Everyone's got something

About three years ago I was working in a role that put me in an external office, with another team, three or four days a week. During my first weeks there, the people sitting near me inquired about my background, military time, primary office, and so on.

During one of these question & answer sessions, a gentleman spoke up and asked me a something I wasn't expecting. He said, "what's one thing you took away from your experience as a leader in the army?" I hesitated for a few seconds and said: "that everyone, no matter what, has something inside of them- something about them- that is valuable".

My answer came out more naturally than I expected, and I fully stand by it.

Not once in my 15+ years as a soldier and defense contractor has a well-intentioned individual proven to me that they lacked value to add-- and add to what, you might ask? Well, to our mission, to morale, our cohesion, a team's situational awareness, its skill sets, and to its productivity. In every role I have ever found myself in (and I tend to change these every 3 or 4 years), I observe the same things about the people around me.

I could say that is a surprise, but really it's not. Well-intentioned people who bring themselves forward to sacrifice themselves and serve a greater purpose are going to have something for others to capture- to learn from- with few, if any exceptions. They may be timid, or less-than-extroverted, but somewhere in there there's something. Always.

Good leaders elicit these 'somethings' from their subordinates, even when those subordinates are a little less open about what they have to offer. Great leaders enable their subordinates to recognize that value, and to leverage it for the betterment not only of the individual, but for the team as a whole.

Watchword strives to connect with leaders and to strengthen their understanding of how engaging with subordinates early and often is a win-win for all involved. That seems obvious, but I am sure you've experienced leadership that fails to meet expectations. Toxic leadership is a detriment, but it is often explicit; you sense it almost immediately, and recognize that such leaders will inevitably be exposed for their ineffectiveness. More subtle, however, is the leader who appears to check the boxes - and they may even mean well while they do - but they fail to energize the people below them. They fail to recognize what it is about their subordinates that is unique, fresh, and a potential benefit to the team.

They fail to provide space for subordinates to ignite the flame within them that creates value for a team, organization, or company in perpetuity. Watchword was founded to connect with people in the national security space, or on a career trajectory towards it, and to help them extract that value from within while applying it to their career decisions.

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