Cameron-brooks

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Cameron-Brooks Podcast.  I caught up with Cameron-Brooks Alumnus, Dave Hanson, who transitioned from the Army to Love's Travel Stops in 2015.  As one of the first Cameron-Brooks Alumni to transition to Love's, Dave knows a lot about career management to include self-development, being a giver and the value of the part-time MBA. As we got into the dialogue, I initially thought this episode would be about being patient, being a giver and then you will have opportunities to advance and increase responsibility.  However, Dave and I started talking about his MBA.  While working at Love's, Dave started and completed his MBA at University of Massachusetts Amherst.  We talked about the pro's and con's of the part-time MBA while working versus transitioning out of the military and to an MBA program.  Dave talks about his ability to apply what he was learning while working as well as the opportunity to bring real world work problems to the classroom.  Additionally, since

Well, here we are!  The beginning of 2021.  What were you thinking about one year ago?  I'll share what I was thinking about:  I had big goals for growing our reach with JMO candidates.  Our client companies had predicted a lot of openings throughout 2020 and, together with our recruiting team, we needed to find the most talented JMOs who were making a transition and wanted to become the next generation of business leaders.  All of this looked on track by the end of February after a great January 2020 Conference.  Then, within weeks, my thoughts went from record setting to reorganizing expectations. We changed our conferences from an in-person format to a virtual experience, organizing our office to support social distancing, conducting Zoom trainings, and more. The changes brought about by the announcement of a global pandemic impacted every facet of the economy.  In fact, unemployment rose to a record 14.7% within a month and GDP dropped in the second quarter to the worst since the Great Depression on an

One of the most common idioms in the English language is, "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket." When discussing our partnership agreement with military officers, this phrase comes up quite often. We tackled the topic of our partnership during a recent in-depth podcast episode. However, we thought it would be helpful to address this specific phrase as it relates to crafting a successful transition strategy. So what do officers mean when they say, "I'm not sure about putting my eggs in one basket?" Typically, the idiom encourages eliminating risk when possible (i.e. investing in a diverse financial portfolio or diversifying your skillset). Officers want to eliminate risk in their transition. How do you eliminate risk? As a military recruiting firm that's been in business for over 50 years, we have a few ideas. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Seek out expert advice. Diversify your strategies (i.e. career fields, industries, locations, etc.). During this podcast, we touch on this idiom and how it rela

Several years ago I received feedback from a leadership assessment that in an attempt to help my team members solve problems, I was actually making them feel "less than" and defeated.  Team members would bring me problems or challenges, and loaded with so much experience, I thought it best to give them advice on how to solve it.  Instead of listening and asking questions, I'd send them on their way better off with my wisdom! As I listened to this feedback, I was dumbfounded on one hand and felt kind of dumb on the other hand.  Of course quickly solving issues and offering advice would have the opposite of the intended effect.  This is actually how I feel when I just want to share with someone else what is on my mind and want help processing it. I actually don't want the person to solve it for me, I just want support.  Support means, listening, asking questions and understanding.  Help me think this through. About the time I got this feedback, I listened to Michael Bungay-Stanier talk about his new book, The

Did you know that less than 8% of the people who make New Year's Resolutions keep them to the end of the year? Today on the podcast, we encourage you to be the 8% with the will-power supercharger emotion: gratitude. On the Cameron-Brooks podcast, many of our discussions and topics revolve around career success and the journey on how to get there. A large number of our candidates have been successful in the military and, subsequently, our alumni have been successful in the business world because of their grit, determination and perseverance. And these qualities are important to have and important to practice. But how do we sustain them? I’m sure a large portion of our alumni can remember struggling to work their way through our reading list and DPP. It’s a self-paced program! We even sometimes call it a “Mini MBA”. And like any type of academic work, it takes willpower to work your way through the curriculum. However, willpower can be fleeting. In our research for this mini-sode, we stumbled across a Hap

