What was the impetus for you to start COMMIT?
I was fortunate to serve in the Intelligence Community, deploy a few times with the military, and marry into it. When I left government, I saw high performing service members leaving active duty and defaulting to government and defense contracting jobs. They essentially had three gaps: There was an information gap; they didn’t understand how their skill sets transferred. There was a confidence gap, no matter what they did in uniform, which was surprising to see. And, there were huge imagination gaps about what the host of possible was. In spite of there being over 40,000 veteran service organizations at the time, many of the folks who could create the most value for our nation were not being served because people assumed they would transition well.
We saw a lot of folks defaulting into trajectories they thought were their only options, when in reality they could do whatever it was they wanted to do. My husband was one of those, so I got to live it first-hand. So the impetus was folks coming together, knowing there was opportunity to do more, create more, give back more. We wrote a strategy and then started with a workshop. It went well and then we rolled out one on one services on top of that.
What was your experience in government intelligence agencies like, and did that experience help you develop the COMMIT Foundation to its current level of excellence?
I was at the DIA at the end of my career but had the opportunity to work for more than one three letter organization. I spent time at the DNI to include setting it up at CIA Headquarters right after the 9/11 Commission. I also spent time in OSD and DHS.
Photo Credit: http://www.heartsonfire.org
At OSD, I worked Special Operations and Counterterrorism policy, particularly focusing on targeting Al-Qaeda Senior Leadership. I got to know the units, their missions, and the talent associated with those missions. I was the first person to deploy for the Director of National Intelligence, and was assigned to a Special Operations Task Force. It was my time in those units and those offices that really exposed me to the talent.
You have all these funny things that people say. I remember when they started foreign language training in the SEAL Teams, and there was this joke: “Why would you teach the SEALs another language, they can’t even speak English.” And there were these notions that Special Operators were knuckle draggers, which is just one-hundred-percent inaccurate. Our tier-one special operations units are some of the most well-rounded, high EQ and IQ, talented, versatile, and adaptable people I have ever met in my life. For those folks to think that when they stop serving our country in uniform their only option is to do the same thing in civilian clothes is unfortunate.
I didn’t want to leave the government; I left because I had young kids and it’s not very family conducive deploying. Building COMMIT was a way I felt I could give back to the country. It was still a way to provide national security; because if I could ensure these folks were leading Boy Scout troops or invested in their communities, companies and local organizations, it was going to make the country a stronger, safer place.
Why was it that you chose to focus specifically on post 9/11 veterans?
In the veteran service space, organizations do themselves a disservice when they try to tackle it all. That could be something like homelessness, drug addiction, job transition, all the rabbit holes you could run down in the space. I chose to focus on what I knew, and then what I could do well. In terms of my time in government, I used to hunt bad-guys and now I hunt good-guys; the skill sets are similar. They both focus on understanding who someone is, and getting to the core of that in order to, in this case, enable them. I chose to build the organization around what we knew how to do and that was people and relationships and that’s where it all began.
One of your three lines of operation was having a one-on-one transition assistance program. Could you speak to the impact that having a one-on-one relationship has over group communications or lectures?
I think it’s our differentiator in the space. Very early on I was challenged, and I continue to be at times, by people saying I’m helping veterans who don’t need help, and that a one-on-one approach is not scalable. We spent time this year building our three-year strategy, and one of my goals for 2018 is to share the message and the effectiveness of our approach at a greater scale. One-on-one is the key to the veteran service space. We are a nation that gets wrapped up in how many people are in the room rather than how deeply we are impacting the people in the room. Some of the original initiatives that, sure, have created a lot of momentum in the space-like the 100,000 job initiative, or the programs that ask questions like how much is someone making? how many people have you put in jobs? These questions and indicators don’t get to the core questions, which are who someone is and what is their definition of happiness? What applies to one person may be night and day compared to someone else depending on their definition of a successful transition. And what provides you with personal and professional purpose might be night and day from the next veteran. My biggest goal is that every touch we have with someone is authentic, and that people realize they are speaking with someone who is genuinely invested in them. I want them to cross the threshold of their home every day after work fulfilled so their family life can be what it needs to be.
Is there a specific way you found most effective in discovering what it is that veterans need?
We have a one-on-one transition application that generates a nice place to begin. A key ingredient though is listening; I am able to hear just as much in what they don’t say as what they say. Also, we’ve built a piece of software we are going to release at the end of this month, and start piloting in February. We worked with someone who has been in the people space for a long time to build this program. It has a powerful element called an opportunity filter, where you look at designing your life, what your values are, what your restraints are, and really check in with yourself. We believe this program is going to be transformational in the space.
Can you tell me how COMMIT and the Station Foundation came to be partners, and what it is that you both do together that is so effective and works so well?
COMMIT is big on partnering with like-minded organizations. It is important to not try to become a subject matter expert in everything and to focus on doing what you do well. We build relationships for partner services and referrals. The unique and special piece about our relationship with the Station Foundation is that we stood up at the same time, from the same community and we both care tremendously. Admiral McRaven was the Commander of SOCOM, and in 2012 Shannon Stacy, Brittany Grider, and Anne Meree Craig were three special operations spouses that got invited to speak to the command. We were all tackling the transition puzzle from a different angle. Kevin and Shannon, from the Station, were focused on the family and warrior reintegration. I was focusing more on the career bit, and Britney focused on mission trips for Gold Star spouses and kids.
So Shannon and I met, and then Kevin and I met that summer and we decided to work together. We began doing joint programs in March 2013, and we annually do a program together; the first two years it was in a corporate setting which is usually where COMMIT runs programs, and since the Station acquired their property in Montana, we’ve done programs out there. How the partnership works is that, historically, Kevin has really focused on the holistic, healing and reintegration of a warrior back with their spouse, family and kids. We are a little more tactical when it comes to them figuring out what they want to do from a career perspective.
On a side-note, my family went through the Station Foundation’s family program; my husband was in Special Operations, so when they were just getting started, we went through in May 2013; it was transformational for us. I can’t say enough good things about what The Station Foundation does, not only for families, but I truly believe that Kevin runs the best gold star programs in the country.
Photo Credit: http://www.heartsonfire.org
Is there a specific powerful moment or memory from your time at COMMIT Foundation that you think really embodies what your organization is all about?
The whole thing for me is extremely personal, really authentic work. I want the guys when they come home from whatever it is they are doing professionally, to feel so good about what they did that day. I want the household to be what it needs to be because we have found the right place for them to continue their missions and work out of uniform. I know so many people in transition from the military and have lived it personally. I know what happens when it isn’t done right, when it isn’t done well. COMMIT puts a tremendous amount of thought, rigor, authenticity, and care into everything we do. Our focus is on quality of touch rather than quantity touched, and it’s a differentiator. Every time we put on a program, magic happens, and know it is because of the level of care we invest into every program.