On Point

This episode features part 1 of a discussion between the honorable Robert McDonald, the new Chairman of the WPAOG Board of Directors, and Todd Browne, the president and CEO of AOG. Bob and Todd share their mutual and individual goals and vision for AOG. The organization continues to grow and is aimed at fulfilling its mission to serve the Long Gray Line by becoming the most highly connected alumni body in the world.

As a highly distinguished leader and civil servant, Bob shares insights and his vision for AOG. Complementing his vision, Todd discusses more immediate strategies AOG is implementing to ensure growth, connections, and valuable services to members of the Long Gray Line. Their efforts are geared towards supporting the US Military Academy and Margins of Excellence that drive West Point to continue to be the world-class institution it’s been for over 150 years.

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“In today’s divisive, politically charged environment, I always come back to West Point. I come back to duty, honor, country. I come back to military officers choosing to be a-political. And, when I look at the force that West Point is and will always be for good in our country - it really is a guide post, a shining light for what we can be. And, I think our graduates live with that everyday.” - Robert McDonald

“Five years ago we put in place that vision statement for the Long Gray Line to be the most highly connected alumni body in the world. And, then paired with our mission to serve West Point and the Long Gray Line - two simple statements. But, really when you think about it, it’s really two key words: Serve and be Connected. And, if we are successful at the AOG in keeping the Long Gray Line connected, then the Long Gray Line is like a force for good to help both other graduates and the institution of West Point. So, that’s why it is really critical that we stay connected. Because the Long Gray Line is a powerful force when pulled in the same direction.” - Todd Browne

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Episode Timestamps

(04:00) - Robert McDonald discusses new role as Chairman of the WPAOG Board of Directors

(06:00) - WPAOG Initiatives for 2022

(07:30) - Importance of alumni being connected

(09:00) - AOG as a hub for connection

(09:35) - AOG Activities, Initiatives, Programs

(10:50) - Human Centered Design and West Point Graduates 

(13:40) - AOG Moments that Matter

(17:20) - Transitioning and Life After the Military

(22:05) - Design of AOG

(26:03) - Making Connections with other Graduates

(27:15) - Where Does AOG Want to Be

(31:20) - Personalization and Outreach for AOG

(33:20) - Comfort and Connections Between Graduate Entrepreneurs

(35:50) - Importance of Data to Help Graduates

(38:00) - Guiding Graduates 

(40:00) - Advice for How Graduates Can Better Connect with Eachother

(44:50) - Finding My Next Mission

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Links

Todd A Browne LinkedIn

Robert A. McDonald LinkedIn

West Point Association of Graduates

On Point Podcast

Hello and welcome to another episode of On Point. In this episode, Eddie makes a huge announcement you won't want to miss. Along with the announcement, we want to wish you and your loved ones a happy and healthy holiday season and a great start to your New Year! 

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Links:

Connect with Old Grad Club on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

This episode features an interview with Taylor Justice, Co-founder & President of Unite Us. Unite Us is an outcome-focused technology company building coordinated care networks of health and social service providers. Since launch in 2012, Unite Us has raised $195m in venture funding.

On this episode, Taylor talks about how there really are no rules as an entrepreneur, how he raised subsequent rounds of funding for Unite Us, and why he believes it’s so important to keep that sense of purpose, even after serving.

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“There are no rules. And I use it like and I’d tell people at business school, this as well, who are in finance or consulting, there's this formula that you can run through to make that career jump. And you do X, Y, and Z. It's going to give you some results. Whereas in entrepreneurship, there are formulas that you can follow. But you have to break down those walls because when there are no rules, then you get to define what the world then sees or how they perceive certain things.” — Taylor Justice

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Episode Timestamps:

*(2:05) - Segment: AAR - After Action Review

*(5:40) - Taylor’s first entrepreneurial endeavor

*(10:00) - Where the idea for Unite Us came from

*(16:28) - Going to Columbia Business School and meeting his co-founder

*(29:10) - How Taylor raised subsequent rounds of funding for Unite Us

*(23:10) - Segment: The Sitrep - Situation Report

*(35:20) - Segment: The SOP - Standard Operating Procedure

*(40:40) - The habits that Taylor’s held onto through his success

*(47:35) - Segment: Giving Back

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Links

Connect with Taylor on LinkedIn

Follow Taylor on Twitter

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Old Grad Club on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

This episode features an interview with Danny Hwang. Danny is the Founder & CEO of education technology company Point Avenue, and a Partner at NPX Capital.