One of the most frequently asked questions we receive as a military recruiting firm? Do you have a partnership agreement? We encourage military officers to ask this question (check out our full list of recommendations, here) as they begin their initial transition research. Each military recruiting firm has a different flavor. Some require a signed agreement, some have partnerships, and others don't require anything at all. Asking these questions during your initial conversations with a recruiting firm will help you determine your best fit. Through our experience, we have found the dynamic of a partnership agreement to mirror that of a friendship. When building a new friendship, you both mutually agree to invest in the relationship by getting to know each other, prioritizing your time together and being present when it really counts. If there is no agreement to invest in each other, there is no friendship. You can't count on the other person because the depth of the relationship doesn't exist. On this epis

Welcome back! We have a special treat for the podcast. On this episode, I interview Cameron-Brooks team member, Hope Drury. Hope wears multiple hats in the organization including advising JMOs on how to prepare to transition, helping spearhead our marketing and social media programs, and also plays a key role in the JMO resume writing process. Hope is a native of Fredericksburg, Texas and graduated from Texas A&M University. In the five years since starting at Cameron-Brooks, she has worked about half of that time at our corporate office and the other half remotely. Hope brings a fresh perspective to the podcast as she shares her thoughts on common JMO misconceptions, what sets JMOs apart one from another and then, finally, key success characteristics that every young business professional should emulate. Some common JMO misconceptions she sees when working with officers include: A JMO needs to have a submitted resignation prior to engaging Cameron-Brooks. Truth: when we meet with JMOs, we help them explor

There are many former military officers who are now at the C-Suite level.  Some Cameron-Brooks Alumni who have made the C-Suite level include Debra Crew, the former CEO of Reynolds American, Inc. and now President of Diageo North America; Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFi; Roland Smith, former Chairman and CEO of Office Depot; Howard Friedman, President and CEO of Post Consumer Brands; Andy Callahan, CEO for Hostess Brands; Chris Hsu, former COO and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and current founder and CEO of Zibo; John McGrath, CEO of Pactiv Evergreen; Bill Horton, CFO of Weber Stephen Products, LLC.; Michael High, Business Unit CFO of Shell Deepwater Gulf of Mexico, and many others.  We are proud to have been a part of their success. I am sure all of these C-level executives would say a big part of their success and career growth coincided with what they learned during their time as a military officer. In this podcast, I caught up with Michael High to learn how he used his military experience to become the CFO

What is a self-evolved leader? We tackle this exact question and cover the  importance of elevating your leadership in this episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast. Our guest speaker and subject matter expert is Dave McKeown. Dave has spent his career working with leaders and leadership teams to help them elevate their focus, develop their people and get more done. He helps individuals, teams, and organizations achieve excellence by doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well. Dave is the CEO of Outfield Leadership and in this podcast we discuss his new book, The Self-Evolved Leader - Elevate Your Focus and Develop Your People in a World That Refuses to Slow Down. Our conversation is rooted in the idea of minimizing "heroic leadership" and facilitating team flow. Dave points out that in a world where everything is urgent and everything needs to get done now, heroic leaders feel like it is more effective or efficient to step in a tell the team what to do or just save the day.  We have been consistently rewar

For 21 years I have partnered with Junior Military Officers (JMOs) making a transition to business.  One of the top reasons JMOs want to make a transition? They want a promotion and responsibility based on performance.  Some think that means they will transition right out of the military and take a big step up in responsibility.  In my experience, I have found that to be far from reality.  Instead it takes two virtues, humility and patience. First, you need to build a foundation of success and then great responsibility will come. In this episode I speak with Erik Rabichaud who transitioned from the Army in 2017 to a General Management career with Love's Travel Stops.  He started out working long hours and some weekends learning all facets of the business. Within a couple of months, Love's promoted him to manage his own store with $40M in revenues.  Earlier this year Erik earned another promotion to the District Manager role for Truck Care Operations.  Each promotion has come with increased compensation and e

