#103 Joseph Polanin - U.S. Navy retired and CEO - Tales of Leadership

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to the Tales of Leadership podcast.
This podcast is for leaders atany phase on their leadership
journey to become a morepurposeful and accountable
leader what I like to call a pal.
Join me on our journey togethertowards transformational
leadership.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
All right team.
Welcome back to the Tales ofLeadership podcast.
I am your host, josh McMillian.
I'm an active duty army officer.
I'm an army leadership coach.
Welcome back to the Tales ofLeadership podcast.
I am your host, josh McMillian.
I'm an active duty Army officer.
I'm an Army leadership coach.
I'm the founder of McMillianLeadership Coaching.
But, most importantly, I am ona mission to create a better
leader, what I like to call apurposeful, accountable leader
or a pal, and my vision in lifeis to end toxic leadership by

(00:43):
showing you there is a betterway to lead.
That is being transformational,that is being a servant leader,
and I plan to do that bysharing transformational stories
and skills.
And on today's episode I'mgoing to be sharing a
transformational leader story.
Navy retired rank of a colonel,a captain within the Navy and is

(01:05):
an award-winning CEO and adisabled Navy combat veteran who
has served three decades, over30 years leading elite teams to
succeed on complex missions inhigh-risk environments.
He has over a thousanddifferent combat missions that
he has been able to complete,from Africa all the way to the

(01:27):
Middle East.
He's been in numerousleadership positions throughout
the Navy.
He has created his ownsuccessful coaching and
consulting company and he's alsoa co-author of a book.
This is truly a phenomenalepisode, and make sure you stick
to the very end and I'llprovide you what the top three
takeaways Without further ado.

(01:47):
Let's let on.
Joe, joe sir, welcome to theTells the Leadership podcast.
How are you doing?

Speaker 3 (01:55):
I'm doing very well, joshua, thank you.
How are you?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
I can't complain and I mean it and I say it every
time when I get an opportunityto talk to amazing leaders,
someone who's had such a long,historic career especially as
yourself and they're stillinspiring and making change,
it's always a great day.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Well, likewise, I think that and we'll talk more
about this, I'm sure, but I knowwe're aligned in that
leadership is a process oflearning and we're always
learning something new, we'realways growing, we're always
expanding our knowledge andmaking a new room for additional
resources, capabilities andpeople that uplift us and move

(02:31):
us higher, to new levels.
So, yeah, thanks so much, Iappreciate it.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
One of the questions I always love starting with and
I think you've already answeredit and I already started taking
a few first notes is how youdefine leadership, because I
have entrepreneurs on here.
I've had senior level leadersfrom the army, the coast guard.
I think that you you are thehighest retiree, at least from
the Navy, that I've had theopportunity to to speak with,

(02:57):
and I would love to hear how youdefine leadership.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Yeah, it's, it's multifac, as you know, and how I
define it is it is a blend,right?
It's art and science, it's dataand emotion, it's inherited and
learned and all of that andmore.
But distilling that down,really, for me, I believe it's

(03:21):
very important to understandwhat we believe leadership is
and what we see it to be andwhat it can become, and also an
understanding of what it's not,and I'll start with that first.
In my view and in my experience, leadership is not a position,
it's not a rank, it's not atitle, it's not an office.
It is, however, a process of,and a commitment to, learning,

(03:47):
growing and caring about otherpeople.
Someone once said to me wellgosh, I don't have this
particular rank, or I don't havethis particular office, or I
don't have this role or thistitle.
Therefore, I'm not a leader.
I just have to do what I'm told.
I said wait a minute,absolutely wrong, wrong thought
process.
Have to do what I'm told.
I said wait a minute,absolutely wrong, wrong thought

(04:08):
process.
Everyone and anyone can be aleader if you are a committed to
a process and a culture oflearning and innovation, where
you're inherently curious, youwant to learn more and you want
to help other people learn more.
And number two, that you, inaddition to having that
commitment to learning, you havea set of core values and

(04:30):
principles that you live by andyou demonstrate that every day
and through your personalexample, at whatever rank you
are.
If you're a brand new leader,if it's your first job coming
out of school in the military,if it's your first assignment,
everyone can be a leader throughtheir personal example and

(04:51):
their commitment to learning.
So I have distilled that downand I've said okay, leadership
for me is a process of learning,growing and caring about other
people.
Leadership is not a person, it'snot a single attribute, it's a
combination of all those things.
But, most importantly, it'ssomeone who's transcended,
beyond what they are doing andwhat they can do, into

(05:14):
understanding that the reasonwhy we're here is to serve and
take care of other people.
Once that clicks for a leader,at any level, at any echelon,
there's no going back.
They've transcended and theyrealize, hey, the reason I'm
here is not.
For me, leadership isn't aboutthe leader, it's about those
whom they serve.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, I think that that is probably one of the best
definitions that I've had onthe show, and I think
specifically to the point of ifyou can learn that leadership is
really about serving otherpeople, and if you can learn
that at a very young age orearly in your career and carry
that forward, that's what makesamazing leaders.

(05:57):
All the people that I've alwayslooked up to, that's the same
core common denominator is thatthey care about their people,
they're curious, they'recommitted and they want others
to shine and they're willing toshare that light because they
don't care about title orauthority.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
That's exactly right.
That's why I mentioned earlierabout understanding what it is
and then understanding what it'snot.
And once we free ourselves ofthat and we disregard that and
we understand that everything wedo is about other people, let's
face it Leadership would be avery, very lonely place if the
only reason we were doing it wasfor ourselves.

(06:33):
Everything we do, from start tofinish, every minute of every
day, is about other people, andI'll just add this one more
point.
And I'll just add this one morepoint.

