Читать книгу 8 Lessons in Military Leadership for Entrepreneurs - Robert T. Kiyosaki - Страница 14
ОглавлениеIt breaks my heart to read about veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan, unable to find jobs.
It breaks my heart to see young veterans, wounded warriors, facing the rest of their lives without legs, arms, or handicapped in other ways.
It breaks my heart to give a few dollars to a fellow Vietnam era veteran, standing on a corner, head bowed, asking for food or money.
And it breaks my heart that many military families are on Food Stamps and other government support because they do not earn a living wage.
The Need for Entrepreneurs
This book is written for anyone who is an entrepreneur, or dreams of becoming an entrepreneur one day.
This book is also written for men and women who are serving—or who have served—in the armed services because they have already gone through a unique and rigorous educational process, a process that’s essential for all entrepreneurs.
As you may know, nine out of 10 new businesses fail within the first five years. Of the one in 10 that survives those first five years, nine out of 10 of those ‘survivors’ fail in the second five years.
The primary reason why most new entrepreneurs fail is simply because they lack the core training, the core strengths they need to withstand the rigors of being an entrepreneur. Some people call it guts. Others call it perseverance. In the military, it might be put this way: “Stand up, get off your butt, stop feeling sorry for yourself, stop pouting, stop sucking your thumb, and get going again. Your mama is ashamed of you—because your mama is tougher than you are.” I think you get the point here.
Another important reason why most entrepreneurs fail is because our educational system trains people to be employees, not entrepreneurs. The world of an employee is very different from the world of an entrepreneur. One big difference is the concept of paychecks. If an employee does not receive his or her “paycheck” they quit and go looking for a new job”. Most entrepreneurs must be tough enough to operate, sometimes for years, without a “paycheck.”
In the world of ‘small business,’ sometimes called “mom-and-pop businesses,” the entrepreneurs often earn less per hour than their employees, when the total number of work hours is taken into consideration. In most small businesses, the entrepreneur’s most important work is done when the business is closed for the day. It is called paperwork… and addresses the behind-the-scenes jobs that keep a business running—like compliance requirements, invoicing and collection, accounting, and taxes.
When employees go on vacation, they can leave their work behind. When entrepreneurs go on vacation, the business goes with them.
If the business struggles or comes crashing down, an employee can walk away and look for a new job. The entrepreneur’s work, at that point, is just beginning. When a business collapses, it’s like digging yourself out of the rubble of a building brought down by an air strike. The damage, carnage, liabilities, and litigation can bury an entrepreneur for years. Many never recover, suffering from a business version of PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Many ‘experts’ say, “Entrepreneurs fail because they are under capitalized.” This means they do not have enough money—or access to money—to keep the business afloat. This fear of being “under capitalized,” this lack of money as well as the absence of a steady paycheck, is what keeps most people clinging to job security as an employee.
I take a different position. In my opinion, it’s not a lack of capital, it’s a lack of entrepreneurial education, real-world business experience, and guts. If you talk with successful entrepreneurs, they will tell you they are always “under capitalized.” They never have enough money to meet all the financial obligations required as an entrepreneur, let alone the capital needed to grow their business. Yet, somehow, true entrepreneurs keep going. Then one day, for some entrepreneurs, the money starts pouring in. It may take years. And I always find it amusing when I hear people say, “Oh, she was lucky.” Or “They’re an overnight success.” Few know or appreciate the real story behind entrepreneurial successes.
This is why I believe men and women in the military have the unique core strengths and training to be entrepreneurs. In many cases, you have been trained to “do the impossible.” Most college graduates are trained only to “find a job.”
The character differences between those who have been trained to do the impossible—those willing to pay the price that’s often called the ultimate sacrifice—are in sharp contrast to a person who has been trained to “look for a high-paying job with good benefits.”
My military career began at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point in New York, considered to be one of the top schools for leadership in the world. In 1965, I received Congressional nominations to both the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy from U.S. Senator and Medal of Honor recipient, Daniel K. Inouye.
I accepted an appointment to Kings Point. The school’s mission is to train leaders for the Maritime Industry and graduates can be found working in ports and harbor operations all over the world, as captains of passenger liners, cargo ships, container ships, oil tankers, and ocean-going barges. A few graduates, like myself, opted to serve in the U.S. Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard.
