According to General Wesley Clark, the key to being an effective leader is starting at the bottom.
Clark offers his insight on a new episode of Yahoo Finance’s Warrior Money. The retired four-star Army general and former Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO spoke to hosts Patrick Murphy and Dan Kunze about his journey from the highest ranks of the armed forces to top-level positions in business.
A critical driver of success for other people making that transition, Clark says, is “technical competence”. That skill, however, only comes from one place: experience.
“You’ve got other know what you’re talking about—in the military and in business,” Clark says. “You’ve got to be able to question the assumptions.”
“I think there’s no real substitute for experience. You just have to learn it,” he adds. “And it takes a while. It’s not something necessarily that just comes out of a book.”
Clark notes that in the military, what makes generals effective is that they’ve climbed through the ranks of service—a practice that should be relied upon more in the business world.
“The best business leaders I’ve seen are those who’ve had their hands on the real thing at the bottom; not those who were shoved into an organization at the top because they’re just financial managers,” he tells Murphy and Kunze. “They’re people who really understand the stuff of the business.”
Hosted by former Congressman Patrick Murphy and veteran investor Dan Kunze, Yahoo Finance’s Warrior Money is a weekly vodcast dedicated to uplifting military veterans transitioning into civilian life. Through insights from fellow veterans and high-ranking government officials, Murphy and Kunze are helping set vets up for success through financial education and inspiration.
This post was written by Nick Riccardo.
