Beyond the Uniform

Why Listen: 

Sign me up for the Danny Hwang fan club. We cover some fresh terrain for Beyond the Uniform, as we follow Danny’s story of leaving the Army - and just weeks later - traveling to Shanghai, and growing an education startup until - three years later - he and his brother successfully sold their first company. In doing so, they achieved a lifelong goal they committed to at age six, of being able to retire their parents and move them from their home in Atlanta back to Seoul, Korea. Now, Danny is at it again, this time in Vietnam, joined by co-founders who were his classmates at West Point, and friends in the Army. If you are interested in taking a risk in your career, in setting goals and achieving them, in maintaining a great family life in addition to a great work life, in starting companies, or just hearing a story from an inspirational veteran doing great things in the world. This episode is for you.

If you enjoy this episode, two similar episodes that I would recommend are:

1. BTU #114 - Founding an Inc 500 Company While Traveling Southeast
   Asia (Justin Cooke) - where Justin Cooke talks about founding Empire
   Flippers all while traveling through Southeast Asia.
   2 - BTU #11 -BTU #111: Two sibling Army Vets and Their Two Successful
   Startups - the story of Jon and Chris Boggiano, both West Point grads
   and Army Veterans who co-founded two different successful startups
   together.

About Danny:

Danny Hwang is the Founder & CEO of Point Avenue. Based in Vietnam, Point Avenue is a private education technology company offering K-12 educational services and admissions consulting across Southeast Asia. He started out at West Point, after which he served as an Army Ranger for six years, including two tours in Iraq and over 25 months overseas. After his military service, he co-founded New Pathway Education & Technology Group with his older brother, Sam, in Shanghai, China, which was acquired in 2014 by CVC Capital Partners. He currently serves as the Chairman of Ignite, a professional services company that specializes in human capital development, and CEO of Odyssey, a joint venture company developing AI technology. Danny's hobbies include traveling the world with his wife, Honda, racing in ultra-marathons and Ironman competitions, reading, and spending time with his family.

Our Sponsor: 

This episode is sponsored by Point Avenue. Based in Vietnam, Point Avenue is a private education technology company offering K-12 educational services and admissions consulting across Southeast Asia. We are grateful for the financial support of Point Avenue on this episode, which helps us further our mission at Beyond the Uniform and have a bigger impact on the military Veteran community.

Website: http://www.pointavenue.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PointAvenue/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Point.Avenue/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5A3YP-6-Ir4UAIeCLA4SzQ    

Why Listen
Well, you know you're enjoying a conversation when midway through, you're already planning the next interview. Tyler is awesome. I just really appreciated so much about this interview. The thing that stands out to me most is his mastery in sales. He talks about his career, which is a variety of different experiences in the functional role of sales while also having most of that in the industry of energy. What I appreciated about his story is hearing about how throughout his career he's picked up different tools, different tricks, different skills that over time have allowed him to really have a mastery of this field in sales. I also appreciated his ability to communicate extremely effectively why veterans are well suited to sales, why this may be an appealing career path, even if you think it's the least likely career path that you would want to pursue. We talk about executive MBA, why he chose to pursue it, which is pretty unique for most guests that I have on the show, and a whole lot more.

About Tyler
Tyler Johnston is a Sales Director on Black & Veatch’s Corporate Strategic Accounts team. He is responsible for managing global relationships in the technology sector and helping his clients build critical infrastructure solutions that consolidate the EPC’s power, water, telecom and consulting offerings. He started out at the Naval Academy, served as an Infantry Officer in the US Marine Corps for 5 years, and has held positions at NRG Energy, Genera Electric, and Shift.org. He earned his MBA at Columbia Business School.

Why Listen:
In this episode, I answer three listener questions, talk about our upcoming webinars, and review three upcoming interviews and what I learned.

Why Listen:

What I appreciate most about my conversation with Tom is his authenticity. After 30 years in the Army, it took Tom a while to find his new home in the civilian workforce. While he was able to land incredible opportunities - General Manager at Mercedes Benz USA, Senior Manager at Amazon, Academic Dean at St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy - each of these proved to be a poor fit for him. I respect Tom’s willingness to talk about what this process was like - the frustrations, the disappointments, the uncertainty - these are all challenges I’ve faced in my own career, and challenges other guests have experienced as well. Yet, Tom brings an openness to this conversation that I found refreshing. More importantly, the new home that he has found is incredible. Tom’s career journey has led him to work as the Financial Wellness Vice President at Wounded Warrior Project. I have to say, I was extremely fired up about learning more about the work that Wounded Warrior Project is doing. Not only are they providing an incredible support to the military community, but they’re also supporting other organizations in a way that is broadening their impact. Every Veteran would benefit from learning about Wounded Warrior Project and their mission, and I hope you check them out.

About Tom:

Tom Kastner is the Financial Wellness Vice President at Wounded Warrior Project. He started out at West Point and served for 30 years in the Army, including serving as the Director of the Dean’s Staff at West Point. His career since the Army has included time at Mercedes Benz USA, where he worked as the General Manager for Learning and Performance, Amazon, and St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy among others. He holds a Master of Arts in National Security Studies at the Naval War College, a PhD in Industrial Engineering at Georgia Tech, an MS in statistics from Georgia Tech and an MS in applied mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Why Listen:
In this episode, I answer two listener questions that I believe are relevant to our audience: one about following one’s passion and one about podcasts. I also share about an area in my life where I’ve felt out of integrity with Beyond the Uniform. In this episode, I reference two different podcasts I believe listeners would enjoy:

The first is my interview with author, Cal Newport, who talks about how the advice “follow your passion” is B.S. You can listen to that interview here: https://beyondtheuniform.org/blog/btu-86-author-cal-newport-so-good-they-cant-ignore-you?rq=cal%20newport

The second is an episode I did about podcasting - why you should consider doing it, and everything you need to know to make that happen. You can listen to that interview here: https://beyondtheuniform.org/blog/btu-244-podcasting?rq=podcasting

Why Listen:
In this episode, I share three professional thoughts and two personal thoughts.