Join The Military - Jon Styers

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Hey, everybody, and welcome to the Worst Advice I Ever Got. I'm your host, Sean Taylor, along with my producer, JB and today our guest is John Stires. In 1999, John joined the Navy, working his way up from tactical coordinator to program director for the Mid atlantic region. After 20 years, he left the military and found out the skills he had acquired weren't being sought after. That is what we're here to talk about today. So, John, let's get to it. Thanks so much for being with us today. [00:00:35] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks for having me, Sean. [00:00:37] Speaker A: So let's jump right in. What is the worst advice that you ever got? [00:00:41] Speaker B: The worst advice I ever got was join the military. [00:00:45] Speaker A: Okay, wow. Let's unpack that a little bit. That's a big one. Join the military. Let's unwrap that a little bit. You obviously went to the military. Joined the military. [00:00:53] Speaker B: Yep, sure did. All throughout high school, college, all I wanted to do was become a special agent, FBI, or any of the number of federal agencies out there. I got a criminal justice major in my bachelor's. I worked for the North Carolina Department of Insurance, the investigations division. And one of the guys I worked for was an ex FBI recruiter. And he said the best way to get into the FBI is to join the military. So I took that advice. I went down to the officer recruiter and ended up joining the Navy. And you know, the one caveat TO this was September 11th. September 11th changed everything. And when I came out in the 2005 timeframe, I was competing with 100,000 plus applicants going into the FBI. [00:01:40] Speaker A: So let's talk a little bit more about the individual and how you looked at the individual who was giving you this advice. Can you break that down a little bit more? [00:01:49] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, guy who does a full career as a FBI agent, and specifically you get into the that recruiter standpoint, you think you're kind of rely on somebody with a ton of experience and advice, and that to me it was like, that's great advice. [00:02:06] Speaker A: You're replicating maybe the path that he took and. Or that he had seen other people take to get to where you wanted to get to. [00:02:14] Speaker B: Absolutely, yeah. So, you know, taking that advice, I join the military, and then when that door closed on me, it's like, okay, well, what do I do now? To me, it was one of those God moments that maybe this just isn't what I'm supposed to do. However, you know, my military career was absolutely phenomenal. Got a ton of experience throughout the years. And so joining the military ended up being a great thing for me. However, it just never got me back to that original intent of being a special agent. [00:02:46] Speaker C: Why you got the advice in the first place? [00:02:48] Speaker B: Right. [00:02:48] Speaker C: So why do you think it didn't work? Like why didn't, why did it turn out to be bad advice? [00:02:52] Speaker B: Well, you know, the, the bad advice to me, I think, you know, there could have been other opportunities. I could have joined the police department and maybe have gone that route. Knowing that September 11, you know, certainly impacted things. I think maybe the, the law enforcement route, having that connection may have been an easier transition. There's also the, the non commitment with the police department. So there's, it doesn't carry with it a five year or you know, six year commitment when you're signing on. So I think it would have been an easier transition for me leaving the, like a local law enforcement or even state bureau or something like that to go to the federal route. [00:03:30] Speaker A: And the length of your military service was from when to when, how long? [00:03:33] Speaker B: So I served from March of 99 until April of 2019. [00:03:37] Speaker A: So it ended up being a 20 year map for you in military service, despite the fact that you were really using it the whole time in your mind to gain the experience you needed to become a federal agent. [00:03:51] Speaker B: Absolutely. And you know, the trajectory of my military career was honestly, I could say it was all over the map, extremely diverse. I flew jets off the carrier, was on the first strike into Afghanistan on the first night of the war. I was on the first strike into Iraq for the start of Iraqi Freedom. I went on to be a flight instructor for a couple of years, flew a different aircraft doing reconnaissance missions off of countries like China and North Korea and places like that. I worked for Defense intelligence agency building one off sensors, underwater sensors, to working with the Navy SEALs, to running a entire region operations center for Navy region Mid Atlantic. So just the different leadership opportunities I had, the diversity I had in just different career sets. Extremely valuable. [00:04:45] Speaker A: Well, thank you for your service. First of all, I'm 20 years to commit to serving others and to preserve our freedoms and all the things that we work so hard for, to have a podcast to do all