From the Battlefield to Business: Transitioning Our Veterans Into the Workforce

Just like generations of veterans before them, today’s soldiers are preparing to transition from the battlefield back to civilian life. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), there are 2.3 million veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and tens of thousands of additional troops returning home as the United States begins to withdraw from Afghanistan. For these soldiers, the homecoming doesn’t consist of parades and celebrations like the iconic images that symbolize the end of World War II. War is brutal and isolating. And for veterans, there can be confusion in trying to define the civilian from the soldier. Luckily, there are experts who understand the life they have led on the battlefield and how this can impact the transition into civilian life.  I had the pleasure of talking with one of the foremost international experts in personal branding about this topic. Lida Citroën, of LIDA360, has a demonstrated passion for helping veterans refine their personal brand and prepare for the next stage in their lives. In a show of gratitude for their service, she does all of this work pro bono. 

ICOSA: Veterans are focused and highly trained; yet they are finding these skills don’t translate well on their résumé for reentry into the civilian workforce. In your work as a personal branding expert, you’ve found the résumé is not the key. Rather, veterans should focus on their personal brand. What is personal brand?

CITROËN: I define personal brand as your reputation—the behaviors and beliefs you have expressed that create a perception of value (or not) in the minds of your target audience. That said, everyone has a personal brand, but most people do not control or manage it. It is important to understand and maintain the way you are perceived and how others assign you value and relevance.

Personal brand already exists in the minds of colleagues, friends, clients and people with whom you served in the military. Your behavior and actions over time earned you this reputation—good or bad. For some people, their reputation is not how they want to be seen, and they might find themselves limited in personal and professional growth and opportunities they are afforded.

For those of us who went the civilian path, we learned through career experience or in business school that professionals thrive in the world of differentiation, value propositions and competitive advantage. We’ve learned the importance of capturing the attention of target audiences with compelling and relevant messaging that promotes a specific value proposition. At all levels of the civilian work environment—from blue-collar labor to executive work—individuals can embrace the power of personal branding to intentionally build a reputation for themselves that attracts opportunities to them.

ICOSA: How does military training alter or impact personal branding?

CITROËN: Since personal brand is rooted in values, beliefs and ideals, most people who served in the military were drawn to service because of a sense of commitment, patriotism and loyalty to country or other similar beliefs. Yes, there are some who serve for other reasons, but being able to articulate the value proposition tied to service is important.

Training in any strong culture, such as the U.S. Armed Forces, brings opportunity to examine one’s personal brand. Much of the work I do with transitioning veterans is spent uncovering those personal assets, strengths and beliefs that make them unique and differentiated. Just saying you are loyal, team-oriented and able to work well under pressure” is not enough of a differentiator. Shane Schmutz, Army veteran, Bronze Star recipient, West Point graduate and founder of Veteran's Passport to Hope (VP2H) says, “As a veteran who made the transition myself, I know how important it is to be able to market yourself in order to compete effectively in a civilian workplace.”

Today’s recruiters are looking for applicants to bring a clear sense of value and purpose to the job and to stand apart from others. Because military training emphasizes team over individual, this can be challenging for veterans.

ICOSA: Who should the veteran in transition consider a target audience for a job transition?

CITROËN: Because personal branding is a journey about how to move from here to there, transitioning veterans must identify a target audience that understands and embraces military skills and values. This audience holds the opportunity we desire.  A new job? A promotion? Additional resources? Our goal is to understand this audience and what they need and want in order to effectively position ourselves and our personal offer.

Here are some things to consider:

• What industries, companies and fields would you enjoy working in? Do you like structure and formality? Do you work better outdoors? Do you work better in mission-driven industries?
• Which types of people do you do your best work with? Are you social, outgoing and friendly? Do you like to keep your work and personal lives separate?
• What do you know about your target companies and the people who work at those companies? Do they attend industry meetings? Are they located in a certain area of the country? Are they active online (social networking)?
• Learn everything you can about the individuals you are targeting at these companies—what do they need for you to deliver (job requirements) and what do they need to feel (personal needs).