(06:57):
And it has to do with when wesay it's about other people.
For me, what that means is it isabout uplifting whatever they
perceive as their ownlimitations.
Whatever the organization orthe team or the unit perceives
as its expectations can beexceeded and will be exceeded.
And when a team of smart peopleget together and they realize

(07:18):
that there's no holding themback, anything's possible.
But it starts with theindividual understanding that
they're in an environment wherethey're going to be inspired and
elevated.
And so when I say it's aboutother people, it's about
elevating, uplifting andinspiring them to say wait a
minute, you don't have anylimitations, you're going to
exceed your potential, you'regoing to exceed your

(07:39):
expectations, and here's how?
Here's how I'm going to helpyou.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
I love that, and it goes back to a quote that it
reminds me of by John QuincyAdams, and it always centers me
in terms of leadership If youractions inspire others to dream
more, learn more, do more andbecome more than you're a leader
, and that just beautifullyencompasses what you just stated
.
I would love to take anopportunity, before we really
dig into your story, if youcould just provide an overview

(08:03):
to the listeners of who you are.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, absolutely so, Joe Palanin.
I served 30 years in the USNavy, from 1990 to 2020.
My profession was explosiveordnance disposal and probably
20 of those 30 years I was inpositions of command or command
authority.
For those who've not been inthe military in the audience

(08:26):
today, that's analogous to beingthe CEO or COO or equivalent of
that organization.
Very often these were globallyintegrated enterprises and teams
that were facing very highthreat and high risk
circumstances or environmentsand had very complex missions.
And how does one galvanize,integrate and synchronize those

(08:50):
efforts across continents,across time zones, to get the
mission done?
And sometimes it's hard andsometimes it seems impossible.
But what we learned early in mycareer, which we implemented
for decades as the great teamsthat I had the privilege to be

(09:11):
on, was that you either find away or make one to get the job
done.
The option is not to say, well,we're not going to get this
mission done today, we're notgoing to make it happen Together
.
We're going to find a way orwe're going to make one, and if
there's an obstacle in the way,we're going to find a way
through it, over it, around it,make it go away.
Now fast forward to 2020.

(09:35):
When I transitioned out of theservice, I explained to folks I
still continue to serve, Eventhough I'm not in uniform.
I'm just serving in newdirections.
Together with my daughters, wefounded a private consulting
practice.
It's called the AlakaiLeadership Group.
Alakai is a word in Hawaiian.
It means great leadership.
It's a lot more like a cultureor an attitude or a lifestyle

(09:56):
than it is a skill or capability.
And essentially what we did withAlakai was we took the best
practices and lessons learned ofwhat I saw and what I
experienced in the military bestpractices, what works well,
lessons learned, what didn'twork well and we fashioned that
into a proprietary consultativemethodology.
And today, through Alakai, weoffer three services.

(10:19):
The first one is seniorexecutive leadership consulting,
so the C-suite, and giving themadvice, giving them tools that
they can use to improve theefficiency and the effectiveness
of their organizations.
Fractional C-level leadership,whether it's a fractional COO or
fractional CSO and in somecases, fractional CEO.

(10:42):
And then some inspirationalspeaking.
We enjoy speaking, we enjoywriting about leadership and
strategy and talent, and thoseare the focus areas of what
we're doing today.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
So that's the last 34 years in about three minutes to
concisely wrap up 34 years ofservice, a couple of things that
stuck out to me.
So I've been in now, I think,for 16 years and I've
transitioned from, you know,junior officer to a field grade

(11:12):
officer.
Now, 20 years of being incommand positions just strikes a
chord with me is that the levelof effort and involvement and
engagement that that takes to bewhat we call in the army is
like switched on it would be.
It's inspiring, it truly isLike that's that's most of
people's career that stayfull-time in the military is 20

(11:36):
years.
But you, you did 20 yearswithin command roles and that's
no light task.
And I also love how you talkabout we always find a way.
And it reminds me of theuniform that we wear and the
American flag, and I get thisquestion all the time but why is
the stars pointed to the front?
It's because we're alwaysmoving forward.
We never retreat.

(11:56):
We always find a way.
I absolutely love that.
And you starting yourleadership journey I think in
1990, you were a US Navy Academy, annapolis graduate.
Is that where you starting yourleadership journey?
I think in 1990, you were a USNavy Academy, annapolis graduate
.
Is that where you saw yourleadership journey start?

Speaker 3 (12:11):
Oh, absolutely In some cases before then.
But from a very young age Iknew I didn't know.
I didn't have it all mapped outI don't think anyone does, but
from a very young age I knewthat I wanted to go to the Naval
Academy.
I did not know necessarily whatI wanted to do after that and
so I'd say probably from aroundthe age of 13, 14, I knew that's

(12:35):
what I wanted to do and Ibecame motivated and inspired to
do that and blessed to be thefirst graduate from my high
school to be able to do that.
So prior to my appointment wehadn't some students go to West
Point and the like, but I wasvery, very blessed to have that

(12:58):
occur and earn that appointment.
And, long story short, itwasn't until about my third year
at the Academy that I wasintroduced to the Navy's diving
and EOD program and after thatthat's what I knew I wanted to
do and went forward from thereand I think, like most of us, I

(13:19):
did not necessarily have anintent that I was going to serve
30 years.
I took another assignment.
I liked it, my wife liked it,we had children, they liked it.
I took another assignment, youknow.
And next thing, you know weblinked and 14 years went by and
said, wow, you know, and evenit was, it's interesting and

(13:40):
you've probably shared theseexperiences.
But even as I got, got olderand I'd been in for, let's say,
26, 27 years, at this point I'dbe on a plane flying somewhere
and someone would stop me andsay, oh, you're in the Navy, how
long have you been in?
I said 27 years.
Oh, are you going to make it acareer?

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
But I think for me it never felt like a job, it never
felt like a profession.
It just very simply felt likewhere I was meant to be, with
whom I was supposed to beserving and doing what I was
called to do.
It just seemed natural andwhere I was supposed to be.

(14:23):
But yes, I believe for me itcertainly started there because
I had some fantastic mentors andteachers and, yeah, it's a,
it's a great, it's a greatexperience.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
Being committed, I think at the age 13 and 14,
knowing that you want to go toan academy school like West
Point, Annapolis, all of theseschools it takes a lot to get
into those types of programs andto be committed at such a young
age.
I could already tell you you'rea way better man than me.
When I was 13 and 14, I had noplan of what I wanted to do.

(14:57):
I was just kind of floundering.
I also love how you talk aboutthat with being in the military
for such a long period of timeAt least for me, I don't.
I never really look at it as ajob because I genuinely love
every single day of it.
And looking back at it now,it's crazy to me that I've been
in for 16 years, but it's funnyit was every two to three years.

(15:20):
We move, I meet new amazingpeople, I have a new exciting
job, I have the opportunity tolearn new things that I didn't
understand before and it justkeeps building and building, and
building and I guarantee youI'll blink and I'm at 20 years
and I'm like, wow, that has wentby too fast.