A graduate of Kings Point has the same pedigree in the Maritime and Shipping Industry as a West Pointer has in the U.S. Army. When I graduated in 1969, Kings Pointers were among the highest paid graduates in the world. That’s because, although a military academy, the Academy was under the direction of the Department of Commerce, not the Department of Defense.
After graduating from Kings Point, I was accepted to U.S. Navy Flight School in Pensacola, Florida and flew for the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam. I am quite certain that if not for my military training, I wouldn’t have made it as an entrepreneur.
What Is Cheating?
In traditional schools we’re trained to take tests on our own. If you cooperate at test time, it is called cheating.
At the Academy, in flight school, and in the Marine Corps, we are trained to co-operate, to take many of our tests as a team. Even a Marine sniper has a spotter, someone to “call the shots.”
One thing I loved about being a helicopter gunship pilot was that my “mechanic,” aka “crew chief,” flew with me. We flew as a five-man team, two pilots, two gunners, and one crew chief. We all depended upon each other.
I do not find that level of cooperation in the “corporate types” that I run into. The leadership style of most corporate executives can be summarized like this:
“I’m looking out for #1.”
Or “Do as I tell you or I’ll fire you.”
Simply stated, military leaders lead via mission and corporate leaders lead via money.
When I meet entrepreneurs without military training, most lead by placing importance on “paychecks” and “stock options”—rather than on “mission.” Their team will do what the leader wants done, as long as the paychecks keep coming.
If you ask anyone who has been in combat, they will tell you that as a situation becomes more hazardous, the teamwork gets stronger.
In most businesses, the opposite is true: Team work disintegrates when conditions become hazardous. When the going gets tough, civilians fix bayonets and often stab each other in the back.
What makes this book different from other books written for aspiring entrepreneurs is that it focuses on core strengths and leadership skills… because all entrepreneurs must be leaders.
The New York Times posted this quote by Pvt. Michael Armendariz-Clark, USMC on September 20, 2001, “We signed up knowing the risk. Those innocent people in New York didn’t go to work thinking there was any kind of risk.”
That quote can be applied to all entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to become an entrepreneur. It’s obvious that there are risks entrepreneurs must take… and they’re the same risks that employees avoid.
Different Leadership
While flying over a battlefield in Vietnam, I noticed something that startled me:
We were getting our butts kicked.
The South Vietnamese, our troops, were fleeing—not fighting. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops were, literally, shooting them in the back.
Back on our aircraft carrier, during the debrief, I asked my commanding officer, “Why do their Vietnamese fight harder than our Vietnamese?” As you might guess, my question was not answered.
In the world of business, the same is often true. Many business leaders believe that leadership is simply telling people what to do, paying their employees more, or threatening to pay them less or fire them.
Other leaders, like Steve Jobs, have the power to create Apple fanatics, customers who swear undying loyalty and devotion to a brand to buying its products. Think of it this way: Apple does not have to sell its products. Loyal customers buy their products.
If you want to be a great entrepreneurial leader, it is important to know the differences between selling and buying, inspiration and motivation.
In my first squadron in Vietnam, my first CO inspired us to both fly and fight. Most of the young pilots loved him. We would die for him.
In another squadron, most of the same pilots despised the new CO. We did not trust him, nor did we believe a word he said. He used manipulation and intimidation to get us to do what he wanted done. I would not follow this leader to the latrine.
In the 1995 movie Braveheart, Mel Gibson plays William Wallace, a revolutionary in the Scottish people’s fight for independence and there is a scene where Robert the Bruce, the future King of the Scots (played by Angus MacFayden) asks his father a question similar to the question I asked my commanding officer. Robert the Bruce wanted to know why William Wallace and his troops fought harder than his troops. He wanted to know why William Wallace’s troops fought for free, had no food, no money, no shelter, and yet fought so fiercely. Robert the Bruce also said he had to force his troops to fight, threaten to take their land away, even to harm their wives and children, to get them to fight for him.
Robert the Bruce wanted to know exactly what I wanted to know when I asked, “Why do their Vietnamese fight harder than our Vietnamese?” I had thoughts of my own on why that might be the case…
There are those who lead via intimidation and leaders who lead by inspiration. Your job is to decide the type of leader you want to be.
