26 May 2017

How LinkedIn joined the Project RELO family

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Jon Stewart once said that putting a “We Support the Troops” magnet on your car was literally the least you could do.  As a person who didn’t serve, and who frankly knew very few people who served, it was difficult to contemplate what I could offer to show support for the brave men and women who keep us safe.  Project RELO is my contribution.  It pales in comparison to the service and sacrifice made by those in service, but it is something meaningful.

Over 250,000 veterans transition out of the military service each year. Most find employment however there is a chronic issue of veteran underemployment. This is the result of both the military and corporations advising our military members to expect to take steps backwards and start their career over when they complete their service. What results is a massive waste of cultivated talent which goes unused in corporations and creates employment dissatisfaction. Project RELO is a non-profit dedicated to tackling this issue.

Project RELO is unique because we focus on the “demand side” of veteran employment. We work with corporate executives to promote the value that veterans can bring to their organizations.  We like to say that hiring veterans is more than a social good; it’s good business.  We are also unique in how we do this.  We pair business executives with military veterans, strap them in to off-road vehicles, and lead them through a series of military-style training exercises where they encounter both scripted and unscripted adversity.  In this element the character and leadership of the veterans is on full display.  Who wouldn’t want men and women like this on their team?

When the founders of Project RELO began this journey, we talked about how we could communicate the uniqueness of our approach and help get the word out about our organization.  At the time, I was taking video editing courses on Lynda.com, and I decided to write a LinkedIn InMail to one of the Lynda instructors, Ashley Kennedy . I asked her for advice about how we could go about having a documentary created. I thought that if I had heard anything back at all, it would be something along the lines of a student project.  Much to my surprise, she wrote back to me the next day, and one day later, I was on the phone with Ashley promoting our organization.  I didn’t know it at the time, but she had already pitched the concept to Lynda of making a series of courses around documentary creation. All she needed was a subject to use as the backdrop of her series of courses.  The timing was perfect!

In June of 2016, the Lynda/LinkedIn crew of Ashley, Brett, Ryan and Ben showed up in Northern Michigan with equipment in tow.  We packed everything into off-road vehicles, and off we went on a Project RELO mission.  We did some pre-trip interviews, but other than that, it was a normal Project RELO mission, except everything was filmed.  Although we made some accommodations (e.g. having microphones and cameras in our face all the time), nothing was staged. The documentary faithfully captured what Project RELO is all about and how we conduct our missions.  On a personal note, I learned a ton about filmmaking (which is one of my hobbies and led me to connect with Ashley).  The crew was talented and professional, and like all of RELO alumni, remain my friends.

I hope you enjoy the documentary, Veteran’s Work: The Project RELO Story and the Lynda.com series, Learning Documentary Video.  Ashley and crew are super-talented and have been a joy to work with. If you’re interested in Project RELO, send me a LinkedIn InMail.  It worked for me!

Ashley published an article about her journey with us,  “I spent 3 Days Filming Military Veterans and White Collared Business Executives in the Wilderness..”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][ultimate_spacer height=”30″][vc_text_separator title=”Watch the Documentary Here” color=”custom” accent_color=”#dd0000″][ultimate_spacer height=”30″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][ultimate_video u_video_url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC-cQBMjXzw&feature=youtu.be” yt_autoplay=”” yt_sugg_video=”” yt_mute_control=”” yt_modest_branding=”” yt_privacy_mode=”” play_size=”75″ enable_sub_bar=””][/vc_column][/vc_row]

16 May 2017

Helping Veterans Transition to a New Uniform

posted in: Project RELO | 0

When veterans Christian Anschuetz and Casey McEuin left the armed services, they were surprised by the difficulties veterans encountered while transitioning to civilian and corporate life. So they made it their mission to help companies recognize the valuable job skills and leadership training that veterans bring to the workplace. Now, through an organization they’re building together, Anschuetz and McEuin are bringing corporate executives and combat veterans together for mutual training and mentorship. They’re giving veterans the chance to wear a new kind of uniform.
13 Apr 2017

Project RELO Center Stage at Oracle’s HCM World 2017

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Highlights from Leadership Begins with Character and Manifests Itself in Behavior, presented by Christian Anschuetz and Casey McEuin of Project RELO, at HCM World 2017.

Project RELO is focused on solving a fundamental business issue: identifying great talent. It accomplishes this goal by helping business leaders understand that veterans are rich in the talent, skills, and character that all firms require. Project RELO provides an intensive and immersive leadership training experience that places business leaders and veterans together in challenging environments, forcing them to rely upon each other. As a result, they forge deep and meaningful relationships, create lasting networks, and the character of America’s veterans is exposed. Participants learn that hiring a vet is more than a social good—it is simply good business.

 

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14 Nov 2016

The Character of the American Veteran: My Project RELO Experience

posted in: Alumni | 0

When I was asked to participate in Project RELO, I was excited at the prospect of c-suite executives coming together and learning from transitioning veterans. But what I couldn’t grasp was the life altering experience that would come with this “retreat.”

Of course, Sharp Decisions supports veterans through our V.E.T.S. Program and I take great pride in our partnership at our firm. I have a clear understanding what veterans can do from the perspective of our program. But overall? I wanted a different perspective; I wanted a personal perspective. One that was meaningful to me. If I was going to continue supporting and growing our V.E.T.S. Program, I needed a more profound understanding of their training and experience before they transition out of service.

I wanted to understand the building blocks of training, humility and gratitude and of who our vets are and what they had to endure.

Project RELO is a non-profit that brings business leaders together with veterans on a multi-day series of “missions” on a military base. For a short three days, business leaders live what can only be described as a glimpse of the military experience. We witness the kind of deep professional education, personal development, character building, and intellectual challenges that have defined their military careers.

The veterans, domain experts in these environments, capably demonstrate their knowledge, selflessness, mission orientation and ethic. It is here the character and competence of veterans is experienced first-hand. It is also here Project RELO begins to change the mindset of the executive participants on the quality of our veterans.

When each RELO mission is complete, the newly formed network of executives begin to work and collaborate with the new understanding that hiring a vet is more than a social good, it is simply good business.

During the day, our military vets were our guides at the massive Camp Grayling in Northern Michigan. Our “battle buddies” took us through simulators where we fired imitation rounds from real machine guns and other military weapons. They ran us through convoy training and virtual reality simulations. We experienced mock negotiations with tribal leaders, navigated underground sewer tunnels, and simulated an urban assault.

At night, we debriefed, ate dinner, and had deeply earnest discussions around the fire. We learn from the veterans, in a very personal way, what they bring to an organization.

Although it can hardly be compared to a military experience, Project RELO enabled me to formulate a mental model of how military experience brings out the adaptive, collaborative, communicative, and loyalty traits in these men and women. These are merits that so many companies in corporate America say are terribly hard to find.

What I learned about our military veterans in this immersive training experience was nothing short of profound. Everything I knew about vets before was cliché. I came to admire how they go about their business in less than ideal environments. But then I realized: If they could give me this transformation in just three days, imagine what they could provide your organization as a whole.

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