On this episode, Danny shares the major setbacks he overcame at West Point, how mentors like his brother shaped his life, and what you should be striving for instead of work-life balance.

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“First is what I call work-life harmony. There's no such thing as work-life balance because that automatically assumes that those are two competing forces. And I always remind people including myself, that if you want to build success, the grinding, the hard work, the sacrifice, that is a must. There are no freebies.” — Danny Hwang

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Episode Timestamps:

*(2:12) - Danny’s four major setbacks while at West Point

*(4:55) - Where the Army took Danny after West Point

*(6:05) - Post military life for Danny where he wanted to go/do

*(8:46) - Danny and his brother’s close-knit relationship

*(14:06) - Measuring success at NPX Point Avenue

*(18:01) - All the different aspects of NPX

*(21:15) - Segment: SOP - Standard Operating Procedure

*(25:47) - Where Danny got his discipline from and when it began

*(27:37) - What Danny’s motivation is and how it compared to his past

*(32:07) - Giving Back

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Links

Connect with Danny on LinkedIn

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Old Grad Club on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

“If we can just start to feel comfortable in our uncertainty and embrace it and be patient with it and understand that this is a process that's evolving for, can stay true to ourselves. Beautiful things emerged from uncertainty. And it's really hard, man. It's easy for me to say. It's very hard to do. But I find that the true artists of life, the people who tend to redefine themselves across different chapters of their lives that continue to grow, they've been able to dance with uncertainty and embrace it and use it as a, as a stage to grow. Man, the sooner we realize that as veterans, life becomes not this thing that you must endure, but this dance that you get to experience.” — Socrates Rosenfeld

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Episode Timestamps:

*(3:00) - Transitioning from the military to the private sector

*(7:10) - First stop post-deployment: Guatemala  

*(11:15) - Turning journal entries into reality

*(16:30) - Leaving McKinsey and taking the leap and how to take it for yourself

*(20:40) - Starting a company with your family

*(25:25) - What launch day of Jane Technologies was like

*(28:50) - What Socrates is focused on today with Jane and what he envisions for the future

*(33:30) - Segment: The SOP

*(37:35) - Segment: Giving Back

Links:

Connect with Socrates on LinkedIn

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Old Grad Club on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

“My chairman of the board for team RWB, First Captain in West Point class of 1991, Doug McCormick says that bias for action is very important because you're going to learn a lot just by rolling up your sleeves and doing. And so even if you start something and it only lasts for two years or three years, or it doesn't succeed — it might very well be setting you up for success in some arena or some way that you didn't expect.” — Mike Erwin

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Episode Timestamps:

*(2:05) - Pitching at West Point and Mike’s overall experience

*(4:25) - Balancing Team Red, White & Blue and the military 

*(6:40) - When an idea becomes a living-breathing entity

*(8:05) - Scaling a non-profit organization

*(12:30) - The guiding mentors that helped Mike along the way

*(15:40) - Mike publishes his first book: Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude

*(19:10) - Mike’s new book is coming out soon: Leadership is a Relationship: How to Put People First in the Digital World

*(25:00) - The next phase of leadership, psychology, and humanity

*(29:40) - How Mike balances everything he has going on

*(32:00) - The Sitrep

*(36:50) - What stresses Mike out and how he reframes his thinking

*(39:40) - Giving Back

Links

Connect with Mike on LinkedIn

Follow Mike on Twitter

Pre-order his upcoming book: Leadership is a Relationship: How to Put People First in the Digital World

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Old Grad Club on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

“We raised our hand and said, ‘I will defend against all enemies foreign and domestic,’ and I do that every morning. I don't raise my hand, but I go out there for the mission. And J&J, being a fortune 50 company, is not only a target because it's healthcare and because it's created a vaccine, but it's also part of the financial institution and is seen as a symbol of the United States. So [it’s paramount] to make sure that our data is safe and our systems are safe so that the people who create the vaccines, who create the drugs, who create the bandaids that are used around the world every single day— they're free operate without being attacked or having to worry about their systems or data.” — Marene Allison

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Episode Timestamps:

*(3:10) - Where Marene grew up and how she heard about West Point

*(3:40) - What it meant to be the first class of women at West Point

*(7:10) - Did Marene think she’d ever become CISO of J&J?