the little things in life. Right. I mean, thank you for that service. And it's interesting that your worst advice you ever got was joining the military, but you talk about it with such accomplishment. How do you reconcile this conflict of it being the worst advice you ever got, but it maybe being one of the best things that ever happened to you? [00:05:15] Speaker B: No, you know, great point. And you know, I completely agree with You. I look at the fact that I never became a special agent and it is something that's disappointing over time. However, less than 1% of the population serves in the military and less than 20% of those who serve actually make it to that 20 year retirement time period. So to me, I think that's extremely successful just on those facts alone. And it was my true pleasure to serve and you know, there's days I miss it. [00:05:47] Speaker A: Did you at all feel trapped to stay in where you were like you were eight years into this career, 10 years into this career? Was there anything in there feeling like I'm a little like I've invested now I'm kind of here? [00:05:59] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean I would say every career probably has a little bit of that. So yeah, there was probably a part of that and the, the 20 year mark just seemed a little bit easier to look forward to. [00:06:11] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, you had a goal that you could get to in a market. Let's go back to the transition because you mentioned when you hit that 20 year mark, you did make a transition. Talk about the transition from military service into the next phase of your career. What was that like? [00:06:28] Speaker B: Yeah, this probably brings me to the second reason why this is the worst advice that I ever got is join the military. Is the transition that the military does for really all of our service members is inadequate at best. Most of the transition assistant program is what they call a tap. They throw officers and enlisted all in the same room. So it's very high level. It's also very optimistic to say the least. You're a naval officer. You have tons of leadership experience. You're extremely diverse. You are going to have companies beating down your door to get you on their team. [00:07:05] Speaker A: Interesting. [00:07:06] Speaker B: So it kind of puts you into a mindset of I could probably drop my pack a little bit. I mean, I'm going to be able to choose from all the different companies that are going to be beating down my door. I probably don't need to the amount of time that I should have invested into looking for that next job. So honestly, I throw the. It was truly a God moment that a week before retiring I got a job offer. But it wasn't what I wanted to do. It was the only job offer I got because the three months I was looking, I wasn't really investing the amount of time into, you know, job search as I, as I should have. You're relying on your network and, you know, looking wholeheartedly. And I didn't do that because of all of the buildup that the transitioning folks, you know, do for you. [00:07:59] Speaker A: So the TAP program essentially was saying you're the 0.2% of the 1%, you know. Right. They should be beating your door down to find you. But what you encountered was something completely different. [00:08:11] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah. Just the, the translating those skill sets that we learn in the military into a corporate environment is really hard. And I would say the other side of that is I don't know if corporate America truly understands what they're getting in a naval officer. Even the enlisted side. You get a lot of leadership experience at a very early time period in your career and that is translatable. And it's, it's getting those companies on the outside to really understand what they're getting into the military. And just because a company says they're military friendly because we hire a bunch of military, doesn't necessarily mean they're military friendly. Because I think part of that military friendliness is placing those individuals in the right opportunities to ensure that not only success of the organization, but also their success. They're going to either burn themselves out trying to look for that desire or, you know, it's just not going to be the right fit. [00:09:13] Speaker A: Yeah, a bad fit is a bad fit. Right. It won't work for the company any more than it'll work for you as the individual. So this has been about a six year period. [00:09:23] Speaker B: Yeah, so I got out in 2019. And it has been a kind of a struggle finding that right opportunity over the past five years, which is interesting. [00:09:33] Speaker A: Because all the things you talked about, what you did, clearly smart, you're clearly hardworking, you're clearly, you, you clearly have a lot of what people would call soft skills or power skills, whatever they would word for it. And so you, you find barricades. [00:09:49] Speaker B: Correct. You know, and I know from previous guests that you've had on the show, you know, I would say that it's easier to teach somebody the role than it is to teach somebody how to be a good leader. And I think that's what the military does