Corporate Leadership vs. Military Leadership
Entering the corporate world in 1974 was quite a shock. I had been in a military environment for nine years, four at the Academy and five in the Marine Corps. It took me about a year to comprehend the difference between the two environments—corporate and military—and the differences in leadership styles.
Finally I began to recognize and understand the differences. In the military, leadership is internal. In the corporate world, leadership is external.
In the military, a culture of leadership begins when a new recruit enters boot camp, or a future officer enters officer candidate school or a service academy. The military culture is infused into each person, morning and night, whether an enlisted man or woman or an officer candidate. If the new recruit does not fit into the culture, they are washed out.
When the military promotes its new leaders, the new leaders come from within, not from the outside. They come from the ranks. In other words, the Marine Corps would never have a Commandant who was not a Marine.
In the civilian world, leadership often comes from the outside. A new employee is given a brief interview, shown to their desk, and expected to do the job.
When a new CEO is hired in the corporate world, they are often hired from the outside. Rarely have they been infused with the culture of the organization they are expected to lead. In many cases, the only thing the leaders and the employees have in common is that they all work for the same company.
Today, as an entrepreneur, running my own businesses, I focus on internal leadership. For example, because The Rich Dad Company is an education company, we have a company culture that respects education and learning. Every week, the entire company reads, studies, and discusses articles or subjects that keeps us in touch, up to date, and aware of financial events affecting our customers, our families, and our world.
Some of the subjects we study are real estate versus stocks, Keynesian economics, the gold standard versus paper money, taxes, and financial panics. Bottom line: The Rich Dad Company practices what it preaches and what it teaches to those we serve.
You have no idea how difficult this simple cultural event—making and taking time for everyone in The Rich Dad Company to be students—can be. We are, after all, an education company… and that is the culture that must be instilled and supported. A few previous leaders of our company (brought in, ironically, from the outside) would hold meetings, only to tell people what to do. There was no education, no learning, and very little two-way communication. It was leadership from the outside, not from the inside. Those leaders were asked to change, or leave.
Another example of the Rich Dad culture is that every employee is encouraged to be an entrepreneur and to start their own business. There is no fear of being fired for being a part-time entrepreneur. All employees are encouraged to ask our CEO and President, as well as Kim and me, for advice about building and growing their businesses. We have employees who are building real estate investment businesses, movie and documentary film businesses, and on-line marketing businesses. We put a high priority on practicing what we preach within our own company.
All of you who have served in the military know that the military branches are educational organizations. Everyone, from enlisted men and women to senior officers, are constantly learning. The military is a culture of education—from day one.
This is not true in the civilian business world. I remember being disgusted when I went to corporate “educational” events where people came to party or play golf, rather than learn.
To become a successful entrepreneur, I strongly suggest you take the military’s culture of constant education and constant training to heart and instill that culture in your business. It may take awhile, since most civilians without military experience may have gone to school, but most have not worked in a culture of constant education and training.
If you can instill this culture inside your company, your company will be lead from the inside, by the people who actually make the business run, not executives who lead from the outside.
This book is written as a guide to prepare you to handle those risks. And there’s good news for those who have served in the military: You already have the education and training, the core strengths, the spiritual willpower, and the sense of mission required to endure the rigors of being an entrepreneur. If you want guarantees of success, a steady paycheck, and benefits, it’s probably best you keep your day job.
There is another reason I have written this book. I believe that the United States and the world face a massive problem, the problem of unemployment and underemployment.
Today, with youth unemployment high, we have a global “lost generation,” a generation of young people between the ages of 18 and 35 who are missing a critical window of real life experience, either unemployed or stuck in a job that does not challenge them. Odds are that many in this “lost generation” will struggle for the rest of their life.
Will History Repeat Itself?
Pictured on the following page is a chart from a very dark time in world history. It is a chart that illustrates the relationship between the rise in unemployment in Germany and the rise of the Nazi Party.
Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and approximately 80 million people lost their lives. World War II, fought between 1939 and 1945, was an Industrial-Age War, fought by rich nations with industrial power.
Today’s, terrorism is an Information-Age War, led by angry (and often poor) people, with access to low-cost, high-performance technology. Today a terrorist with charismatic leadership skills can create their own military force, using Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Today, cell phones can be more powerful than nuclear weapons. Today’s Information-Age terrorism can spread rapidly and grow in ways that are virtually invisible.