Speaker 3 (15:40):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, and it is
sometimes when we are in themiddle of that we don't pause
and reflect and look back andsay, wow, look, what happened as
I became more senior.
Actually, for me, it was almostlike a tale of two professional

(16:03):
careers, one prior to 9-11 andthe other after, because the op
tempo, the mission, therequirements of what we were
doing was vastly different, andit was.
The focus was different andtherefore the needs were
different, different andtherefore the needs were

(16:30):
different.
And I actually I actuallydeployed a lot more as I got
more senior, because of becauseof where I was and what I was
doing, than I did when I was ajunior officer and what, what we
ended up doing, which was right, it was the right decision for
our family.
As my daughters got into highschool, we said, okay, every
time a new set of orders wouldcome up, we would sit down as a

(16:53):
family and, you know, have ourmission analysis and figure out
what we were going to do and say, okay, what's the right
decision for us at the time.
Well, once the girls got intohigh school, we didn't didn't
want to move them around, so Iwent and I deployed and I did
what I needed to do, and then Iwould get home as often as I
could.
I did that for the last buteight years of of my military

(17:18):
service, so but it was the rightdecision for us.
It's not.
You know, every family has tomake that decision for
themselves, and that that's whatwas right for us.
For us, it's not.
You know, every family has tomake that decision for
themselves and that that's whatwas right for us.
And and we, we think we madethe right call and fast forward
to today it's.
It's a joy now to be able to uh, to work with my daughters and
teach them what we've learned.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
I love how you went back and you've created this uh,
consulting coaching companywith with your family and
growing with your family and Ithink it kind of just goes back
to the level of servantleadership.
And if you're willing to totake on that burden of being in
the military and raising theranks of like strategic level
positions, you have less andless and less and less time away

(17:56):
from your family because youhave more time committed to what
you have to do for your job.
People I don't think fullyunderstand.
They see all of these liketitles, they see the rank of
what people hold, but they don'tunderstand all the different
levels of sacrifice that theyhad to go through.
And you know, I know a lot offriends that have done what
you're doing or have done, wherethey will take a job for two to

(18:17):
three years and leave theirfamily where they currently are.
So it doesn't have a majorimpact and it and that is the
right move for their family.
But from a civilian standpoint,I guarantee you, if someone was
listening to that, they're likehow did he do that?
But when?
I think military families aremore resilient, if that makes
sense.
My daughter is one of the mostamazing people in this world.

(18:40):
She is the most resilient girlthat I know and if I compared
her to some of our friends thatare, I think, just civilians
that don't understand thatculture within the military of
moving all the time and havingto make new friends and start
new schools, it sounds almostcounter-cultural like, hey, this
isn't sustainable.
I think it is, and you have adeeper level of relationship

(19:01):
because you value the time spentwith your family even that much
more.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
Yes, you touched upon a few points there that I'd
like to just underscore for amoment.
First of all, the only reasonthat we as a family were able to
accomplish any of that isbecause of my wife of 30 years,
deanne.
She and I made a commitmentearly on about how we were going
to raise our family and what wewere going to do, and at every

(19:32):
turn, no matter what thecircumstance was, no matter
where I had to deploy, no matterhow long I had to be gone, for,
together we found a way to workit out, and, as you do with
your family and so many of ourother teammates, uh, on the on
the line or listening in, uh,today it's it's hard.
It's that that, because youmake that decision and because

(19:56):
you move in that direction, thatdoesn't mean that that it's not
hard.
That doesn't mean that you'renot sad, uh.
That doesn't mean that theseparation doesn't cause
additional stress and anxietyfor everyone.
But I'm a firm believer thatwhen one member in the family
serves the entire family,sacrifices and serves each in
their own way, and, in fact,both of our daughters when they

(20:19):
were considering whatundergraduate universities to go
to.
They're going through theapplication processes to these
various schools and all of themsaid, hey, write an essay.
And they all chose.
They both chose to write essaysabout their experiences and
what they learned as a militarychild, and part of what their
thesis was okay, we had our job.

(20:39):
We had to do well in school anddo our best in sports and our
extracurricular activities andhelp mom take care of everything
.
Mom did her job to take care ofus and to make sure everything
was running like a fine-tunedmachine at home and all the
wonderful things that ourspouses do.
Dad, his job was to take careof his team and take care of his

(21:04):
people and lead them throughwhatever challenges they had to
get through and bring everybodyhome safely.
And I reflect on that oftenbecause without one element,
every element had to function inharmony and unity and if one
element didn't, then there was aproblem.
And when I think of ourmilitary service members and our

(21:25):
veterans today, I always thinkin this term.
I think the service member, thespouse and the families they
are all together.
They're our heroes.
That's the reason why we dowhat we do.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah, I have no doubt that I wouldn't be where I am
if it wasn't for my wife, um,and my kids would not be who
they are today if it wasn't formy wife.
I love to take it back pre nine, 11.
You just graduated the Academy.
You're getting ready to go into, I think, a training
environment, but that's alsowhen desert storm was getting
ready to to kick off.
What were some of the cause?

(22:07):
I'm I'm genuinely curious someof the struggles that you had to
face as a leader, going from atraining environment to a combat
environment within that desertstorm period.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
Yes, it was a very, very fast transition.
Training was prominent and itwas a focus, but it was
accelerated, shall we say.
My first assignment was onMinesweepers and we had about

(22:35):
three, three and a half monthsto go through a nine to 12 month
certification and inspectioncycle and it w it was hard.
It was, it was really, reallyhard.
But they, what, what brought ustogether were a, the teammates
and the, and the people on the,on the, on the ship.

(22:55):
But this, this resilient, veryprecise focus that we knew
exactly what our mission was andwe knew exactly what we needed
to do, and at that time what washappening was essentially crew
exchanges.
So we were training in SanDiego area on a vessel that was

(23:15):
the exact same type of vessel,that there was another one over
in the northern Arabian Gulf,and then, once we certified, we
jumped on a plane and flew overthere.
We went through a series ofturnover and then we relieved
that unit in place and theindividuals on that crew on that
ship flew home.
We got there and we weresupposed to be there for just a
few months and, week by week,that got extended into about

(23:38):
eight and a half months, and sothe transition for all of us was
a hard one, but I think it wasmade easier by the fact that we
had a wonderful team of peopleand we had a very, very focused
mission and we all knew whatthat mission was focused mission
, and we all knew what that,what that mission was uh mine,
countermeasures and uh andremoving uh mines and clearing,

(24:02):
clearing the waterways, um forall the, all the entry to all
the ports in the in the NorthernGulf.
So, um, that was my firstexperience and that that is also
where it validated for me thatI knew that I wanted to go into
EOD, Because back in those daysin the Navy, all EOD officers

(24:22):
had to go through aqualification period on a ship
first, then you went to diveschool, then you went to EOD
school.
Now you get your commission,you go straight to dive school,
straight to EOD school and toyour unit.
But in those days that's whatour career path was, and so for
me, those experiences andmeeting so many of those brave
warriors at that time validatedfor me.

