SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 210,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our e-newsletter.
What’s your perspective on hiring veterans?
- They’re great hires! I love their leadership and operating skills: 63%
- They’re OK — on par with other candidates I consider: 32%
- They’re not that good — they don’t fit well with business culture: 3%
- They’re poor — their skills don’t translate and they don’t fit in: 1%
Vets Welcome Here. It’s encouraging to see such a strong, favorable view of bringing veterans in to be members of a corporate team. Sure I’m biased being a veteran myself but the results of the poll speak for themselves. The better you understand veterans and the challenges they face, the more effectively you can lead them. Spend time exploring their military backgrounds and understanding their perspectives. You might find issues that are holding them back that you can then coach them on or you might find skills you never imagined they’d have. Either way, please continue considering them for roles on your team. They appreciate the opportunity more than you realize.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS, author of “Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results” and “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”