{"id":2123,"date":"2024-11-11T20:55:41","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T01:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/?p=2123"},"modified":"2024-11-13T14:23:12","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T19:23:12","slug":"what-can-we-learn-from-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/","title":{"rendered":"What Can We Learn from Veterans?"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>oday is Veterans Day here in the U.S., a day to reflect on the service and sacrifices of those who serve(d) in our military.\u00a0 Veterans who attend Darden\u2019s educational programs bring maturity and life experience that make them valuable participants in our classrooms and social life.\u00a0 So, what kinds of leadership lessons can the Darden Community learn from veterans?\u00a0 Here are three points (of many possible) that stand out for me.<\/p>\n

First is the importance of a focus on mission.<\/em>\u00a0 If you don\u2019t know where you are going (and why) any road will take you there.\u00a0 A mission needs to be expressed in terms sufficiently compelling to motivate commitment. “What is our purpose?”\u00a0 If you cannot answer that question in terms clear enough for a tired soldier (or a tired machinist on a shop floor) to grasp, you will fail as a leader.\u00a0 Darden is about being purpose-driven.\u00a0 Think about leaders who forgot their mission or purpose.\u00a0 Opportunistic executives have led their firms into spectacular corporate crack-ups.\u00a0 Religious zealots, full of warped piety, wrought violence that no loving god would condone.\u00a0 Proud Boys and Antifas wanted to perfect American democracy but turned to anti-democratic means to do so. \u00a0As Friedrich Nietzsche said, \u201cBeware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster.\u201d A compelling mission is the first defense against mission drift into disaster.<\/p>\n

Second is the importance of self-restraint<\/em>.\u00a0 Let’s not mince words: the military trains people to fight and to run toward <\/em>(not away from) trouble.\u00a0 Hollywood stereotypes of lethal conflict imply that fighting entails shooting first and asking questions later.\u00a0 Yet military training is significantly about restraint: dispensing lethal force only under orders; respecting the Geneva Convention rules about humanitarian treatment during war; and fidelity to the U.S. Constitution rather than to powerful personalities. \u00a0The U.S. military is not about training rogues who will violate the norms of self-restraint.\u00a0 [Sidebar comment: with 1.3 million people in the U.S. armed forces, we have seen a few rogues emerge.\u00a0 That we have seen very few in a force this large is testament to the effectiveness of training about restraint.\u00a0 Virtually no field is rogue-free: for instance, not business, not religion, and not academia (!).\u00a0 Humanity is flawed.\u00a0 And that’s why an ethic <\/em>of self-restraint is so important.]\u00a0 A self-disciplined leader has much more impact and generates more respect than one who responds on impulse or emotion.\u00a0 Veterans at Darden have modeled the self-restraint that we hope all Darden graduates will practice in their professional lives.<\/p>\n

Third is the importance of minding the details<\/em>.\u00a0 One of the recurrent criticisms of MBA students is that they are CEO wannabes who can loft around theories, concepts, and buzzwords, but who can\u2019t close a sale, fix a customer\u2019s problem, run a meeting, give criticism to a subordinate in a way that lifts that person, balance a checkbook, or hundreds of other tasks that business requires.\u00a0 The best leaders are grounded in the realities of life, in the details.\u00a0 The military trains you to get the details right, not least because the consequences of error can be life-threatening.\u00a0 In a memorable speech<\/a> in 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven said,<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can\u2019t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right<\/strong>.\u00a0 And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made \u2014 that you made \u2014 and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.\u00a0 If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.\u201d [boldface emphasis added]<\/p>\n

Darden\u2019s educational approach\u2014discussing case studies drawn from the world of business practice\u2014exercises skills in doing the little things right as a basis for doing big things right: getting the facts, scrubbing the data, analyzing them into coherent insights, making practical decisions, and shaping an action plan. \u00a0The veterans I have taught over many years get this and help other Darden students to do the same.<\/p>\n

