Mel Parker, vice president and general manager of the North America Consumer and Small Office Organization for Dell, knows firsthand that veterans moving into the corporate workforce face unique challenges, particularly in learning and adapting to a corporate culture that might not be as clear and definitive in workplace expectations as a military environment. But veterans also offer strategic benefits from their military experience.
“Everything from establishing mutual trust, building credibility, and learning how to take care of your team counts exactly the same and is as critical and important to corporate success as it was to success in the military,†says Parker, a decorated combat veteran who participated in Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield during the Gulf War and who served with distinction in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, who majored in computer science with a minor in electrical engineering, Parker held a variety of corporate leadership positions, including vice president of North America Sales and Marketing with Newell Rubbermaid and director of sales at Bristol-Myers Squibb, prior to joining Dell in 2009.
Today, he oversees sales, marketing, strategy, and operations at Dell and works to ensure that veterans receive support as they transition to civilian life. He is involved in Dell’s veteran employee resource group, Virtus, named after the Roman deity for bravery and military strength, which is focused on recruitment and retention as well as engaging veterans in the community. “Anytime we can be focused on delivering either products or services to veterans who are either returning from combat or are just getting out of the military, that is a service that we’re proud to be a part of.†Here, Parker discusses the benefits:
What can corporate America learn from veterans who are entering the workforce?
Leadership. People who come out of the military tend to be disciplined in their mannerisms, but that discipline also allows them to be prepared for the unexpected. You also get a different maturity level from a young
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soldier who is just coming out of the military, who has seen a bit of the world. Veterans tend to have a strong work ethic, because that is just how it is in the military. They also tend to focus on the team winning versus an individual winning.
What makes veterans good leaders?
They had to learn how to make connections with people and how to understand developing situations and respond. One of the strengths I think the military gives you is you get feedback immediately. It creates a comfort with feedback. And I think that that’s one of the most powerful things a leader can have, a desire to get feedback, whether it’s painful or not. Because you can’t become better, you can’t engage in self-improvement and introspection, without that feedback.
Does the experience of being in life-and-death situations help to prepare veterans in times of business crisis?
One of the statements we have in the military is ‘the best laid plans all end at the first bullet that’s fired.’ As soon as a situation happens, you have to assume that the plan is going to change. You’re going to need two or three backup plans to be prepared to deal with the unknown. That preparation allows you to always be calm under stressful situations. You bring that preparation mentality to corporate America. You do have to be prepared for things not to go exactly as planned, and you have to have a backup plan, and a backup plan to your backup plan.
What have you learned from your military experience about
assembling a winning team and ensuring that it is inclusive and diverse?As a leader, I count on feedback. One of the things I like to do is invite people outside of my business unit to come in and sit in on my meetings, and then give me feedback on what they see and hear. And if what they see, hear, and feel is not what I think it is, then I can take that feedback and respond to it. When you’re willing to sit back and let your team engage in discourse and conversation, you get the opportunity to observe the dynamics within the team. Then you can take a step back and ensure that you have that diversity of thought, that diversity of backgrounds, and that you have set up an open and transparent forum where all opinions are respected.