best in building folks up is, you know, that servant leadership is, you know, what can I do for my folks that working for me to help them do their job better? You know, I truly think that a, you know, naval officer specifically where, you know, where my background is, I was built over my 20 years to take on a job, learn it, you know, super quick to be able to then be effective for the organization. And I think if, if more, you know, more of the corporate America saw that and were willing to take a chance, I think they would see a positive aspect overall. [00:10:42] Speaker C: So that's basically the second time that the military wasn't the springboard that you thought it would be. [00:10:47] Speaker B: Yeah, that's correct. [00:10:48] Speaker C: Right. So as you sort of realize that, what'd you do next? [00:10:53] Speaker B: You know, keeping my options open. You know, I don't want to get into the mindset that, ah, well, I'm never going to find the, the right opportunity is now. It's really taken everything that I've learned over the, you know, that transition period, you know, the decisions I made early on of, you know, what, what advice do I want to actually, you know, take from somebody is really looking back on those and investing the time now into what I really want to do now that I've grown up and I, you know, I've gotten out of the military is, you know, what is going to give me that satisfaction that not only am I going to remain happy, but I can also provide that positive experience within the organization that I serve? [00:11:34] Speaker A: I mean, look, my leadership experience wasn't gained in the first five years of my career. It was probably gained in the next 10 years of my career. Right. There's just this inability to reconcile between the two. And I don't think it's just corporate America's fault. Let's go back to the transition from the military. What is the military doing to try to better educate corporate America on how you can place these great experienced people in smart roles? [00:11:59] Speaker B: I couldn't agree with you more. So I do think that the military organizations out there have to do a better job of interfacing with corporate America, ensuring that they get the word out of really the true value of hiring military. And I know there's a lot of great companies out there that have been formed over the past few years because of the lack of that military transition program. But I still think we can do more. We got to do more for, for all of our military transitioning out and making it into the corporate world. [00:12:30] Speaker C: Yeah. Right now it seems like it's almost a detriment to have joined the military because it's like you, they're not counting that at all. It's basically like you might as well have a 20 year gap in your resume. [00:12:39] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, and I think that's true. And unless you come out doing what you were doing in the military, you know, you're a pilot. Yeah, exactly right. But anything else is extremely difficult. Making that transition. And you figure somebody with, you know, all the experience that I've had would be a benefit to an organization. [00:12:59] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it's a great point. It's. I want to ask you to go back for a minute to that time when you heard this recruiter talk about you should join the military. Right. You got that piece of advice and you ran with it. Right. Your today self would tell your then self, well, get some other piece of advice. Ask three or four other people, right, what they might think would be the ways to get there. [00:13:25] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And that's actually what I was thinking about before, you know, coming in today is what would I have done differently? Would I have done different things differently, knowing everything that we've experienced? But I. But to your point, yes. I would certainly go back and tell myself, don't rely on just one person's set of advice. Look at two, three, four folks that maybe have similar backgrounds and do your homework. Right. [00:13:55] Speaker A: It's interesting, jb, if I think back to a number of the episodes we've had, people look at their worst advice, and it's come from someone that was already in a place they wanted to get to, they respected, and so they took it as gospel. It has to be right. Look at where you are. [00:14:13] Speaker B: Right. [00:14:14] Speaker A: And I think ultimately what is uniformly coming out of these episodes is, you know, one person doesn't know it all. They should ask around. [00:14:22] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:14:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Gain other people's experiences. Maybe listen to several episodes of the podcast. [00:14:26] Speaker C: Listen to the podcast. [00:14:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I completely agree. I think this is a great show to learn either what not to do or maybe what you should question. [00:14:34] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. If you had young people coming to you today to say you served in the military, should I join the military? What would you say to