(24:43):
Okay, now I know I already knewthat's what I wanted to do, but
this gave it that that extralevel of support and validation.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
I was curious what drove you to to diving and
specifically the Navy ExplosiveOrdinance Disposalal, eod,
because I remember some of themissions that we did in
Afghanistan.
I would have EOD embedded withme and it was Army EOD.
So the Army guys are justabsolutely crazy.
Some of the things that theywould do on our patrols put

(25:11):
themselves in extremely harm'sway with these improvised
explosive devices and basicallyblow them up for us in a
controlled manner.
What drove you to that careerfield?

Speaker 3 (25:26):
Well, my scuba instructor would say it was
James Bond.
And I'll explain why.
When I was in the shipment atthe Naval Academy, my scuba
instructor's name was James Bond, oh, wow.
And he said wherever you go,whatever you do, you can always
tell people that James Bondtaught you how to scuba dive.
And all kidding aside, I alwaysloved the water and I was never

(25:52):
the fastest, I was never thestrongest, but I always loved
the water and I think that wassomething that I know.
I know.
Somehow, some way I inheritedthat from my dad, who passed
away when I was very young, buthe was an avid swimmer, loved
the water as well.
Unfortunately, I never got achance to to swim with him, but

(26:14):
fast forward that that.
I think that love of the waterstarted it.
And then, the first time that Iwent on an open water dive, I
said this is for me, this iswhere I want to be.
I didn't know too much aboutEOD at the time.
I was aware more of the Navy'sdiving program.
But at the age of 20, when Iwas told hey, um, you know you

(26:35):
go into diving, you're alsogoing to do EOD I said really,
what's that is what you're goingto get to blow things up and
jump out of airplanes.
I said, okay, that sounds great.
Where, where do I go for that?
Well, you have to go to school,you have to do this, and it
just kind of just kind of wentfrom there.
Now, all kidding aside, the, theculture and the ethos is one
that I know that you willidentify.

(26:56):
This our, our eod ethos isbounded by the notion of quiet
professionalism right, you dowhat's right because it's the
right thing to do.
You're not concerned about whogets the credit and you get
right back to work on on thenext task.

(27:16):
When it's done, by the way,when there's a struggle or when
there's a hard time, you reachout and you grab your teammate
and you make sure they're doingokay and they come along with
you.
For me, that's what it's allabout being selfless, putting
other people first, being humbleand being focused on the
mission.
You know the phrase team,teammates, mission comes to mind

(27:38):
.
There's no I in there.
There's no, well, I guessthere's an I in mission.
That doesn't count.
There's no notion of self.
We were talking about thisearlier, putting others first.
But that ethos and that creed ofquiet professionalism permeates

(27:59):
the EOD community and, in fact,I'll tell you a quick story,
joshua, when I was thecommanding officer of the Navy
EOD school which it's run andmanaged by the Navy, but all
four services train there andyou have to go through and
graduate from there in order tobe a basic EOD technician there
was a young college student thatwas in one of the ROTC programs

(28:20):
and he came for a tour with histeammates and we talked about a
lot of different things.
And when we were done, he saidsir, I have a question.
I said sure, what's that?
He said you know, you talkedabout a lot of different things
in order to be successful in EOD.
He said you talked aboutacademic excellence, physical

(28:40):
fitness, teamwork, all thesekinds of attributes.
He said what's the mostimportant thing that we need to
succeed?
I said well, that's easy Don'tquit ever.
And when you resolve not toquit, you reach out and you grab
your teammate and you make surethey don't quit either, because

(29:00):
it's not about you, it's aboutyour team.
And I don't know whether or nothe ended up applying for the
program, I don't know whether ornot he ended up coming in, but
for me that's why, and it's justbeen an amazing, amazing
opportunity to serve with andlearn from such phenomenal

(29:20):
people.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
Exactly why I went in the infantry and I chose to do
hard things, jump out of planesand go to ranger school and do
all of these hard things is thatI wanted to be around a great,
inspiring group of people thathad a strong culture and
historic legacy, that didn'tcare who had the spotlight,
because no one was seekingcredit, but always pushed you to

(29:44):
be the best version of yourself.
I absolutely love that.
And then fast forward to over athousand plus combat missions
and counter-certainty operationsand all the Middle East and in
Africa.
How did you grow from beingmore of a junior leader to a
strategic level leader?
What were some of the lessonsthat you had to apply or learn?

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Well, first of all, joshua, as I'm sure you know,
there are many lessons.
There's one that stands out tome the mentor of mine, where I
worked on one of the Navy'snumbered fleet staffs.
This is analogous to being at acore level headquarters, and I

(30:30):
was a senior 04 at the time,getting ready to promote to 05.
And I had a wonderful,wonderful department head and
captain and he, he called me inone day.
He said you know what he said I, I see you running around, you
always have your notebook,you're always writing things

(30:51):
down, you're always, you'realways bringing together people,
you're getting things done,you're making things happen.
Somebody says to you hey, canyou do this?
You say yes, and then the nextday you get it done.
He said let me ask yousomething.
He said when are you going tostop doing things and when are
you going to start leadingpeople to accomplish big things?

(31:14):
And at the time it just hit melike, like a wall, and I talked
with him in his office for abouthalf an hour and I left his,
his office that day a different,a different leader, and it
wasn't something that I can putmy finger on and say well,

(31:36):
immediately I started doing allthese things differently, but it
was a strategic shift where Irealized that there are skills
and capabilities and there's alevel of excellence that you
achieve and at some point youhave to let go of some of those
things.
Even if they're wonderful,wonderful, tried and true,

(31:58):
effective ways to get the jobdone.
At some point you have to letgo of that in order to make room
for the new skills and the newabilities that you need to
perform at the next level andthen again at the next level.
And it's not about promotionsand command, it's about
leadership.
And it's about what promotionsand command?
It's about leadership.
And it's about what we talkedabout earlier.

