There are no victories without setbacks. In this episode of Veteran Led, John Berry reflects on the standout mistakes he has made during the development of his professional career. He emphasizes the importance of discussing failures and shares valuable lessons learned from each mistake. From not investing enough in team development to being too present, John provides insights that can help listeners avoid similar pitfalls in their own endeavors.
John Berry
Welcome fellow veterans. From the tip of the spear to in the rear with the gear, I went from active-duty Infantry to reserve-component logistician. I’m your host, CEO, entrepreneur, trial lawyer, and Lieutenant Colonel Retired, John Berry. The military lessons that I learned helped me grow an eight-figure business that has maintained consistent annual double-digit growth, landing on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America every year for the past seven years and has allowed me to continue to serve America’s heroes.
Welcome back to Veteran Led. In this episode, I’m going to talk about the biggest 10 mistakes that I made over the past several years. Now, I’ve learned that losers love to brag about their accomplishments, but they hoard information, and they’re insecure about their failures. But the winners that I’ve hung out with have taught me that discussing your failures is important for several reasons. Number one is when you can discuss your failures, you can reflect on them. But number two, winners love to hear about the failures of others, and they love to share their failures so we can all learn from each other. Because someone else’s mistakes are a cheap mistake If you can learn that lesson without having to pay the full price that they did.
Think about it as getting the mistake on sale instead of paying full price. Now, the first mistake I made, I was not investing enough in team development. I was investing in myself, but not enough in my team. And then when I finally did it, I was just putting together standard training plans that didn’t fit a specific purpose. Number two, I failed to top-grade after periods of rapid growth. I didn’t look at our leaders and think about how they could get to the next level. I just assumed that they would get there. And I failed to communicate with our leaders about these increasing future expectations. Number three, I failed to hold vendors accountable. I didn’t set clear go, no-go criteria for contract renewals, and we just kept renewing the contracts regardless of whether the vendor performed. Number four, over committing to people and projects. You have to have priorities of work. And when you don’t, you deliver a substandard performance. Number five, hiring without a documented process. A few times we were caught off balance when a promising hire turned out to not be qualified because we didn’t have a process, we didn’t do our due diligence.
Or on the other hand, we would hire when we needed instead of using a documented forecast. And inevitably, we would just hire who was available because we needed someone so badly. So we failed to understand when we would need to hire and plan ahead to ensure that it happened in a timely manner. Number six, I failed to adequately communicate the vision to the entire team. As our organization evolved and improved, some team members love the higher standards and the rapid growth, and some did not. Some were honest about it, and some just played along. The reality is you cannot lead the unwilling, and the unwilling become marginal performers, and they will blame the leadership team for their failure to adapt. And they rightly do so because as the leader, you must communicate that vision. And I fail to do it adequately, I fail to do it often enough, and I fail to do it with clarity. Number seven, excessive focus on risk. As the saying goes, time kills all deals, and we lost a lot of opportunities because we were scared. We traded caution and fear for careful analysis. We should have just recognized the fear and then thought through the problem.
That’s not what we did. Instead, we let the fear paralyze us. Number eight, not hiring recruiters sooner. This was a simple lack of initiative on my part. What I didn’t understand was to get better people inside of our circle, we had to go outside of our circle to find them, and that the best potential team members need someone outside of our circle to convince them to take a look at our organization to determine whether it is the right fit for them. Number nine, purchasing vaporware in the fog of war. What I didn’t realize is that by the time we needed a software solution, it was usually too late because it was going to take six months to a year to implement. I didn’t realize that when I was talking to a salesperson who made all the promises that their perspective was different than the engineer who I finally talked to months later who told me that what I wanted could not be done on the timeline in which I wanted it. Time and time again, I fell for these mind-blowing demonstrations that never came into fruition because I didn’t understand that I needed to discuss these in-depth with an engineer rather than a salesperson, and that what I was being sold was not the same thing that was going to be implemented.
And we call this vaporware because it doesn’t really exist. Number 10, being too present. Now, the worst thing a leader can be is not present. But the second worst is to be too present. Because when you’re too present, and even if you’re not micromanaging people, the team will come to you for answers. Why? Because you’re available. You’re too available. And we know that the mark of a true success is how much the organization grows and thrives with the leader absent.
After Action Review, the top 10 mistakes that I made over the past several years were, number one, not investing enough in team development. Number two, failing to top-grade after periods of rapid growth. Number three, failing to hold vendors accountable. Number four, over committing to people and projects. Number five, hiring without a documented hiring process. Number six, failing to adequately communicate the vision to the team. Number seven, excessive focus on risk. Number eight, not hiring recruiters soon enough. Number nine, purchasing vaporware in the fog of war. Number 10, being too present. If you got anything from today’s episode, I hope that you took away that it is okay to talk about your failures, to talk about your mistakes.
But most importantly, it is generous to share them with others.
Thank you for joining us today on Veteran Led, where we pursue our mission of promoting veteran leadership in business, strengthening the veteran community, and getting veterans all of the benefits that they earned. If you know a leader who should be on the Veteran Led podcast, report to our online community by searching @veteranled on your favorite social channels and posting in the comments. We want to hear how your military challenges prepared you to lead your industry or community, and we will let the world know. And of course, hit subscribe and join me next time on Veteran Led.
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