Add these facts to this mix of data: In 1970, America had the highest rate of high school graduation in the world. Today, it has the lowest, ranking at 23 of 28 countries surveyed.
While a few high school dropouts do go on to lead great lives, a high proportion make up the long-term unemployed, the homeless, the welfare recipients and the incarcerated.
This is why I founded The Rich Dad Company and became an entrepreneur in financial education. It is tough becoming an entrepreneur without financial education, which is why I became an entrepreneur in education, outside the school system.
America Today
Now look at a chart on long-term unemployment in America today.
Today, we do not have an Adolf Hitler. Today we have the rise of terrorism, and anger fueled by rising food prices and rising youth unemployment.
The reason entrepreneurs are important is because only real entrepreneurs create real jobs and real prosperity.
Who’s Killing Our Jobs?
While our veterans were serving our country our corporate leaders were busy “outsourcing jobs,” sending jobs overseas.
Since pictures are worth thousands of words, I will let the following ‘pictures’ tell you the story of the freedom we defended.
Here’s a sobering headline: Top U.S. Corporations Outsource More Than 2.4 Million Jobs Over Last Decade.
This graph tells the story:
As you can see from the chart above, the economic recession has had little impact on corporate America’s patriotism. Corporate America is hiring, but it’s not hiring American workers.
In 2009, representatives of many of the nation’s most powerful corporations attended the 2009 Strategic Outsourcing Conference to talk about how to send American jobs overseas. Conference organizers polled the more than 70 senior executives who attended the conference about the behavior of their companies in response to the recession. The majority said their companies increased outsourcing in response to the downturn, with only 9 percent saying they terminated some outsourcing agreements.
Here’s a different chart that tells the same story:
According to the research, the primary reason for outsourcing was to “reduce operating costs.” According to the research, only a relatively small percent of respondents (just over 10 percent) said their reason for outsourcing was for “access to world-class capabilities.” This means companies outsourced to save money, not to make better products.
Loss of Tax Revenue
The chart below illustrates the reason state governments are in the red. When jobs leave a state, tax revenues decrease.
Unfortunately, for some of these companies, sending American jobs overseas isn’t enough. They also want to bring the profits back into the United States with as little tax liability as possible. Cisco Systems, which had 26 percent of its workforce abroad at the start of the decade but 46 percent of its workforce abroad by the end, is currently involved in a lobbying campaign titled “Win America” calling for a tax repatriation holiday that would let big corporations “bring money they have stashed overseas back to the United States at a dramatically lower tax rate.”
Asking for Your Service Again
As you can tell by these charts and graphs, your services are needed—this time at home. America is in trouble. America needs jobs. And the world needs entrepreneurs. Governments cannot create real jobs. America needs entrepreneurs because only real entrepreneurs can create real and sustainable jobs and real, lasting prosperity.
Simply put, when our government creates jobs our taxes increase. When taxes increase, life becomes more expensive, people suffer, our economy suffers, and our country grows weaker. When entrepreneurs create jobs, those jobs generate taxes, our debt goes down, we export, and our country grows stronger.
In this book I am asking our service men and women to serve once again, this time at home. And this time as entrepreneurs. I believe that the men and women of our armed services have the unique skills and training to be great entrepreneurs.
How the Military Trains Great Entrepreneurs
Education is a big word. Education is more than the 3 Rs, reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic.
The problem with traditional education is that schools focus on teaching the brain. We are human beings, not human brains.
Pictured below is a diagram of education for the whole human being, a diagram of four different intelligences.
As we all know, all human beings are different. In one family alone, you can have four children—from the same parents—who are amazingly different. Even twins can be very different beings.
For true education to work, education must inspire all four intelligences. True learning requires that all four intelligences are engaged. For example, learning to play golf requires all four intelligences. Anyone who has played golf knows that the game of golf requires physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual intelligence.
The problem with traditional education is that our schools focus primarily on mental intelligence, with little attention paid to the other intelligences.
Physical Intelligence
The reason physical intelligence is at the top of this diagram is because all learning is physical. For example, for a child learning to walk, the learning process relies on physical intelligence, more than mental intelligence. In school, learning to read, write, and do arithmetic is primarily a physical process. Like learning to walk, the student needs to do something.