(32:20):
If you would have asked me thenwhat my definition of
leadership was, I guarantee youit wouldn't have been the same
as the one I just gave you now,but for the experiences that
I've had.
But that was a strategic shiftand a strategic point for me.
And there was another one thatcame.
This is a shorter story.
There was another one that camewhen I was in task force

(32:43):
command so this is analogous tobeing in brigade command and I
was working in Europe, africaand for NATO and my boss came to
me and he said he said hey,planet, I want to tell you what
my command philosophy is.
And I said okay, yes, sir.

(33:04):
And he said, okay, so if Idon't tell you no, what do you
think that means?
I said I think that means yes.
He said you're absolutely right, you're good, keep moving.
And he and I had wonderfulconversations about command
philosophy, mission command,delegation, empowerment.

(33:25):
I learned so much from him insuch a short period of time.
But that was another one ofthose moments where I felt like
I understood commander's intent.
I felt like I knew thedirection that we were moving in
together.
But but just that shortstatement and that the
empowerment that and and thetrust and the inspiration that

(33:48):
went along with that, just uh,were absolutely indescribable.
Uh, beyond, beyond the storyI'm telling you today, it just
made me feel six inches tall.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
Team.
Let's take a quick break fromthis episode and I want to share
an additional leadershipresource with you, and that is
one-on-one leadership coachingthrough McMillian Leadership
Coaching.
So what do I do?
I help leaders discover theirpurpose, create a long-term
growth plan and take inspiredaction.
I believe everything rises andfalls on leadership and,

(34:20):
regardless of where you are inlife, one fact is true you are a
leader of others, you are aleader of your family and, most
importantly, you are a leader ofyourself.
To lead others well, thatstarts by leading yourself well.
If you want to learn more, youcan go to
McMillianLeadershipCoachingcomand schedule a free call today.

(34:42):
Back to the episode.
I think that those mentors wereperfectly placed in your career
to help you move to that nextlevel.
That's the beauty about themilitary and I know the Navy is
the same way as the Army aboutdeveloping junior leaders and

(35:08):
seeking out and having mentorsalong the way that we have that
ability to get there.
I don't see that as much nowthat I work in acquisitions for
the army that as much within,like the civilian ranks.
Like the civilian ranks, it'svery like check the block type
when it comes to mentors.
All right, here's yourquarterly assessments that most
of the time that the peers dothem or they do themselves.
But having that strategic shiftthat you said of being able to

(35:29):
identify, if I want to continueto move up and gain influence
and inspire people and make abigger impact, I have to learn
to delegate or mission command.
Of how we do it in the army,I'm sure it's probably similar
in the Navy.
We have to be able to make apivot, that we can be greater as
a team and even more so thanjust as an individual.

(35:51):
And that's the true, difficultand I would love to hear from
your standpoint.
You've led large organizationsSometimes you can't choose who's
on your team and I've takenover teams too that had
adversity, low morale, poorperformance, all of those things
.
How do or how did you turnaround that culture?

Speaker 3 (36:14):
Yeah, there are, and you're right.
It's absolutely right.
It's not like we were able tochoose who was on the team, and
especially when you're at ahigher echelon and you have
units with commanders andcommanding officers that have
their own requisite authorityand you're trying to galvanize

(36:36):
that group together.
I have found three things to be.
You know there are many more,but I have found three primary
ways that have worked for me.
Number one having a bold vision.
Status quo doesn't work.
It's okay to keep things theway they are now Doesn't work.

(36:58):
This is the way we've alwaysdone.
It Doesn't work.
However, when a bold vision ispresented here's where we want
to be in two years.
Here's how we're going tochange some things to make it
better I would always begin withlistening.

(37:21):
I have a methodology that I'veused that I would sit down with
that task force command that Itold you about.
Our staff was about 26 people.
I sat down with each person onthat staff for an hour and just
listened to what they had to say, and I would always end with if
you could change something,what would you change?
What would make this placebetter?
What would be the right visionfor us?

(37:42):
What should we do why?
Why should we do it?
And what I found was there wasso much more commonality and so
much more that united the teamthan there was that divided it.
And then I was able to takethose commonalities and so, okay
, I sat down with everyone.
Here's what I heard, here'swhat you said, and three

(38:05):
quarters of everyone thinks weought to do this.
So you know what we're going todo that, and in six months
we're going to do this, and in ayear we're going to do that.
And that was always helpful.

(38:31):
No-transcript, and what I meanby that is, for example, this is
not a joke.
Right, you can only have onemost important thing, but I used
to listen to leaders at a lotof levels talk about well, this
is the most important thing, andthis is the most important
thing, and these are my toppriorities.
You, you can only have one mostimportant thing, and so
prioritization is key, andletting people know that, that

(38:56):
you have their back and thatyou're willing to listen, and
that back, and that you'rewilling to listen and that not
only that you're willing tolisten, but that you understand
and that you're you're flexibleenough to make changes.
Nobody knows it all, so don'ttry.
So, number one, vision.
Number two, uh, priorities, andthen um, number three within
priorities understanding thateveryone has strengths.

(39:20):
So you mentioned earlier aboutmaybe the unit has low morale or
maybe there are some problemsor we don't get to choose the
people that we have.
I have found that if you listencarefully and you understand
people and you put others first,you find out where people's

(39:42):
skills are and you find outwhere their strengths are.
And it may not be in what is intheir occupational specialty or
what's in their profession orwhat is in their academic
background.
It may be in something else.
I had one unit that I wasworking at.
We had a reserve petty officerwho worked in logistics and

(40:04):
supply and he was literallystocking shelves and I found out
that he had two, not one, twodifferent PhDs in computer
science, different PhDs incomputer science.
He didn't work in the stockroom for very long because we
moved him into the informationtechnology infrastructure and he

(40:25):
helped us out tremendously,transformed that organization at
that time and place.
But we don't know what we don'tknow and sometimes people come
into an organization and theymay or may not be in a position
where they're being utilized ina way that inspires them and
propels the organization forward.

