Transition from Academia/Military World to the Business World



Moving from the academic or military world to the American business world seems a daunting job at first.  Imagine the reverse of taking an executive from Wall Street and putting them in battle gear for a day with a platton.  It will soon be apparent to even the freshest private that they would stand out, and not in a good way.  The key is to leverage the strengths you have developed in one world to conquer the other world.

1) Research.  Whether you have studied enemy terror networks or agrarian reform in 19th century Russia, you have gained valuable skills that if re-applied to business topics will actually give you an edge.  You have gathered and weighed evidence, read primary and secondary sources, and chosen the right keywords for searches.  You have taken one aspect and applied laser focus to find out all you can about a narrow topic.  Please, please, please, find out as much as you can before the interview about the company, their competitors, what, as Warren Buffet says, is their defensible moat in the business world.  Visit the company's web site, view their about us page.  If they have a free trial, do it.

2) Learn the language.  Like going to a foreign country, you don't need to become fluent right away, but you need just enough to get by.  Acronyms are tossed around as if everyone knows what they are.  Find out as much as you can beforehand.  In the interview, don't be afraid to ask if a term can not be accurately inferred from context.  Use humor to deflect attention to deficient fluency, such as comparing acronyms from your previous world.

3) Translate your experience for them.  Find out what are their pain points.  You are NOT trying to get a job.  You are trying to find out their problems and then presenting your skills & experience as the right solution to their problems.  Sometimes you don't even realize you have honed skills, like improvisation.  Whether defending a thesis or improvising when things don't go according to plan, like losing a helicopter in a raid, adapting and working in teams is a crucial skill in business.

4) Read in your new field.  If you are seeking a new career, find out the thought leaders in that field.  Now a days you can follow them on Twitter and find out whom they are following and follow them as well.  In his day, Walt Disney read three books at the Kansas City library on animation before he made his first film.  It doesn't hurt to try contacting leaders for advice.  Imagine the reverse of someone contacting you for recommendations on your most influential books or articles in your field.  What would you do?

I wish you success in this transition to a new world and hope that with hard work one day you will stick out, in a good way.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Embodying Self-Compassion

What could self-compassion make way for? less struggle in the acceptance less struggle in the striving to change less struggle from the openness to new possibilities letting go of the struggle embracing the heartache embodying the wisdom the butterfly landing gently on her shoulder relaxing the weight of it all open to the beautiful awe of the gentleness curiousness   over business exploration   over contraction a bridge of wood swaying in the wind a bridge to the future the fun the fear the balance seeing the sunset with beginner's eyes the toddler wonder the touch the taste the movement the laughter the tears of a baby the tears of remembrance the tears of loss the tears of joy the smile emerging through the pain the light shining through the dark forest of doubt the colors alive in the leafs of fall the beauty of the sacred the beauty of our touching the Earth the wonder of the nighttime sky the sunrise of possibility In answer to a writing prompt from Dr. Marissa Knox, author o
Read more

TED Talks Summary - "How To Make Stress Your Friend"

Kelly McGoncial   "How To Make Stress Your Friend" Research Study  showed that those who believed stress was harmful were 43% more likely to die. Those with the lowest risk, were not the ones who didn't experience stress, but those who didn't believe stress was harmful. Change mind -> changes body's response Stress as harmful mindset Interpret sweat & heart rate increase as harmful  causes blood vessels to constrict. causes high blood pressure causes heart disease If view stress as body preparing you to help rise to the challenge blood vessels stayed relaxed Oxytocin released in hugs -> stress resilience -> human connection neurohormone -> strengthens empathy, physical contact stress response -> nudging you to tell how you feel to others who care about you. anti-inflamatory helps heart cells regenerate, strengthens your heart Enhanced under social support Social People who cared for others created resili
Read more

Ed.X Behavioral Economics

Notes from Ed.X course on Behavioral Economics 6.3 Discussion on  End User License Agreement (EULA) The way in which something is disclosed is also important. If the disclosure is written by lawyers with the intent to not be clear and to cover themselves in all possibilities, then clearly consumers will not have the patience to read lengthy disclosures or the capability to understand them. The software End User License Agreement (EULA) is the classic case of forcing an active choice, but giving totally incomprehensible information. Perhaps we will have future digital assistants that will translate and summarize this stuff for us humans. I hope those programs don't come with EULAs. 6.2 Decision Aids Wisdom of Crowds I think there is a third alternative to expert versus model, and that is applying the fascinating principle of the wisdom of crowds. It is applying the same technique as averaging the model and the expert to get the best performance. This seems to be a dominant
Read more