Early in my military career I watched my peers stay late, work through lunch,
miss physical fitness, gain weight and be absent at parent events. I had a great
example in my father-in-law. He worked hard but had harmony in his life. He was
home at 5 PM for dinner most nights, was active in the church and created
memories with the kids. Thus, I vowed to be involved in my kid’s activities. I was
a leader in church youth groups, coached and assistant coached their basketball
and baseball teams, and was stage crew during drama plays. Of course, this
ebbed and flowed during peak work times and certain jobs (my four command
assignments and proposal season).

When I retired from the military, I wanted to find that harmony again. I attended
the Executive Transition Assistance Program (ETAP) twice. The second time I
remember spending hours in my office answering questions on what I wanted my
“next chapter” to look like. I approached the job from every angle – technical
work, supervisor, business development, hours, travel percentage, supervisors’
leadership style, company values and culture, and of course pay and benefits.
I started with being clear on what roles I did not want to perform. Sure, I could do
a lot of things. And while I did them well enough to win awards and get promoted,
I must admit I struggled emotionally to stay motivated. Jobs like facility design,
construction, and maintenance were not for me. My passion was “Cleaning
America’s Waters.” I wanted to protect the environment we were given to steward
and clean up past sins where we had failed to steward the resources responsibly.
When I worked with Booz Allen Hamilton, it felt right. I got to work on projects I
really cared about, with personable leaders, and in the right culture. I stayed with
them for almost 9 yrs.

As I interacted with my peer network, I heard story after story of how hard their
career transition had been. Some actively struggled with frustration and
depression or worse. I analyzed what they were doing and compared it to both
my journey and what I saw as a hiring manager, reviewing over 2000 resumes,
interviewing over 600 people, and hiring over 100 people into positions on my
teams. I observed what formats, styles, interviews and more communicated and
what didn’t.

I saw the frustration when those in career transition tried to write their resume
first. They got lost on what to include and what to exclude. So they copied and
pasted their military performance report bullets, reduced the font size and
minimized margins and spacing. The result was no one wanted to read the
resume and it didn’t resonate with readers.

To me it all comes down to answering, “what do I want to do next?” Not getting
stuck on “what can I do next?” as that is a large list. But what would bring them
energy, and eventually fulfillment in life. Thus, I started coaching military and non-
military on this process and it resonated. My clients were getting jobs they really
enjoyed with the work/life harmony they desired and were staying in those jobs 2-
3 times longer than their peers. Success. And when I checked in periodically,
they said they were very happy and appreciated my program focus. I knew I
needed to expand my reach to help others.

Thus, I am offering my teaching in various formats to allow military and non-
military to obtain the career that energizes them, so they can achieve the life that
fulfills them. Just like it did for me to this day.