(40:46):
So, having a bold vision,listening to people and
prioritizing, and thenrecognizing that everyone has
strengths and why not?
Put them in a position whereit's gonna be conducive to their
success as an individual and tothe unit's success.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
One thing that I love in all of that, sir and I don't
hear that enough in otherleaders is listening and giving
other people the time and spaceto hear.
Most of every organization, atleast what I've seen the answers
are there within theorganization, within the team.
You don't have to reinvent thewheel, but you have to be able

(41:23):
to create that in a space ofwhere you can get that type of
illicit feedback and then actupon it.
So I created an acronym justlistening to you, listen,
observe and then act.
Loa Just go out there and dothat.
I love that advice.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
I like it.
Thank you so much.
You say about listening.
Listening is a skill, joshua,that I'm always working to get
better at.
In fact, all of the teammatesthat I've served with over the
years, they would say planningloves to talk.
I do love to talk.
I'm the individual who, ifthere's a two talk, I'm.
I'm the individual who, uh, youknow, if there's a two minute

(41:59):
conversation happening, I'm theguy who can add 30 minutes to
that two minute conversation.
But but I, before I had theprivilege of um beginning my my
first command tour, I went intothat tour thinking, boy,
communication is the mostimportant thing.

(42:20):
Communication is that.
Great teams, greatorganizations, they begin and
they end with greatcommunication.
Boy, communication is the mostimportant thing.
And at the end of that tour Istill believed that
communication was the mostimportant thing.
But I was resolute in my focusthat the listening component of

(42:42):
communication is vastly, vastlymore important and more
impactful.
I read a quote the other dayand I'm not sure who said this,
nor is my colleague who I factchecked it with, but it goes
something like this when we,when we speak, we're we're,
we're repeating something wealready know, but when we listen

(43:02):
, we have the chance to learnsomething new.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
I always go back to this concept of leading with
windows, where leaders aretransparent, and I love that
idea of that.
There's a screen as well withinin there.
So if I give you feedback, it'sa two-way street.
Communication and listening isa two-way street.
I should not always be creatingthe ideas.

(43:25):
I should be listening intentlyand filtering out those ideas
based on if they will work orfit the current operational
environment.
Because that is what the leaderdoes.
They steer the course and theydrive bold change and create
those inspirational visions, butthey also make sure that
they're staying on course andthey're moving towards their

(43:47):
true north.
And you spent such over 30years in the Navy.
I would love to hear that storyof what inspired you to get out
and then also create your ownleadership consulting group yeah
.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
So I I always knew that I wanted to start a
business, a company of some kind.
I just didn't know what shapeor form that would take and so,
even a few years before Iretired from the military, I
thought, okay, I want it, I wantto do this.
And then when I had theconversation with my daughters,

(44:22):
who now are both in graduateschool, one's working on
becoming an attorney, the otherone, I think, is going to become
an entrepreneur, is working onher MBA right now.
But when I had the conversationwith them and with my wife and
we talked about it, I said, youknow, I definitely want it to be
something that I love.
And what inspired me wasremember I mentioned to you

(44:44):
earlier that the military, theNavy, never felt like work to me
.
It just felt like where I wasmeant to be.
I wanted to have that samefeeling and I thought really
hard about it.
So from when I first decided,and when we first decided to
start the company, I didn't doanything with it for like a year
.
I just thought really hardabout what do I want to do, why

(45:05):
do I want to do it and what canI do that I love, that nobody
else is doing.
So I studied about 100 similarconsulting firms and I realized
that there are a lot ofcompanies out there that say
they can do what.
I realized that there are a lotof companies out there that say
they can do what I do.
There are a lot of companiesout there that say that they
could offer as a serviceoffering what we do, but there

(45:27):
weren't any that I could findafter I researched a hundred
that said they only do what ourthesis was and what our model
was.
And so that's what I learnedwhen I was in the Navy and what
I did was I fashioned with mydaughters.
We fashioned this proprietarymodel around the concept of
vision, planning and people.

(45:47):
So what's the vision for yourcompany?
Wonderful, great.
What's the plan of action tomake it happen?
And it can't be 150 page thingthat sits on the, on the on the
desk and gathers dust.
It's got to be something simplethat people can get behind.
And then people?
To what degree are your peopleinspired and motivated and are
they champions for this cause ifyou have a bold vision and you

(46:11):
have a clear and simple plan ofaction and your people are
inspired and motivated, justlike the CEO or the president or
the founder.
That is rare and that companyis going to be able to
accelerate and grow.
And so many organizations thatI had the privilege of serving
in in the military I got toimplement that kind of a model

(46:34):
and I didn't keep a log book oranything, but I that's what I
love to do, and so I kept thebest practices and I kept the
lessons learned and that's whywe did it.
Because, again, for me that'snot work, joshua, that's just
helping people, and if I canhelp one company accelerate
beyond what they think theirlimitations are, or if I can
help them not make a mistakethat will cause them or cost

(46:58):
them in the future problem, thenfor me that's all worth it and
that's why we do what we do andthat's why we founded it.
Because, again, for me that'snot work.
It's just where I'm supposed tobe.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
I love the concept that you're doing this because
you want to continue to serveand inspire other people, and
the whole reason that I startedthis podcast and everything that
I'm doing in terms ofleadership is because I believe
it's my time, talents andtreasures that I can give back.
But I also believe if I canimpact one leader and teach them
how to lead with a servantheart, be transformational, be

(47:32):
what I like to call a purposeful, accountable leader, a pal,
they can impact a thousand lives, a million lives maybe, and
maybe one of those lives couldbe a veteran or an active duty
service member that's on thebrink of suicide and at the deep
core root of what I'm doing.
What I'm doing is to try tobuild better leaders so I could
save a life.
That's all of this, and I knowthat's near and dear to your

(47:54):
heart too, because I did my duediligence.
You're the president of theboard of the Veterans Ranch, a
nonprofit that helps endingveteran suicide.
I would love to hear how didyou get involved in that?