them? [00:14:42] Speaker B: Everybody has a why. Right? No matter what it is that we do, we have that why that drives us to pointing us in whatever direction we're going in. And really, I think you drive that home perfectly, is you gotta have a why if you're looking for that military, there's gotta be some true, in your heart passion for doing something specific to the military that would want, you know, that would drive you to making that decision to join. Because it's not for everybody. I saw a lot of failure within the military. [00:15:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm super excited that you came on the podcast to share your story. I think military service has been a core component of why we have what we have as, you know, a country and why we have the freedoms we have. Your military experience was really great, but it wasn't necessarily the right thing for what you ultimately wanted to do. So there's conflict in that and that's the great thing about this podcast, is a lot of people have great stories that were built with conflict, you know, filled with conflict. You know, why did I do it? What was the result? And we think back on it and think about the experiences. And your story is very personal. You shared a very personal piece of you on today's podcast, which people are going to greatly appreciate. So I thank you again for your service, but also for your service today and your sacrifice today, and sharing a deep part of you for our listeners who are really going to benefit a ton from it. [00:16:12] Speaker B: I really appreciate you giving me the opportunity to come in and speak to you and hopefully share something that some other folks didn't know about the military service and that transition on the outside. [00:16:23] Speaker A: JB Joining the military doesn't sound like such a bad idea. So it really kind of grabbed me when John said it was the worst advice he ever got. And just makes me think, isn't it funny how really good advice for some people can be horrible advice for others? [00:16:37] Speaker C: Well, sure. And it was really what I liked about it, too. Obviously, it's a little clickbaity. I like to have the clickbait to make sure we get people to listen to the episodes. But it was not about, you know, don't join the military for the reasons that you would think. It was because of his specific story. And that's what we do here. We always have people tell their specific stories to them. [00:16:55] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. For sure. And John's story was clear in that he was impacted by what he saw in others and how what they did made them successful. And he was, you know, moved by that, understandably. So. I think young people all the time look to people and how they got to where they are. It really brings into the. Into my mind the question about how we advise people on what they might do, but also, at the same time, encourage them to keep their. Their mind kind of open, that there may be other ways to do it. [00:17:24] Speaker C: For sure. I think when he was asking, should I join the military? To a guy who had joined the military and was an FBI recruiter, he's like, well, that's. But no matter how qualified somebody seems, their experience is their experience, not yours. And you have to kind of think about it through your shoes and you. In the time that you're in and go about it in the right way. [00:17:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Another unique thing to John's episode is that it was the worst advice he ever got. Not for one reason, but for two reasons. Right. It. It didn't get him to his goal of being a special agent. And then ultimately, when he tried to transfer into corporate America, they didn't give him the support that he needed to make that transition smooth. It's crazy. [00:18:04] Speaker C: Yeah, it was always about the. The military was always supposed to be a springboard for him, and he kind of accepted, okay, it's not going to be a springboard for me to be a special agent, but it's okay because it's going to be a springboard for me in corporate America. And then it also wasn't a springboard for him there. So he had that same kind of thing happen to him twice. [00:18:20] Speaker A: Yeah. And another takeaway from this is when John said, know your why when you ask him, hey, you know, if somebody said they wanted to join the military, what would you tell them? And he said, know your why. And I think knowing your why is a great takeaway for anybody walking away from this episode. Not even about whether or not you're thinking about joining the military, but know your why and what you're doing each and every day. [00:18:43] Speaker C: Yeah. Why are you asking the question? Why are you asking this advice? Why are you listening to this advice? Always the why. [00:18:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I hope the reason our audience is listening to our episodes is because they're finding great value in them. And if you are finding great value in our episodes, please share your experience with others, tune them into the podcast so they too can enjoy these episodes, and tune in next week when we bring you another great episode of the Worst Advice I Ever Got.