One of the most important transitions in a military career is that from an individual contributor – as a rifleman, a pilot, an electrical engineer, etc. – to leading a team of individual contributors. Former Navy Seal and Extreme Ownership co-author Leif Babin learned this lesson firsthand when, shortly after being promoted to platoon commander, he found himself shooting downrange at the enemy in Iraq. Babin wrote that he had yet to learn that his job was to think and look strategically while his subordinates handled the technical, tactical work of dealing with the armed enemy.
The same principle is true in small business. Engineers, intel officers, pilots, and many other types of skilled veterans lead successful government contracting firms. But as the company grows, you must either transition to less hands-on work to a true leader and manager, or find people who can handle non-technical work like accounting, team management, and operations.
For veterans who want to remain technical experts, it’s critical to maintain your skills. Intelligence, communications, IT – these areas change constantly. You cannot afford to waste time on soft areas of leadership like hiring, financial management, and marketing. Therefore, it is worth considering:
- Bringing in a partner to your firm who can handle the management side of things. While giving up part of your company is never easy, the right partner can take your firm from $500,000 in annual gross revenue to $5 million or more – at greater net profit.
- Focusing on your mission of providing technical expertise. Don’t get distracted by the proverbial shiny object – side ventures and secondary markets can wait until you’ve built a substantial contract backlog and track record with your customer.
- Continuing to learn how to communicate your expertise to contracting officers. Just as an intelligence officer must know how to communicate to military units from different branches during an operation, your ability to effectively communicate will increase with the number of contracts you secure.
Being a technical expert is the most important factor to landing your first few contracts. To become a growing and profitable company, however, you must look beyond individual contributor skill to where your firm is going and how it will get there.
In our next post, we’ll show how technical experts can become effective leaders.