*(8:40) - How Marene thought about her early career

*(10:30) - How to prove people wrong 

*(11:30) - Joining the FBI

*(19:27) - Joining Johnson & Johnson

*(21:45) - The scope and magnitude of being the CISO for J&J

*(26:50) - SOP - Standard Operating Procedure

*(29:50) - The trust needed to be CISO of J&J

*(33:24) - The Situation Report

*(33:50) - Securing the J&J Vaccine

*(36:05) - How the first shared interest group West Point Women came to be

*(41:20) - What impact Marene wants West Point Women to accomplish 

*(46:50) - Giving Back

Links

Connect with Marene on LinkedIn

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Old Grad Club on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

“You're never going to be able to scratch that itch, that service, and comradeship that we got that satisfaction from while in uniform. So if that's important to you, then find a way to keep that alive. Fallen Patriots is my calling from that perspective. I think that's important to almost all veterans is to keep that sense of purpose and service alive.” — David Kim

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Episode Timestamps:

*(2:12) - Why David went to West Point

*(6:20) - Jumping headfirst into the private equity world

*(17:15) - How David thinks about career progression

*(20:40) - The founding story behind Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation

*(22:00) - The success behind the Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation

*(25:00) - How to have a day-job and start a non-profit organization

*(27:20) - The skill set overlap between Apax and Children of the Fallen Patriots Foundation

*(31:20) - SOP - Standard Operating Procedure

*(37:10) - What David currently focuses on

*(39:40) - Giving Back 

Links

Connect with David on LinkedIn

Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Old Grad Club on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

“You may forget what people say. You may forget what people do, but you never forget how people make you feel. And I know that's so true for me. And that doesn't mean you've got to tell people what they want to hear. Because leadership is about being able to have tough conversations and tough discussions. And people may not be happy, but in the end, I don't want to be liked. It'd be great if I'm liked, but I do want to be respected and that's critical.” — Herman Bulls

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Episode Timestamps:

*(2:45) - What drew Herman to go to West Point

*(4:45) - How Herman viewed his early career after West Point

*(16:15) - The difference between networking and connecting

*(19:19) - The power of paying it forward

*(22:00) - The common theme of the various boards Herman sits on

*(27:55) - How Herman draws upon his military experience in the private sector

*(30:45) - What Herman’s day-to-day looks like

*(36:25) - How Herman thinks about his career currently

*(39:26) - The SOP - The Standard Operating Procedure

*(42:27) - The 6 critical skills to be successful

*(53:42) - The things Herman has always wanted to implement & now can

Links

Connect with Herman on LinkedIn

Follow Herman on Twitter

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Old Grad Club on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

“And you just have to get up every day, face the challenges, regardless of how you feel. And I think a lot of the things we do, there's all kinds of external things that happen on a day-to-day basis. And a lot of times you sort of want to close your eyes and just avoid and pretend that maybe you don't have these troubles, but it's there. So you might as well open your eyes, face those things head-on and just go through it one by one. And you know, at some point there's going to be a better day and, and I think that's something West Point has just ingrained in me. And I think we were able to go through some tough times knowing that.” — Han Kim

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Episode Timestamps:

*(2:24) - The decision behind going to West Point

*(4:10) - How Han thought about his career early on

*(6:20) - Joining P&G after Stanford Business School

*(12:30) - Co-founding and starting a fund early in your career

*(21:28) - Altos Ventures first big breakthrough

*(24:14) - Acknowledging reality

*(29:30) - Some of Altos Ventures’ investments and their investing memos

*(33:45) - The Sitrep - The Situation Report

*(38:15) - The SOP - The Standard Operating Procedure

*(43:09) - Giving Back 

Links

Connect with Han on LinkedIn 

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Old Grad Club on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com