The Cone of Learning
In 1969, educational psychologist Edgar Dale released The Cone of Learning pictured on the next page. Please take some time to familiarize yourself with the points Dr. Dale is making.
As you can see—at the bottom of the Cone of Learning—reading and writing (the staples of most schools) are the least effective ways for a student to retain what they’re taught.
At the top of the Cone, simulations and doing the real thing are the most effective way to learn. In other words, you learn more by doing. Making the point another way: It is almost impossible to learn to walk or play golf by simply reading a book or listening to a lecture.
Making matters worse, our schools punish students for making mistakes. That would be like punishing a baby for falling down or a golfer for making a bad shot. If a student does not make mistakes, the learning is retarded.
Physical intelligence is located in the body, and it’s also called muscle memory. For example, a person learning to play golf, will repeat, repeat, and repeat different shots, making mistake after mistake, until the muscles remember the proper physical process.
The second highest level of learning, according to the Cone of Learning, is called simulation. In sports it is called practice, in the arts it is called rehearsal, and in science it is called experiments.
For those of you who have been in the military, you understand the importance of simulation. It’s how the military teaches and trains. For example, while in flight school at Pensacola, student pilots spent nearly as much time practicing crashing as they did flying. After receiving my wings, I was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, for advanced guns and rockets training in preparation for Vietnam. Again, on every training flight, we practiced crashing, equipment failure, and other emergencies. I am alive today because I learned how to fly a helicopter with—or without—an engine. I could never have learned to fly by listening to lectures, reading a book, and being afraid of crashing. I needed the hours I spent in the simulator.
Great athletes are gifted with physical intelligence. Yet even gifted athletes must “practice, practice, practice,” making mistake after mistake, until their physical genius emerges.
I like to look at the word genius as the geni-in-us or the magician in us. When a professional athlete’s genius appears, creating magic on the playing field, success and (very often) big money pours into his or her life.
In traditional education, when a child makes mistakes the child is punished. Hence many students leave school—having memorized all the “right” answers and living in terror of making mistakes—but unable to really do much. They learned to avoid making mistakes rather than practicing ‘mistakes’ and learning from them.
In traditional education, a student who makes too many mistakes is labeled slow or stupid—yet in real life—a person who makes the most mistakes and learns from their mistakes is often called successful.
The reason I believe many military personnel have the potential to become great entrepreneurs is because, in the military—regardless of branch of service—each person is tested to the breaking point, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. Anyone who has gone through ‘recruit training’ knows the military first breaks you down then builds you up in all four intelligences, rebuilding a stronger human being.
Many civilians go through life, avoiding being ‘broken down’ which I believe is why many civilians may be smart intellectually, academic “A” students or technical whiz kids, but weak in one or more of the other intelligences.
When a recruit washes out, most do not just fail mentally. They fail in several, if not all four, intelligences. As John F. Kennedy, President and World War II war hero, said:
“A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living. Today’s military rejects include tomorrow’s hard-core unemployed.”
Unemployment Statistics
After the real estate and stock market crash of 2007, unemployment (including unemployment among our youth) hit all-time highs.
The following chart shows U.S. unemployment rates. You will notice that there are differences between the official government statistics and the Shadowstats.
What Will You Choose to Believe?
There are many reasons why unemployment is high. One reason is that jobs are moving overseas to lower-wage countries. Another reason is that technology is replacing workers, much like the car replaced the horse. Today, we must require our workers to be retrained, reeducated, and transitioned into the world of technology. Simply put, the choices today are: High-tech jobs, low-wage jobs, or long-term unemployment. It’s not surprising that we continue to see the middle class shrink.
The primary reasons I am not an “unemployed baby boomer” today is because, when I left the Marine Corps in 1974, I chose to learn to become an entrepreneur, rather than go back to school, get my MBA, and become an employee… a corporate executive. If I had become an employee, as my poor dad encouraged me to be, I am certain I would be one of those executives who would have lost their job to “outsourcing” or to a younger, tech-savvy worker who was willing to work for less.
The good news was that I had four years of education at a military academy and five years as a pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps. That means I had a well-rounded education—the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual training required to become an entrepreneur. I still had a lot to learn, and I continue to study and learn today. But my military education and training prepared me for the tests required to become an entrepreneur.
