On Point

“The folks that have worked for me and gone on to do amazing things—far more successful than me—is what I'm most proud of in my life. And part of that is inspiring them and pushing them and believing in them, and that's leadership.” — Chris Hsu

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Episode Timestamps:

*(2:35) - Chris’ father’s influence on Army+West Point

*(5:40) - Character defining moments at West Point

*(11:50) - Successfully transitioning from West Point to the private sector

*(13:45) - Advice to new grads

*(17:00) - Career transitions and how to pivot 

*(19:45) - Answering the call and making an impact

*(24:30) - Being the person that people think of first

*(27:30) - The Sitrep - The Situation Report

*(27:45) - Running Zibo 

*(30:40) - How Zibo came to life and the idea behind it

*(35:15) - Customer Acquisition Strategies 

*(38:55) - How the pandemic affected Zibo

*(44:30) - The future of Zibo 

*(47:50) - SOP - The Standard Operating Procedure

*(52:30) - The Importance of Giving Back and parting advice

Links

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn 

Check out Zibo 

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Old Grad Club on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

“I'm a big fan of what I call ‘hold my beer moments.’ What are those things that you're going to look back on in life and say, ‘Gosh, I regret not doing that’ versus, ‘That was crazy, but how cool that I had a chance to do that.’” — France Hoang

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Episode Timestamps:

*(0:24) - AAR 

*(0:50) - Getting airlifted out of Vietnam at the age of 2

*(2:15) - Why France’s parents decided to settle in the U.S.

*(4:40) - Joining West Point

*(6:15) - Post West Point 

*(10:25) - Becoming  Chief of Police and SWAT team Commander 

*(16:00) - Preparation meets opportunity

*(18:25) - Re-deploying at the age of 35 to the Special Forces

*(22:00) - Getting involved in aerospace 

*(26:50) - The love of learning 

*(30:55) - What France would have done differently

*(32:25) - The Sitrep - The Situation Report

*(35:20) - The founding story of boodleAI

*(39:00) - SOP - Standard Operating Procedure

*(41:25) - Giving Back

Links

The Long Gray Line by Rick Atkinson

Follow France on Twitter 

Connect with France on LinkedIn 

Connect with Frank on LinkedIn

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Old Grad Club on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

“The key to success is how do you pick the 10 or 15 or 20 things to be the right things. You're not going to get them all right. But if you waste your time on the wrong things, that don't make any difference, you're not going to succeed. And so I really encourage people to be thoughtful about how you spend your time, because you're going to realize that time becomes your most critical resource.” — Frank Finelli 

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Episode Timestamps:

*(1:59) - Frank’s reason to join the military 

*(3:50) - Post West Point

*(4:59) - Frank’s time at MIT

*(9:09) - The serendipity of Frank’s decisions 

*(13:45) - Joining the Carlyle Group 

*(15:46) - The Sitrep 

*(18:00) - How Carlyle thinks about the new innovations in the aerospace/defense industry

*(20:30) - How Frank maintains his network

*(21:55) - Setting up a career after serving in the military

*(24:30) - How Frank mentors people

*(26:15) - SOP - Standard Operating Procedure 

*(29:20) - How to break into private equity

Links

Connect with Frank on LinkedIn

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Eddie on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

“My daughter just graduated from college. And my oldest son asked her, ‘what's the best advice dad ever gave you?’ She said: ‘Simple, if you're the smartest person in the room, you need to find another room.’ My career has been defined by being around talented people.” — John Robb ‘91 

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Episode Timestamps:

*(01:45) - AAR - After Action Review

*(5:30) - Life after West Point

*(8:30) - How John got involved in Bernstein Wealth Management

*(11:10) - How John thought about investment management early in his career

*(13:30) - Get involved with local societies earlier rather than later

*(15:20) - The difference between investing at Berstein and AOG

*(22:10) - The Sitrep - The Situation Report

*(25:15) - The unique characteristics of investing West Point’s endowment vs. other universities

*(27:40) - The best advice John gave to his daughter and how he’s made career decisions