Speaker 3 (48:10):
Yeah, it's an absolutely phenomenal
organization and the notion isthat, through equine therapy and
interaction with horsesbeautiful, wonderful animals
that those who are undergoingperiods of post-traumatic stress

(48:31):
, those who may be undergoingother emotional challenges of
any kind, the benefit that canbe derived from that is, again,
indescribable.
And it's an organization thatis 100% dedicated to eliminating

(48:51):
veteran suicides.
I don't know the exact number,but I know the number is
probably greater than theestimates that are prevalent
today and, quite frankly, one istoo many.
And I have known far too manyteammates that have returned, as
I'm sure you have too, thathave returned from whatever

(49:14):
operational environment thatthey were in, have returned from
whatever operationalenvironment that they were in
that have invisible scars andinvisible wounds that they may
not heal from.
And, like you mentioned earlier, if we can help one of them,
then it's worth it.
And someone said to me and I hadthis conversation with JR Smith

(49:38):
and his father, who are thefounder of Veterans Ranch and we
said you know, someone will say, well, we're trying to help
thousands of people.
That's insurmountable, it'simpossible.
How's that happen?
And the conversation that wehad was you know, maybe there
are a lot of people there.
Certainly are a lot of people.
There certainly are a lot ofpeople that we're trying to help

(49:59):
, but if you look at it that way, then it may seem extremely
challenging.
But what if you help one personand you can't prove a negative?
So what if you help one personand that person chooses to live,
and they choose life to themand their family, the aid and

(50:19):
the assistance that helped inthat choice means everything,
and we may never know the numberof people that that we help.
But again, if we can help one,as you, as as you mentioned
earlier, that's, that's whatit's all about.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
Yeah, they're, they're great, they're a great
group of people in a fantasticorganization yeah, I saw that
and I definitely wanted to bringit up from just a standpoint,
just saying thank you, usingyour platform and being able to
to help veterans.
That's something that's nearand dear to my heart and I wish
I had more time to volunteer forthings like that, but one day I
will.
I'm the season of life that I'min right now, but thank you for

(50:55):
that.
And then one of the lastquestions I wanted to bring up
was the book that you kind ofco-authored too.
So Unleashing Firepower,mastering of Business,
excellence, and this reallyinteresting concept of this book
is a bunch of different authorswho provide their wisdom, and I
would love to hear how did thatbook kind of come about?

Speaker 3 (51:28):
Yeah, so about four months ago I had the great
privilege of meeting theindividual who led the
development and the key authorand the key editor of that book,
coach Michael J Tolan, and hehas a wonderful podcast, just
like yours, a wonderful podcast,and it's called, instead of
impossible, it's, I'm possible,same letters, but it means

(51:48):
something different.
Of course, anything's possible,right, and he is a wonderful,
wonderful leader and a fantastichuman being and a great friend.
And we did a podcast like thisand it was fantastic.
And he approached me afterwardsand he said you know, what I'm
thinking about doing is bringingtogether many of the people who
I've had as guests on the showand asking each one to write a

(52:12):
chapter in the book and wouldyou consider contributing?
And I said absolutely.
And it kind of took off fromthere.
We then did a conference, avirtual conference just like
this, where different guestspeakers came in and it wasn't
really a book launch, but whatwe did was everybody who was a
co-author spoke for a fewminutes and then other keynote

(52:34):
speakers came in to talk aboutleadership and talk about the
successful management andorganizational development,
whatever.
They're different.
We had sales leaders, we hadattorneys, we had doctors, we
had other differentmanufacturing professionals etc.
And during that we spoke aboutthe book and let people know

(52:55):
about it and 48 hours later itwas a number one bestseller on
Amazon.
And so, yeah, just everythinghappens for a reason and it was
a fantastic experience.
And coach Michael J TolandUnleashing Firepower.
He's just a fantastic personand I'm very, very glad to know.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
I love that concept of just enlisting all the
different wisdom from multipledifferent leaders and putting it
in one book.
I bought that book actuallyyesterday, so it's coming in on
Amazon.
I'm excited to read that.
Last question before we get tothe final show segment and it'd
be kind of rapid fire questions,but this is one of the last
ones that I love is what is thebest advice that you would give

(53:38):
to someone who's just gettingready to start their leadership
journey?

Speaker 3 (53:42):
Don't think that it's about you.
Always put other people first,be patient.
Be patient with yourself andothers, because you're gonna
make mistakes and always havelarger and grander expectations
than you.
You think the phrase bite offmore than you can chew comes to

(54:05):
mind I.
I go back to, and I'mparaphrasing here, the phrase
that Vince Lombardi made famous,where we aim for perfection but
we find excellence along theway.
We go into it knowing thatthere is no such thing as
perfection in life.
We are, by our human nature,imperfect and we will never be

(54:25):
perfect.
So it's not about if you'regoing to make a mistake.
It's about when you make amistake and how you rebound from
that and how you are resilientfrom that.
But have bold goals, have bigdreams and go for it.
And I'll wrap that part up byanother one of my favorite

(54:46):
all-time characters, and that'sRocky Balboa.
I boxed when I was in college.
I wasn't very good, but Ienjoyed it and I enjoyed the
workout.
I lost many more fights than Iwon.
My teammates will tell you that, but I enjoyed it.
And maybe I had a hard head,maybe that's why I enjoyed it.
But Rocky Balboa was famous forsaying it's not about how hard

(55:11):
you can hit.
It's about how hard you can gethit and keep moving forward,
how much you can take and keepmoving forward.
Those who are resilient, nomatter what the challenges that
come their way, are going to bethose that help others succeed
and themselves will succeed inthe future.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
I usually do like a final show segment with four
rapid fire questions, but thatwas such a beautiful ending
point it really is.
Of this episode, the last oneI'll just throw out at you, sir,
is how can our listeners findyou and how can they add value
to your mission?

Speaker 3 (55:46):
Absolutely so.
It's wwwthealakaigroupcom.
T-h-e-a-l-a-k-a-i groupcom.
That's our website.
That's the best way to find us.
How you can add value is if youare in need of, or if you know

(56:12):
others who are in need of,either senior executive
leadership consulting for thesenior leaders in your
organization, fractional C-levelor senior leadership support,
or inspirational speaking.
You need a program for aleadership conference any of
those three areas.
Generally speaking, I can workwith any and I love to work with

(56:33):
any type of organization in anyindustry or sector, but I
specialize and we specialize inorganizations that are, let's
say, from one to 10 years inorganizational development and
you know, maybe, maybe justgetting going.
An early stage company, or acompany that's been successful
but wants to grow and scale anddoesn't really, doesn't really

(56:54):
know how, or a company that'sgoing through perhaps an M&A
event or they're they'rethinking about selling the
organization.
Those types of companies,generally speaking, need
additional senior executiveleadership support that we're
uniquely positioned to provide.
So if your organization fitsinto that category or you know

(57:15):
someone who does, you cancertainly add value to us by
letting us know and having themcontact us through our website.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
Joe, this has been.
I'm going to say, sir, I can'thelp it.
This has been a phenomenalepisode.
Thank you so much for sharingyour wisdom and being
intentional with me for thispast hour.
It's been an absolute pleasure,Joshua, thank you so much for
sharing your wisdom and beingintentional with me for this
past hour.
It's been an absolute pleasure.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
Joshua, thank you so much for what you're doing, and
thank you for your wonderfulefforts and for your service as
well.
Teammate.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
All right team.
That was a phenomenal episodewith Joe, a retired Fulberg
Colonel.
Captain equivalent within theNavy spent over 30 years of
service to this country and isstill serving to this country.
And, if you notice, I didn't domy final show segment that I
typically do the Killer Bees.
That's because Joe's lastanswer to my question, I think,

(58:08):
was just a beautiful ending tothat podcast episode.
I could have asked him so manymore questions because he has so
much experience, but I wantedto be respectful of his time.
So, after action review, topthree takeaways, let's go.
Number one leadership is aprocess and you need to
understand that.

