The Quiet Professional Paradox
Finding the Balance between Self-Promotion and Ingrained Humility
In transitioning from Green Beret to senior executive in the civilian workforce, Decker is hardly alone. A growing number of blue-chip companies are going all-in on hiring as many of them as possible. The transitioning Green Beret community is the most extraordinary untapped labor force in the U.S. today,” said Dan Fachner, CEO of J&J Snack Foods, a $1 billion-plus publicly traded company in New Jersey. “These Green Berets have been so good and competent that I only wish I had discovered this sooner.
Having lived this problem set for the majority of my adult life, it's hard to avoid the obvious question -- 'WHY weren't we discovered sooner?’
What was the mechanism that has kept our capabilities and potential below the radar?
Is it internal to our community? Or something more inherent about our highly-selected personality types? Perhaps a mix of both?
I have some guesses, based on experiencing this challenge personally and later attempting to create solutions (or at minimum be part of the solutions).
Green Berets that are well-respected within our community possess a degree of humility that is absolutely required to be successful in foreign countries. A lack of humility is not only selected out during the training pipeline, but on deployments, it can be deadly. Inflated egos can (and do) lead to catastrophic consequences when you're outnumbered and dependent on others for your survival in dangerous environments. This doesn't even get into the problems that can be created within the teams.
The ‘Quiet Professionals vs Silent Professionals’ Paradox
This constant emphasis on humility and embodying the "Quiet Professional" is antithetical to self-promotion, to the point that success is always shared and redirected, while accountability for failures is soaked in like a sponge. The pull towards being a Silent Professional is powerful and easy to walk, because it is natural path.
It took me a number of years to even realize this paradox and I have personally struggled with finding the balance between 'self-promotion' and what I would have considered ‘self-aggrandizement’. It all felt blurry to the point where I would avoid it entirely... to the detriment of myself, my career and my family.
I am not alone in that battle, and the rampant problems in our community make that apparent. Fortunately, an entire ecosystem developing around short circuiting that problem by sending out ‘ambassadors’ of our community like Brian Decker who clear a path to executive level decision makers and hiring managers and shed light on the sort of capabilities we bring to any table set before us.
Guys like Brian Decker are blazing trails from our secluded enclave into sectors and industries all over the world. All that remains is for more Green Berets to realize what they bring to the table, what skills they still need to develop, and most importantly, how to effectively communicate both of those concepts in a language that the business world understands clearly.
We're doing that here at The Catalyst with all sorts of veterans and their spouses, and I'm happy to see the same model being proven out for the many subcultures in the Veteran Community.