Welcome back! Today you'll meet Aaron Carter. Aaron is a former Army Field Artillery officer who transitioned in June 2014 and launched his career in a Professional Sales role at Cordis. Cordis is a company that develops and manufactures medical devices for diagnostics and interventional procedures to treat patients suffering from coronary and peripheral vascular diseases. When Aaron started at Cordis in July 2014, Cordis was an operating company with the global healthcare company Johnson & Johnson. Within 9 months of employment, Cordis was acquired by Cardinal Health, a global, integrated healthcare services and products company, providing customized solutions for hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and physician offices worldwide. The acquisition was quite a change and we spend a few minutes exploring how he navigated those waters and his path to regional sales director. Aaron has been extremely successful at Cordis. During our conversation he spends a f

On this unique episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast, we interview an alumni about his journey with multiple sclerosis and his positive mindset in handling adversity. Kevin Byrne, a former Army Apache Helicopter Pilot, who transitioned through the Cameron-Brooks program in 2000, recently volunteered to be a guest on our podcast.  Kevin has a heroic story to tell.  This podcast is unlike any other we have done in 100+ episodes. At first, I thought we were going to discuss Kevin's career and transition and maybe he did as well.  However, as I studied his LinkedIn profile, I noticed something particular about his career.  He has not been working for the last 3 years.  As Kevin says, he is twice retired.  First in 2000, he medically retired from the Army due to Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis and again in 2017 due to the effects of the debilitating disease. In this podcast, Kevin tells his story on continually adapting to his life situation and handling adversity.  He says, "This disease will never stop and never

Welcome back! On this episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast, I interview Jim Marek. Jim spent over 7 years as a USMC Infantry officer before transitioning to Corporate America. When Jim came to his Career Conference in January 2016, he received multiple employment offers in roles focused in Consulting and Professional Sales. He ultimately chose to start his business career at H-P Enterprises. Since making his transition, Jim has worked at three different companies so the thrust of this conversation is focused on career management. Our conversation begins discussing Professional Sales and why JMOs have a misconception about this career field. Jim likens it to being to an Infantry Platoon Commander or the owner of a battle space. As a Sales Professional he made sure to understand how his customers go to market, so whatever he sold would help them cut costs or drive revenue. Jim worked to understand the financial, contracting, legal, marketing, delivery, product development and operations - basically every aspe

What are the best tips on how to impress a corporate recruiter for a JMO? We cover this topic (and more!) in our latest podcast with special guest, Frances Cole Jones. Junior Military Officers (JMOs) are taught to be calm under pressure, to stay even keeled and be short and to the point when speaking with superiors.  While this style is important as a JMO leader, it does not translate well to interviewing. During an interview, recruiters really want to get to know a candidate. A big part of what a corporate recruiter thinks of a candidate is how the candidate made them "feel".  That feeling is an emotional connection. I spend a lot of time interview coaching candidates on bringing out personality with body language and tone of voice.  In 2016, I looked for books and other tools to help candidates and I came across Frances Cole Jones the author of How to Wow:  Proven Strategies for Selling Your (Brilliant) Self in Any Situation  She is often a guest on the podcast, "The Art of Manliness", sharing her experti

Welcome back! On this episode we meet Bryce Saddoris, former Marine and Olympic qualifier. Bryce launched his career as a Sales Representative at Altec after serving as a USMC Ground Supply officer. For the first part of Bryce's military career he was on the USMC Wrestling Team and the U.S. National Olympic team. Bryce had a long and distinguished wrestling career, culminating in being #1 in his weight class for the 2015-2016 Olympic team. Through the Cameron-Brooks Career Conference, Bryce earned 5 different offers for employment and decided to launch his career at Altec. He spends some time on this podcast explaining why he chose Altec and why, after 2 1/2 years at the company, he is continuing to grow and thrive. Bryce and his wife are from Nevada, but he discusses why they chose to start their next chapter in Oregon versus their home state. Ultimately, they felt like the opportunity would be most advantageous to his career. Bryce is now being promoted to a higher-level, strategic business development po

