You will only be as good as you train yourself to be; we practice as we play; learn to plan and plan to learn.
Saturday morning’s keynote presentation at GRP Advisor Alliance’s annual summit in Phoenix was long on military platitudes and even longer on life lessons about leadership and doing what’s right in tough situations.
The speaker, Keni Thomas, a former soldier immortalized in the book and hit movie Black Hawk Down, gave his perspective on the topic, and shared what it took to triumph in almost impossible odds.
As part of an insertion force with orders to apprehend high-value targets in Somalia during Operation Hope in the early 1990s, Thomas and his team fought for survival during an intense gun battle over many hours after the downing of a number of helicopters tasked with their transportation.
In a fast-talking, southern drawl (which we didn’t think possible), Thomas recalled the events of that day, a story he’s clearly told many times, but with an intensity alternating with humor that resonated with the advisors in attendance.
He began by noting three critical points when dealing with any type of adversity:
- Planning
- Training
- Leadership
“Leadership is not about stripes or paygrades,” Thomas said. “It’s about the example we set for people we serve. It can come in any form. People are never told how special they are, and therefore never do something special, which is a shame. But it’s when people are depending on us that we live up to it.”
Noting the cliché that the chain is only as strong as its weakest link, he described fellow soldier David Floyd, a “Barney Fife-looking, skinny kid whose helmet was always askew and body armor was always clanging.”
“If someone is not performing to the standards you expect from them, you have the tendency to get frustrated and withdraw. That’s not leadership. Leadership is leading, but also going back and picking someone up. It just is.”
But it was Floyd that stepped into a leadership role at the most crucial time possible. Pausing in an intersection in the middle of Mogadishu, Floyd noticed something his team members did not—two militia members standing in a doorway with a grenade launcher. He made a split-second decision to fire over his captain/s head and disrupt their aim, thereby saving the lives of everyone in the group.
“I wish I had thought of something really cool to say, but I just looked at him and muttered ‘nice shot.’ Over the years, I’ve thought about that moment and it comes down to something simple—do what you know is right. Hold your sisters hand, be your brother’s keeper, see your grandmother across the street. Take care of each other. Floyd did this; he believed he was important. I did not, I thought he was a burden to me, but he believed. You can be humble, but you’re not ordinary. You have the tools, gifts, and resources to make a difference.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