(58:28):
That's a science and there's anart to it, like how he talked
about the data, emotion.
It's inherited, it's learnedall of these different things.
But it's important to definewhat leadership is not before
you define what leadership is.
And leadership is not title,it's not rank, it's not holding
an office.

(58:48):
Leadership is about, number one, being committed in office.
Leadership is about, number one, being committed, understanding
that you are going to serve andbe a part of an organization
that is greater than yourself.
And then, number two, you needto understand how you want to
serve those core values of howyou want to show up, and I
always go back to how BreneBrown talked about this in the

(59:10):
book Dare to Lead, that we havedemonstrated core values and
aspired core values.
What you need to do is figureout what your core values are
and then make sure that they aredemonstrated and not aspired.
The second key takeaway that Itook from this is leadership

(59:31):
intelligence, and I did a wholeepisode on leadership
intelligence from my standpoint,how I see it, and I see it in
three different levels sotactical, operational and
strategic.
As you grow on your leadershipjourney, those lines become
blurred, but you're progressing.
When you first start in aposition, wherever it is, we'll

(59:53):
just use a soldier.
You are directly responsiblefor the outcome of your success.
You have to be able to fireyour own weapon.
You have to be able to go onthat ruck march and cover 12
miles and 15 minute miles inunder three hours.
You have to be able to takeyour own combat army combat
physical fitness test.
You have to do things, but asyou gain rank, you doing things

(01:00:18):
is not as important as yougetting other people to do
things.
So we always talk aboutinfluence, and I think that
that's a dirty word when itcomes to leadership if it's used
in the wrong way.
But what you need to learn todo is to allow mission command
to blossom, and when you can dothat, you can go from good to

(01:00:38):
extraordinary, because you'retapping into people's times,
talents and treasures to helpbuild that organization, to help
build the culture within yourorganization.
And that's one thing that a lotof people fail at and what I've
seen people who do fail becometoxic leaders that are ran by
fear, ran by their ego, becausethey're afraid to give up power.

(01:01:01):
And listen to me when I saythis because it's 100% true.
At some point in your career,you are going to get to a level
of where you are not going to besuccessful unless you can learn
to delegate.
And you have to learn to livewith that risk, and I had a boss
tell me this one time.
You need to delegate to thelevel that you are uncomfortable
.
And if you do not feel that youcan delegate to your team

(01:01:24):
because you don't trust them,why are they on your team?
You have to find people thatyou wholeheartedly trust and, as
a leader, you have to be ableto give trust.
To get trust right, you need tounderstand that the final key
takeaway is building cultures.
In the military, it's extremelychallenging sometimes of when we

(01:01:47):
take over a team.
Every single team I've everbeen on, I have never had the
ability to handpick who I servewith.
That's.
That's challenging.
In the civilian organization,you can direct hire people for
the roles that you want to fill,but in the military, that's not
the case.
So you have to learn how toinspire people through your
actions, through yourdemonstrated values.

(01:02:08):
That's hard, so how do we dothat?
Number one and I love how Joetalked about this is it's and it
follows the rule of KISS, keepit simple Is build a bold vision
.
Make sure that you also enlistthe help of other people.
You are not the smartest personin the room.
We've talked about thiscountless times on this podcast.

(01:02:28):
What you need to understand isthat you need to build a bold
vision and in order to buildthat bold vision, you need to
elicit feedback from your team.
So create an environment and anopportunity for other people to
give you active feedback.
And number two is prioritize.
You need to learn how to createand rack and stack priorities,

(01:02:52):
and this is another hard truththat you're going to have to
understand as a leader is thatif everything is a priority,
then nothing is a priority.
You can only have one toppriority and you can have focus
areas, you can have other linesof efforts that you want to try
to advance on, but if you havemore than one priority, you're

(01:03:14):
really stretching yourself andyour organization and you're
setting it up for failure.
And the last one of building aneffective culture is finding
strengths, finding the talentwithin your organization and
aligning those talents to thecorrect position.
And I created another acronymYou're welcome LOA, which in the

(01:03:35):
military is also an acronym.
It's funny.
It's a limit of advance.
Whenever we hit our LOA, that'stypically the operational
environment has ended, we'vecleared through an objective.
We always scream the limit ofadvance, loa.
But what I mean by that is LOA.

(01:03:57):
But what I mean by that islisten, listen to your team,
observe, observe the actions ofothers, who has influence within
your culture and who does nothave title and power and still
has influence in your culture.
And the last one is act.
If you've listened to your team, you've observed your team, do
not hesitate to take inspiredaction.
Go, be that purposeful,accountable leader, just exactly
like how Joe is Team.
Do me a favor, if you like whatyou've heard so far.

(01:04:19):
Make sure you share this podcastwith someone.
It doesn't matter what platformyou listen.
You can find this podcastepisode on any major platform
that every major podcast is on.
Number two, make sure you checkout some of the additional
resources that I have.
You can go tomcmillianleadershipcoachingcom.
Go follow me on social media,but also make sure that you rate

(01:04:42):
this show regardless of whatyou listen on.
And number three, if you sochoose and it would be an
absolute honor to support ordonate to this show because it
helps me to continue to createpowerful content and eventually
I'm going to create a nonprofitorganization because I want to
make a bigger impact,specifically towards veteran
suicide, and I want to use myplatform to do that.

(01:05:04):
But as always, team, I am yourhost, josh McMillian, saying
every day is a gift.
Don't waste yours.
I'll see you next time.

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#103 Joseph Polanin - U.S. Navy retired and CEO

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#103 Joseph Polanin - U.S. Navy retired and CEO