While serving in the military, Richard Lawrence was posted in Northern Island, Iran, and Afghanistan. Post leaving the Army, he sought ways to bring his experience and knowledge to the business. He married his military experience and business knowledge into one and launched CounterStrike. The company is responsible for handling all aspects of corporate problem-solving, planning, and resilience training.
Topics Covered:
what business can learn from the military
the biggest misconception about the military
how can military techniques help improve resilience
How to apply Wargaming in the workplace
What leaders can do to help their staff be more resilient
Listen on this blog, Apple Podcast,Spotify, Anchor and other platforms.
Key Points
Richard shares lessons that he calls the art of counterstrike, he emphasizes the necessity to talk about "Why you want to take a lesson from one area of endeavor and take it to another level".
He talks about taking every crisis as a crate of opportunity, which he refers to as the art of counterstrike.
He gives listeners a glimpse about mission command – “This is a concept where subordinates are told what to do, not how to do it”.
Benoit discusses how during extreme circumstances, one has no time for bureaucracy or follow a pre-planned process rather, it is more important to focus on the outcome
Richard stresses the importance of learning anything that your enemy does as it is the best teacher on any battleground.
They agree that no one has a monopoly on good ideas - If it is something that a business competitor is doing or if a person can improve upon what they are doing, then there is nothing wrong with that.
Richard Lawrence shares the lessons he has learned while serving in the military and what he wants to bring to the business table.
Richard shares insights on “How do we make someone part of the team while keeping aside factors like race, caste, and culture?”
Quotes:
“If you are stuck on a problem that you can’t solve, put it aside for a minute and instead work on a different problem with equal difficulty – you often have the solution to the first problem.”
“We live in a world that is a balance between order and chaos”
“Resilience is the outcome of discipline, planning and also the ability to switch plans if need be.”
“The master principle of war is selection and maintenance of the aim”