Your target audience is going to consider how well you can do the job, as well as how you will get along with others and fit into their culture. Understanding your audience by knowing who needs to find you relevant and compelling in order to hire you, promote you or refer you is critical. You simply cannot focus your efforts on everyone. You must find a specific industry, audience segment and personality and then target that group in order to get noteworthy results. 

“As employers strive to hire more and more veterans, it becomes so important that veterans can articulate their value proposition. We can’t just rely on résumé to get the attention of hiring managers,” echoes Richard (Dick) Young, Rear Admiral (Ret.) and Chairman of the Colorado Committee of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). 

ICOSA: Many veterans are highly trained in a specific skill. How can they explain these skills in a way that is easy to understand?

CITROËN: I hear this question a lot from veterans making the transition. While it is impressive to put “sniper” on a résumé, my concern is the impression and understanding that is created for the hiring manager reviewing the résumé. What if the only experience she’s had with snipers is in the movies? That could work against you.

Focus on highlighting the value from the skills you have learned, instead of a list of strengths and skills. Instead of, “expert in team building,” share the ways you have built collaborative efforts that met a specific objective and the end result’s impact. This is more descriptive and relevant, and gives the employer a concrete picture of your role and the outcome.

Similarly, if you are pursuing a leadership position and are uncomfortable offering yourself up as a leader, consider letting testimonials, endorsements and recommendations promote you more effectively. This is a great way to let the credibility of others highlight your strengths.

Above all else, make sure your résumé promotes who you are as a person—your personality, charm, passion and uniqueness. The Summary or Overview at the top can explain your difference in a couple of sentences. For instance, I worked with a Navy SEAL who was “passionate about getting IT systems right.” He wrote, “I believe that the role of an IT director is a customer service position, ensuring the customer experience reinforces the company’s brand.” That made him stand out!

ICOSA: What are the common stereotypes of the military culture? Can some of these stereotypes be overcome using personal branding?

CITROËN: On the employer side, there is still a great deal of confusion and mystery about military service, particularly those who have experienced active combat. Thanks in part to media hype, fears of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and other issues have created misperceptions about the veteran in the civilian workforce.

At the same time, the beliefs that military veterans are trained in loyalty, collaboration, integrity, discretion, trust building and hard work are not to be overlooked! Do all that you can to demonstrate examples of how those traits and skills came to life during your service time and how you expect to use them to be more effective and valuable to the company with whom you are seeking to work.

Many of the veterans I work with are transitioning to professional careers in professional services such as law or finance. Those industries value qualities such as integrity, discretion, loyalty and positive personal interaction. Other clients of mine are continuing the training they received in the military and pursuing careers in technology, aerospace, engineering and design. In those fields, employers see the value of a veteran’s training—the aptitude to work under tight deadlines and the ability to manage complex and expensive systems and technologies—as assets.

ICOSA: How can veterans use their experiences to positively influence their personal brand?

CITROËN: The veterans I have met and worked with—well over 100 now—have never shied away from something that was challenging, unique or difficult. There is a resiliency, pride and commitment to mission that a veteran brings to a situation that uniquely qualifies them to understand and leverage the personal branding process.

I often say that, building your personal brand is simple, but it’s not easy.” Veterans understand this. The concept of self-promotion is foreign to them, as they have been trained to maximize mission over self. But this is not how the civilian workforce operates.  Those of us non-military professionals see the benefits of self-marketing and competitive advantage to gain access and opportunity in our careers.

As the veteran makes the transition and begins to build their personal brand, it is critical to take prideful ownership of the successes and achievements gained during service. Then, the job is to make it understandable and relatable to a non-military hiring manager.

There are some significant cultural differences between military and civilian life that impact the personal brand. For example, in the military soldiers are required to be fit for combat and there are strict standards for grooming. In the civilian world, their fitness is a choice and grooming guidelines are on a case-by-case basis. Military personnel also have restrictions on freedom of speech—they can’t participate in political activities while in uniform and expression of varying viewpoints can appear to conflict with good order and discipline. 