We live in turbulent times.\u00a0 It is good to have members of the Darden Community who model a focus on mission, display self-restraint, and master the little things with the aim of doing the big things right.\u00a0 Thank some veterans for their example.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is Veterans Day here in the U.S., a day to reflect on the service and sacrifices of those who serve(d) in our military.\u00a0 Veterans who attend Darden\u2019s educational programs…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59636,60830,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership-2","category-organizational-behavior","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Can We Learn from Veterans? - Robert F. Bruner<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"November 11, 2024 - Today is Veterans Day here in the U.S., a day to reflect on the service and sacrifices of those who serve(d) in our military.\u00a0 Veterans who attend Darden\u2019s educational programs…\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robert F. Bruner - What Can We Learn from Veterans?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"November 11, 2024 - Today is Veterans Day here in the U.S., a day to reflect on the service and sacrifices of those who serve(d) in our military.\u00a0 Veterans who attend Darden\u2019s educational programs…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Robert F. Bruner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-12T01:55:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-13T19:23:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/files\/2021\/09\/Robert-Bruner-Blog-Header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bob Bruner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bob Bruner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bob Bruner\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cf87f53e8194b3f8eb27b00eb3b83090\"},\"headline\":\"What Can We Learn from Veterans?\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-12T01:55:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-13T19:23:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":787,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Leadership\",\"Organizational Behavior\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\\\/\",\"name\":\"What Can We Learn from Veterans? - Robert F. Bruner\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-12T01:55:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-13T19:23:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"November 11, 2024 - Today is Veterans Day here in the U.S., a day to reflect on the service and sacrifices of those who serve(d) in our military.\u00a0 Veterans who attend Darden\u2019s educational programs…\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Can We Learn from Veterans?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Robert F. Bruner\",\"description\":\"Darden School of Business\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UVA Darden School of Business Bob Bruner Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/files\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/darden_mngrm_shrt_h_rgb_200x500-01.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/files\\\/2022\\\/01\\\/darden_mngrm_shrt_h_rgb_200x500-01.png\",\"width\":1042,\"height\":417,\"caption\":\"UVA Darden School of Business Bob Bruner Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cf87f53e8194b3f8eb27b00eb3b83090\",\"name\":\"Bob Bruner\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\\\/brunerblog\\\/author\\\/bob-bruner\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Can We Learn from Veterans? - Robert F. Bruner","description":"November 11, 2024 - Today is Veterans Day here in the U.S., a day to reflect on the service and sacrifices of those who serve(d) in our military.\u00a0 Veterans who attend Darden\u2019s educational programs…","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Robert F. Bruner - What Can We Learn from Veterans?","og_description":"November 11, 2024 - Today is Veterans Day here in the U.S., a day to reflect on the service and sacrifices of those who serve(d) in our military.\u00a0 Veterans who attend Darden\u2019s educational programs…","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/","og_site_name":"Robert F. Bruner","article_published_time":"2024-11-12T01:55:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-11-13T19:23:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/files\/2021\/09\/Robert-Bruner-Blog-Header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bob Bruner","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bob Bruner","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/"},"author":{"name":"Bob Bruner","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#\/schema\/person\/cf87f53e8194b3f8eb27b00eb3b83090"},"headline":"What Can We Learn from Veterans?","datePublished":"2024-11-12T01:55:41+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-13T19:23:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/"},"wordCount":787,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Leadership","Organizational Behavior"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/","name":"What Can We Learn from Veterans? - Robert F. Bruner","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-11-12T01:55:41+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-13T19:23:12+00:00","description":"November 11, 2024 - Today is Veterans Day here in the U.S., a day to reflect on the service and sacrifices of those who serve(d) in our military.\u00a0 Veterans who attend Darden\u2019s educational programs…","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2024\/11\/what-can-we-learn-from-veterans\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Can We Learn from Veterans?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/","name":"Robert F. Bruner","description":"Darden School of Business","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#organization","name":"UVA Darden School of Business Bob Bruner Blog","url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/files\/2022\/01\/darden_mngrm_shrt_h_rgb_200x500-01.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/files\/2022\/01\/darden_mngrm_shrt_h_rgb_200x500-01.png","width":1042,"height":417,"caption":"UVA Darden School of Business Bob Bruner Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/#\/schema\/person\/cf87f53e8194b3f8eb27b00eb3b83090","name":"Bob Bruner","url":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/author\/bob-bruner\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}