The following are my ideas on how military education and training prepared me for life as an entrepreneur.
Mental Intelligence
Mental intelligence takes place in the brain. It is still a physical learning process. For example, learning to read is a physical process. When learning to speak a new language, the person repeats, repeats, and repeats until the brain remembers the words.
People who are gifted with mental intelligence often become teachers, scholars, and attorneys.
Mental intelligence, in my opinion, is the least important of the four intelligences for success as an entrepreneur. A true entrepreneur, like a true leader, does not have to be smartest person on the team. That means a true entrepreneur must be a leader, smart enough to lead smarter and better-educated people into the battlefield of business.
True leadership does require the next intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is our ability to control our emotions.
We have all lost our tempers. When we lose our tempers, we demonstrate low emotional intelligence. An emotionally intelligent person will experience anger, but not so much anger that it may cause them to do or say something stupid. They remain in control.
A person who cannot control their temper, or complains all the time, or is chronically depressed, is a person who demonstrates low emotional intelligence.
Examples of high emotional intelligence are when someone walks away rather than throws a punch, listens rather than argues, sees another person’s point of view rather than defending their own, and does a great job without expecting praise.
Delayed gratification is also another indication of emotional intelligence. For example, a person who buys something they cannot afford—just because they want it now—is a person who cannot delay gratification. This is a sign of low emotional intelligence.
Military training does an outstanding job developing a person’s emotional intelligence. How else can a person stay cool under fire, advance in the face of death, and persevere when others quit?
Most people remain employees rather than develop into entrepreneurs because they cannot control the emotion known as fear. Anyone who has served in the military knows that military training and service does not eliminate fear. The military trains you to think and operate in spite of your fear. It is the same ability required of entrepreneurs as they take on the challenges of launching and growing a business.
Emotional intelligence is located in the stomach. This is why people will say “I have a bad feeling in my gut” about something or someone. And this may be why ulcers, caused by fear and worry, are found in the stomach or intestines.
In my opinion, people with low emotional intelligence should not become entrepreneurs. Saying this in a more positive way: Becoming a successful entrepreneur requires the on-going development of your emotional intelligence.
The true leaders, in any field, have high emotional IQs.
Spiritual Intelligence
Spiritual intelligence is located in the heart. That is why the word courage comes from the French word, le coeur, which means the heart.
Greatness comes from the heart. So does death, which is why people die of heart attacks or from the devastation of a broken heart.
Again, the military does an outstanding job developing the spiritual intelligence of new recruits. People with high spiritual intelligence operate with a sense of mission, putting the mission and the team ahead of their own life.
As General Douglas McArthur said:
“It is fatal to enter a war without the will to win it.”
Training Entrepreneurs
To develop as an entrepreneur requires:
1. Spiritual Intelligence
Spiritual intelligence is the most important of intelligences for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs require a strong sense of mission, a commitment to a higher purpose in life, a reason for going into business, apart from simply a desire to “make money.”
My first day at the Academy, my first job was to memorize the mission of the Academy. We were taught “mission is spiritual” and that spiritual power, spiritual intelligence, is what would get us through four years of hell.
As General George Patton once said:
“Live for something… rather than die for nothing.”
2. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the second most important intelligence for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs must know how to remain cool under pressure, to think rather than react, and to know when to wait and when to strike.
Another quote from General Douglas McArthur that seems appropriate:
“Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.”
3. Physical Intelligence
Physical intelligence is the third most important intelligence for entrepreneurs. A person must have “know how.” In the world of entrepreneurship, you achieve success and all that comes with it… only if you know what you’re doing, and do what you promise to do.
As Winston Churchill said:
“We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us.”
4. Mental Intelligence
Mental intelligence is important, but it is the least important intelligence in the world of entrepreneurs.
Robert A. Heinlein, a civilian military contractor, summed it up this way:
“Civilians are like beans; you buy ‘em as needed for any job which merely requires skill and savvy. But you can’t buy fighting spirit.”
This may be the basis for why some of the greatest and richest entrepreneurs never finished school. Being a great entrepreneur or serving your country requires all four intelligences, especially spiritual intelligence, the power to keep going when everything else is gone.