ICOSA: For a veteran returning home from war, what do you recommend as first steps to set them on the right path in building their personal brand? 

CITROËN: The personal branding process starts with you and your goals. It begins by understanding what you are passionate about, what you value and how you live an authentic life. In other words, what would you fight for? What led you to a military career? What passions did you bring forward in your service that are relevant as you transition to a civilian career? And what makes you stand out in the minds of your colleagues?

Next, you need to understand your audience's needs. In personal branding we strive to make ourselves relevant and compelling to a specific target audience. As I write about in my book, Reputation 360: Creating power through personal branding, (Palisades Publishing, 2011), not everyone will get your jokes or feel comfortable around you. Targeting those employers, clients and customers who will find you relevant is critical and cuts down on your marketing efforts. It is easier to promote yourself to people who already get you.

From there, you can build a strategy and a game plan to market and promote yourself with intention, focus and authenticity. You will begin to take note of your image and body language. You will have a strategy for networking and using social media to build your profile in a way that gets the attention of employers. And you will use tools available to you—gained through service or afterward—to become in control of your perceived value to the marketplace; thus affording you opportunity to grow personally and professionally. To learn more about how to begin your personal branding journey, visit www.lida360.com.  To learn more about the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, visit www.esgr.mil or in Colorado, visit www.esgrcolorado.net. To learn more about the work of Veteran’s Passport To Hope, visit http://www.veteranspassport2hope.org/. And to learn more about the Military and Veterans Employment Expo, visit http://www.mvee.org/default.html.

Workforce Transition Resources:

Personal Branding: www.lida360.com

Veterans Green Jobs: www.veteransgreenjobs.org

ESGR: www.esgr.mil

www.esgrcolorado.net

Energy Africa

It’s hard for many to imagine life without access to power. Yet this is reality in Africa, where power is unreliable, expensive, unhealthy and hard to come by. This lack of access is a barrier to economic development and prosperity. According to the World Bank, 25 African countries face an energy crisis even though the African continent is well endowed with energy resources. The solution is to improve access to electricity on a large scale. Solutions will depend on partnerships between private, public, nongovernment organizations and academics to develop reliable domestically produced and environmentally sound power to Africa. The Energy Africa Conference held at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo., provided a platform for discussion to frame the challenges and encourage solutions. By leveraging the experience of notable experts in natural gas, renewable energy, micro-grids, solar lighting, market structures and cultures, we can start to define pathways for development.

In urban population centers, natural gas–fired electric power generation in combination with larger-scale applications of renewable energy technologies such as wind, hydropower, solar and waste-to-energy could reliably supply industrial and urban energy requirements, serving as a model for the rest of the world. Africa’s weakness—the lack of significant infrastructure—may even be its strength. Simply put, Africa has the chance to do it right.

Countries without basic infrastructure have the opportunity to take advantage of the tremendous human and financial capital that has been invested over centuries to create the extraction industries and power delivery systems that we have in place in developed countries. Many industrialized cities are moving toward decentralized systems where electricity can be generated close to the point of use. Micro-grids provide a way to bring electricity to off-grid remote communities. New energy management systems can optimize and manage use of efficient technologies, energy capture technologies and different sources of energy generation to create a distribution system that can serve a remote community. Development of large-scale renewable energy and natural gas plants also has the potential to provide reliable, cost-effective energy in Africa but comes with the challenge of infrastructure development.

Energy poverty is a barrier to economic prosperity. The good news in some respect is that Africa is a clean slate. A coordinated effort can enable development of Africa’s resources in the most economic and efficient way by using the experience of industry experts, as well as innovations in market structure and technology. It is conferences such as this that attract not only industry experts but also African officials to engage in conversation around solutions that will make a difference.  