We are celebrating our 100th podcast with special guests Roger Cameron and René Brooks, founders of Cameron-Brooks and the Junior Military Officer (JMO) recruiting industry. Roger launched the JMO recruiting industry during the Vietnam War as veterans looking for work transitioned back into civilian life.  Consequently, because of the Vietnam draft, Corporate America needed to find an alternative source of talent from the college graduate.  Roger discovered the valuable leadership experience JMOs could bring to corporations and later partnered with René Brooks. Together they became the founders of Cameron-Brooks. While other companies and organizations joined the industry in the years to come, Roger and René were the pioneers for 50 years in educating Corporate America on the value JMOs brought to business. They helped thousands of JMOs prepare and make a successful transition. We cover a lot of ground in this podcast, from the history of the industry and Cameron-Brooks to what they found most meaningful i

Welcome back to the podcast! On this episode I interview Brent Whiteman. Brent is a former Air Force officer who transitioned to Corporate America as a Derivative Trader in 2015. He holds a BS in Management from the United States Air Force Academy, and, upon commissioning, Brent was afforded the opportunity to attend Harvard where he earned an MPP in Business and Government Policy. Brent launched his career at Chatham Financial, a consulting firm focused on risk advisory relating to debt and asset protection. Brent was a Contracting officer during in the Air Force. He'd never really dealt with derivatives trading and risk hedging in the areas of real estate, foreign exchanges and commodities. To get up to speed Brent initially spent a lot of time learning and asking questions of his team members who had the willingness to help him increase his knowledge. He devoted himself to putting in the work. He attributes much of his success to ensuring that he made his boss' job easier. The trick? "[Take] care of some

Welcome back! On this episode of the podcast I interview Greg Payne. Greg is a former Army Infantry officer who transitioned in 2019 after attending a Cameron-Brooks Career Conference. Greg launched his business career at Abbott, a Fortune 500 Global Healthcare Company and specifically started within Abbott's Point of Care division. Today on the podcast, we cover his transition into a sales role and how our current COVID-19 world has created an impact. Why Sales? We start our conversation discussing Greg's decision to start his business career in a sales role. As a matter of fact, Greg asked to have more of his interviews in sales than any other type at the Career Conference. He believes (as do I) that the JMO is "uniquely qualified" to be successful in this type of role. He specifically connected the Army's Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) to sales in so much as both have course of action development, threat assessment, collaboration, cross-functional leadership and, ultimately, a presentation to gain

Junior Military Officers (JMOs) face numerous obstacles in making a successful transition to business.  They are switching industries (defense to business), companies (Navy, Army, Air Force, etc., to a new company), career fields (unless they are going to a defense contractor or government agency) and locations.  They have to identify companies and positions that value their background, ensure they have openings that sync up with their timelines, line up interviews and hopefully get offers they can evaluate simultaneously. Now, imagine two people doing this simultaneously with the goal of landing a leadership development position with a leading company (in the same city)! This is exactly what dual career military couples making the transition to business have to do.  It is not just twice as complex as a JMO, it is 10 times more complex! It is so complex, in fact, most dual military couples use one of the following two strategies to decrease complexity; however, this can inevitably degrade the quality of thei

Welcome back! In this episode, I'd like to introduce Nick Barlow. Nick is an Associate Product Manager at Zimmer Biomet. He is a former Army Finance officer who was branch detailed to the Armor branch for the first four years of his service as a commissioned officer. Nick was in the Cameron-Brooks Development and Preparation Program for 21 months in preparation for his transition to Corporate America. He was actually scheduled to attend an earlier Career Conference, but with the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, he felt the call to help and extended his service commitment in order to deploy for that mission. Interestingly enough, he went to work for Johnson & Johnson who, coincidentally, created a vaccine for Ebola. On the podcast, Nick shares his transition story and touches on how a company restructuring resulted in a layoff and, consequently, a new opportunity. A Great Start Nick started his career at DePuy Synthes, the orthopedic medical device company within Johnson & Johnson. He began his career in a marketing