A classmate of mine from elementary school, Richie Richardson, was an Army LRRP, Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol, and spent as much time in Laos as in Vietnam. He once said to me: “I am alive today because dead men kept fighting.”
Being an entrepreneur requires the same spirit.
A few entrepreneurs with strong spirits, but who never finished school are:
Steve Jobs: Apple Computers
Bill Gates: Microsoft
Henry Ford: Ford Motor Company
Walt Disney: Disney Productions, Disneyland, Disney World
Oprah Winfrey: Oprah Winfrey Network
Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook
Richard Branson: Virgin Group
Michael Dell: Dell Computers
Thomas Edison: General Electric
A good college education is essential for people who want to be doctors, lawyers, or executives, but it is not essential for people who want to be entrepreneurs.
You may be familiar with this saying: “Education is the door to the middle class.”
My rich dad said, “Entrepreneurship is the elevator for the rich.”
Mission, Courage, Sacrifice
In August of 1972, I was flying off LPH-3, the helicopter carrier USS Okinawa off the coast of Vietnam. My door gunner, a young corporal, had just received word that his wife had given birth to their first child, a son.
As the new father finished inspecting his M-60 door gun, I tapped him on the shoulder. I wanted to be sure he was OK with flying that day. I asked him, “Is it OK with you if your son grows up without a father?”
Understanding my concern, the young Marine smiled and said; “Yes, sir. It’s OK with me. I’m ready to go.” He then smiled again, assuring me he really was “ready to go”—ready to die if necessary. Then he said: “Lieutenant, you do your job and I’ll do mine.”
Five months later, the young father returned home to meet his son for the first time. He had done his job and I had done mine.
As General George Patton said:
“The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.”
Two Years Later…
In June of 1974, my contract with the Marine Corps was fulfilled. I had been in the military for nine years, four years at a military academy and five years in the Marine Corps. In many ways, I had grown up in the military.
I drove off the Marine Corps Air Station at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii and went to work for the Xerox Corporation in downtown Honolulu. It took awhile to adjust to the change in cultures.
It was not easy learning to work with civilians. It was not easy working with and associating with former “hippies,” and people who spit on us and called us “baby-killers.”
It wasn’t easy working for a boss, a young guy who was close to my age but who had used his “student deferment” to avoid the draft, the war, and serving his country. It took a lot of emotional intelligence to bite my tongue every time he laughed and bragged about how he used his “student deferment” to avoid the draft and climb the corporate ladder while others were fighting and risking their lives in Vietnam.
In downtown Honolulu, the words used amongst “civilians” and the “corporate warriors” reflected a lack of emotional intelligence. When many of the corporate-class speak their words consistently reflect one emotion: fear. They repeatedly speak of “job security,” worry about “being fired,” obsess over “needing my paycheck” and “climbing the corporate ladder.” I suspect they continue to ask themselves, “Can I afford to retire?”
In the corporate world, I was shocked to hear people repeatedly saying, “I can’t.” And “I might.” They used words like “I’ll try” and “I might” or “I hope”. Those words are forbidden in the Marine Corps.
For those of you who have read my other books, you already know my rich dad would not allow his son and me to use those words. He often said, “Poor people say ‘I can’t afford’ it more than rich people. Rich people ask, “How can I afford it?”
In the military, there are service personnel who speak the same fear-based words. They are called lifers, and they are seldom leaders. They are in the military to put in their “20” and retire.
In the military, the words leaders speak are spiritual words, coming from the heart and originating in their souls. Military education begins by teaching everyone to speak spiritual words, words like mission, courage, duty, honor, service, and code.
People who speak words that come from their souls inspire their spirit and become great warriors, entrepreneurs, and leaders in all walks of life.
Your Country Needs You
This book is written to speak to the warrior spirit in you. Once again, you are called on to serve your country, but this time not as a soldier but as an entrepreneur, a leader in the world of business.
I realize that many Americans despise the military. They have that right, guaranteed by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The right to speak freely is one the freedoms men and women in the military protect.
The U.S. military does not fight for the Republicans or the Democrats, for liberals or conservatives. The military serves and is willing to fight to protect the principles and freedoms of this great nation.
Freedom Is a Big Word
Freedom is a very, very big word. Most people have no idea how huge that word really is. There is freedom of religion and freedom of speech… and the U.S. military defends those freedoms.