Sustainable Technology: A Critical Element in Military Mission Effectiveness

Think about the military, and you probably conjure up images of guns, ammo and tactical vehicles—not energy and water.  Yet these two resources are critical in enabling the military’s continued operational capabilities, including maneuvers, mission command, sustaining troops and equipment and humanitarian services.  Implementing ways to reduce the staffing required to deliver fuel and water and to reduce the vulnerability to supply shortages are critical to improving readiness, minimizing casualties and reducing operational costs.  Sustainable technologies can enable significant reductions in fuel and water, and their efficacy is not lost on the military.  Indeed, the military recognizes the importance of implementation of sustainable technologies to decrease future mission constraints, increase flexibility and resilience, safeguard human health, improve Army quality of life, and enhance the natural environment.  According to the Army’s Sustainability Report 2012, “The Army’s innovative solutions in 2010-2011 lessened the logistical challenge of providing water and fuel, reducing the number of convoys needed and thus reducing the risk to soldiers during combat operations.”

The challenge is to lighten the logistical burden on the Forward Operating Bases (FOBs).  Staffing focused on resupply is a resource not focused on the mission.  "We need to figure out how to enable our soldiers to go out on patrol, to set up camps, without this long logistical supply train," said Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Environment and Energy Katherine Hammack. "We want to enable our soldiers to go further with less of a supply train so that they can really fight better." 

Technology enables soldiers to focus on the mission

The military is testing technology that supports the operational base camp smart grid called SAGE, for Smart and Green Energy for Base Camps program.  SAGE is using commercial off-the-shelf technologies including utility hardware and open source control software to demonstrate and validate whether they can design a smart base camp microgrid technical specification capable of reducing the need for JP8 fuel by 30 to 60 percent at basecamps for 600 to 3,000 soldiers.  

To test the concept and the technology the Army launched the Base Camp Integration Laboratory (BCIL) using sites modeled after forward-operating bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. The BCIL is split into two 150-person camps called “Force Providers” that house energy-efficient shelters and structures within a 10-acre compound to test a micro-grid, an energy storage system, a shower and laundry water reuse system, a waste management system, a solar hot water system and a power management system.  The BCIL also provides a live soldier environment where service members training at Fort Devens stay at the BCIL and provide input on what is being tested there. 

The solution envisioned conjures up images of a futuristic utopian society—except that the future is now.  SAGE is described as a holistic energy generation, storage and management solution.  The SAGE microgrid interconnects easily transportable, purpose-built shelters that consist of insulated structures as well as integrated solar with solar water heating, plug-in charging stations, integrated renewable energy, energy storage and optional interconnectivity to the grid.

Critical to understanding how this arrangement is possible is an understanding of how these technologies work together to significantly reduce fuel and water requirements.  One aspect is energy capture, another is taking advantage of renewable resources that are readily available at these remote locations, and yet another aspect is to not use the energy to begin with.  Energy-efficient technology such as lighting and insulation provide opportunities to drastically cut the energy that is required to power the basecamp.  After all, the cheapest energy is the energy that is never used.   Water reduction is also a focus, and water reuse drastically reduces the logistical burden on units.  “Within the Army, 70 to 80 percent of our resupply weight or convoy weight is fuel and water,” said Hammack.  Once all of the security and logistics factors are taken into account, the cost per gallon of water delivered can range between $5 to $30, according to the Army.  One saving measure tested by the BCIL is the Shower Water Reuse System (SWRS).  In simple terms, the SWRS uses a series of filters, membranes and chemicals to recycle waste for future use.  Significantly, although the water is only approved for reuse within the shower, the recycled water falls within potable quality standards.  The capacity of the system is also impressive.  Of the 12,000 gallons of water that can be treated per day, 75 percent of it can be reused, which results in the potential savings of 9,000 gallons of water per day or 3.2 million gallons of water per year in just one shower facility.

The Army evaluates technology in terms of force multipliers. In this case, use of SWRS reduces the water required for transport, which in turn, reduces the number of water convoys and the soldiers who would be on those water convoys are now available to remain engaged in the mission.  The SWRS also impacts placement of new FOBs because strategic considerations can weigh more heavily on location determination rather than ease of resupply.   "We need to figure out how to enable our soldiers to go out on patrol, to set up camps, without this long logistical supply train," said Hammack. "We want to enable our soldiers to go further with less of a supply train so that they can really fight better."