*(30:25) - The early fears and challenges John had to overcome when starting Stone Creek

*(35:45) - What Stone Creek is today vs. what John thought it was going to be in 2016

*(44:35) - How to manage your time

*(49:45) - How to think about long-term investing

*(56:15) - John’s mentors and how they’ve helped him

*(59:40) - SOP - Standard Operating Procedure 

Links

The Innovator's Dilemma

Connect with John on LinkedIn

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Eddie on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

“Think about spinning the board around and sitting on the other side of it and saying, how would I beat me? And I think if you do that really well, I think there's a lot of reasons why being your own enemy in that context is something that's a really valuable skill for thinking aggressively about how to improve your own ideas, about how to improve your own plan, and how to improve your own team.” — Jason Crabtree

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Episode Timestamps

Episode Timestamps:

*(2:00) QOMPLX’s founding story

*(5:00) The press coverage of ransomware and its overall uptick

*(8:00) The structure of the criminal enterprises 

*(11:00) The main habits that have allowed Jason to be successful

*(13:00) The similarities and differences between West Point/Deployment and running QOMPLX

*(16:45) The similarities and differences between growing teams as young military officers and as a private sector CEO

*(19:30) A crash course on leadership and team dynamics 

*(22:55) How QOMPLX is different from its competitors

*(25:55) QOMPLX’s acquisitions to date

*(29:35) The future of QOMPLX and the problems they are trying to solve

*(33:20) Jason’s learnings on the SPAC process

*(37:05) How funding affects QOMPLX’s mission

*(39:30) The future of society with QOMPLX achieving its mission

Links

Connect with Jason on LinkedIn

Check out QOMPLX

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Eddie on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

“You've got to be competent in what you're doing and you've got to communicate it properly. You have to have courage to step up and stand out. A lot of leadership is about getting out in front and staying out in front and taking the shots that are going to come your way. I think West Point and the military does a very good job of exposing younger people to that fact and they hand you a lot of responsibility early on and make you accountable. It stands you in good stead for a business career as well.”  — Bill Murdy

Episode Timestamps:

*(2:40) AAR & Bill’s reason for going to West Point

*(7:30) Bill’s entrepreneurial journey begins

*(10:20) Aggressively take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves 

*(12:14) Bill’s most rewarding part of his career

*(15:55) SOP - Standard Operating Procedure

*(18:20) A core part of leadership is getting out in front

*(19:20) The Sitrep — the Thayer Leader Development Group

*(23:30) Getting shot at with real bullets and how it compares to fighting for your company

*(26:00) Giving Back — advice for younger people

Links

Connect with Bill on LinkedIn

Thayer Leadership

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Connect with Eddie on LinkedIn

www.oldgradclub.com

“My advice to young people is to focus on the purpose and the values of the organization you're going to, the character of the people in the organization. Forget about the job title, forget about the salary and focus on the things that really matter and that are enduring because those things aren't enduring.”

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*(2:00) Bob’s purpose

*(3:45) How Bob’s North Star developed

*(6:00) Bob’s childhood in Indiana

*(8:30) West Point days

*(10:25) Post-West Point

*(13:30) Leaving the military and joining the private sector

*(15:40) Procter & Gamble gain Bob

*(18:00) Don’t fixate on a particular position

*(22:25) The hardest decision Bob had to make  

*(24:40) Equating leadership in the military vs. leadership at P&G

*(27:00) How P&G operates

*(29:45) Developing empathy as a business leader

*(31:00) Inventions are almost never used for their original purpose

*(34:00) What Bob did before joining the VA

*(35:42) If it weren’t for the VA, American medicine would be nowhere

*(36:50) Lessons learned while at the VA

*(41:00) The courage needed to run the VA

*(43:15) The next generation of the VA

*(45:20) Bob’s core advice for younger vets

On Point brings you candid conversations with veteran business leaders about how they lead, drive change, and find success. On Point is a show for veterans, as well as anyone who wants to learn business and leadership lessons from some of the top innovators in the world. It’s a show for those who want to learn from the best, push their career forward, and stay on the cutting edge.