In other countries, military forces fought to prevent the freedom of religion. We’ve seen religious freedom as the catalyst for unrest in all parts of the world, from the Middle East to Northern Ireland.
American service men and women fight for the freedom to worship or not worship, the right to believe in god or not believe in god, and the right to marry or not marry someone of a different religion. In my opinion, this is a freedom, a human right, worth fighting for.
Political Freedom
In Communist countries, there is only one official political party. Their military fights to defend the one-party system. In some countries, if you start your own political party, you will be locked away forever, or murdered by the military.
The American military will fight to defend our right to form political parties and to vote or not vote. In my opinion, that is another freedom, another right, worth fighting for.
As General William Westmoreland said:
“The military don’t start wars. Politicians start wars.”
Freedom of Speech
In China, stand up comedians must submit their jokes to the government for approval before they can use them to make people laugh. In many countries, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart would not be allowed on the air.
In 1973, I landed at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, California. My troops and I had just returned from our tour in Vietnam.
Outside the gates of the base were anti-war protestors. I could sense the fear and anger in the eyes of my men. One said, “Why do we fight for these people?”
Before allowing the Marines to face the abuse, to run the gauntlet, I asked the Marines to line up for my farewell address. “We did not fight for ‘these people,’” I said, “we fight all people.” “We fight for the freedom for all people to say what they want to say, even if you and I do not like what they say.” That is the essence of freedom.
Pausing for a moment, allowing what I had just said to sink in, I then asked, “Do you understand what we fight for? Do you understand what many of our friends died for? Do you understand we fight for freedom and rights of all people, not for select groups of people.”
After a quiet “Yes, sir,” I thanked the young Marines for their service and that I was proud to have served with them. In silence, they shouldered their bags, turned, and walked through the protestors, with their heads held high, their backs straight, their eyes focused… saying nothing as spit, eggs, and verbal abuse were hurled at them.
Financial Freedom
When people see the chart on the next page, the one you saw at the start of this chapter, many become upset.
A few people say, “How can the government allow companies to do this?”
Again, the answer is: This is a right, a freedom, granted by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It is a freedom the U.S. military defends and protects. A business can hire or fire anyone in any country. In layman’s terms, it’s called free enterprise. In some circles, free enterprise is known as capitalism… a ‘dirty word’ to some. I suspect many of the same people who detest the U.S. military also detest the word capitalism. That may be because capitalism is not possible without a strong military. Without a strong military, our economy would be run by war lords, similar to those factions that run countries where the military is weak or corrupt.
The idea of free enterprise began in 1700 in America, and it led to the Boston Tea Party, the American Revolution, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Americans were sick and tired of England’s monarchy telling them how to do business and taxing them without representation in government.
The concept of free enterprise is the foundation for the American Dream. Many immigrants came to America from countries where your socio-economic status was determined by birth. If you were born into royalty, you were forever royalty; if you were born a peasant, you died a peasant.
The American Dream meant a person could come to America and, possibly, become American ‘royalty.’ Many people have achieved that dream and the U.S. military protects the right to that opportunity.
Capitalism is an economic system that allows businesses to be privately owned. This system aims for limited restrictions on trade and minimal government intervention. This means that a privately owned business can do business and hire (or fire) employees anywhere in the world. It shouldn’t be surprising that labor unions and most employees do not agree with this freedom or right.
It is for these freedoms and rights the American military fights for and defends. In America, you are free to be a capitalist, a communist, or socialist… rich, poor, or middle class… Christian, Muslim, Jew, or atheist. It is for these freedoms we in the U.S. military are willing to give our lives.
Why I Wrote This Book
This book is written to ask for your service once again. America needs your help.
The following poem best summarizes my reason for writing this book:
It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.
It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.
It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
And—I will add—it is the solider who is now called upon to become an entrepreneur because only real entrepreneurs can create real jobs and real prosperity.
As General Douglas McArthur warned:
“I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any treat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.”
You may recall the words in the Oath of Enlightenment at the beginning of this book:
I do solemnly swear that I support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…
This is why this book was written and dedicated to the men and women of our armed forces—and why I ask you to consider becoming an entrepreneur, in service to our country.
In the next chapter I will go into what it takes to become an entrepreneur. And I will tell you this: You already have the basic training and instincts to be a great one.