If successful, these technologies are immediately rolled out to remote FOBs such as Afghanistan, and the return on investment is almost instant.  Each SWRS system costs roughly $170,000. If used to its fullest capacity, the Army could realize a potential savings of millions of dollars per unit each year. It is this type of innovation that the Army is banking on to enhance their capability and "do more with less," according to Army officials. Ideally, like the Internet and GPS, both technologies that were developed by the military and subsequently commercialized to transform the consumer market, these concepts could be used to support resilient domestic civilian communities.  The recent strike of Hurricane Sandy left 8 million people without power.  Building sustainable communities that use less power, mitigate risk and use more renewable energy resources could help protect against increasingly complex and disastrous weather patterns.  Sustainable technology is not just about being green.  Ask the military—sustainable technologies enable mission effectiveness.  

Western Energy Alliance

 

Western Energy Alliance is a non-profit trade association representing more than 400 companies across the West connected by the similar interest of environmentally responsible exploration and production of oil and natural gas.

Companies within the intermountain west are represented six ways. 

1. Regionally and nationally represented in the areas of government access to lands for exploration and production, federal agency permitting, air and water quality, reform of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and Endangered Species Act (ESA), wildlife conservation, health and safety, taxation, and other issues.
2. Western Energy Alliance has established relationships with lawmakers in Washington, D.C. enabling meetings with Congress and the Administration.
3. Western Energy Alliance is viewed as a valuable resource by policymakers on oil and natural gas.
4. Current issues are addressed with speaking events
5. They publish the Wildcatter Weekly focusing on natural gas and oil.
6. They provide networking opportunities.

Technology and geologic improvements have increased the locations natural gas can be drilled from making it a clean and secure energy source.  It reduces pollution by 50 percent in comparison to traditional energy sources.  This is measured in the reduced amount of mercury burned and the absence of sulfur dioxide emission.

One-third of all natural gas is produced in the west said, Kathleen Sgamma, vice president of Western Energy Alliance.  Sgamma also said a conservative estimate is that six states can produce an equal amount of all oil imported however the areas are oil drilling restricted.

Natural gas is highly regulated.  Sgamma and Kelly de la Torre seemingly agree that regulatory agencies overlap in regulations and are inconsistent.  Kelly de la Torre is an attorney at the Anton Law Group and practices environmental law.  Current regulations implemented by the E.P.A. have little environmental benefit compared to the cost it takes to abide the regulation.

Western Energy Alliance advocates for balance between environmental safety and production of natural gas and oil.  To contact the Western Energy Alliance visit their website at; www.westernenergyalliance.org.

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Energy 101 with Kelly de la Torre

Access to power is key and we are so very plugged into it.  U.S. consumers need to realize consumption has global affects.  Think of every plastic object and know oil energy probably powered its creation.

Energy production has a bad reputation of harming the environment even though regulatory practices are enforced to protect it.  “Fracking is the process of initiating and subsequently propagating a fracture in a rock layer, by means of a pressurized fluid, in order to release petroleum, natural gas, coal seam gas, or other substances for extraction,” Charlez, Philippe A. (1997), Rock Mechanics. This process can have detrimental environmental implications.

To learn more about energy regulatory practices, visit the Rocky Mountain Energy Blog: http://rmenergyblog.blogspot.com.  Blogger and energy sector attorney, Kelly de la Torre, blogs about energy regulation, energy innovations in wind, solar, geothermal, hydro and biofuel.  De la Torre believes collaboration involving all energy sectors is needed to maintain and support both consumption now and the expected doubling energy needs that will come with year 2030.

Energy production is an issue at the forefront―consequently so is the energy grid.  Discussions on grid accommodations and security such as cyber-attacks, pipeline security and energy transmission are needed.

Leaner energy users are considered a 5^th fuel.  Innovation will propel us forward, says de la Torre.  Tough issues in innovations using garbage, biofuels, wind, solar and geothermal need to be collaboratively worked so that energy is sustainable.