolds over time. I think veterans arrive at a different places and I think when you surround them with support and you give them some structure to, you know, we don't say we're a psychology or health and wellness program, but the reality is we are I mean, we just we are we're using best known practices in journaling and really deep self work to help you get to where you need to be next.
00:52:20:05 - 00:52:44:05 So when you surround people with opportunities like that, even if they're not veterans, you're going to find that they're going to progress. And the stories they tell themselves are going to be inherently more positive and they're going to find the story that says, Here's the direction I'm going and here's how I'm going to get there, which empowers them to do it solid.
00:52:44:07 - 00:53:16:07 What if it wasn't that? What's the the thing as we wrap that you want everybody to know? As I've gotten older, no longer a young man, I'm probably a middle aged man is probably the right way to put it. I've realized that there are so many things that I not only don't know, I'll never know. And then if I can concentrate on truly knowing one thing, it should be myself.
00:53:16:09 - 00:53:47:02 Because if I know myself at up, I can show up better to help others. And we find our best selves when we're helping others. Like talk about the most satisfaction we can find, the most purpose, the most meaning in our lives. It's when we really show up authentically and do something for someone else. Solving a hard, complex problem, making a big win in business, showing up for your partner, showing up for your children, whatever that is.
00:53:47:04 - 00:54:14:01 Doctor Accelerator is here to help you find the most authentic you and help you move into the next chapter of your life. Solid. And we'll leave it at that party. It's a pleasure. I always feel I'm smarter when I walk away with a conversation from you. Thanks for your time. Congratulations on coming up. Six years of transition that is never ending.
00:54:14:03 - 00:54:21:20 Thank you. All right, everyone, keep moving forward.
