“As an employee, you must be exceptionally dedicated and rigorous in order for both yourself and other veterans to maintain a highly disciplined and professional level of respect so that you can fully leverage your military background. Professionalism is not just for the military; it applies equally in the business world.” – Ch 3, Combat Leader to Corporate Leader

Building a second successful career following military service is exceptionally important. The path for veterans to maintain and improve their corporate professional performance is to have a dedicated personal improvement plan that maintains those critical qualities of respect and then uses their military experience as a professional springboard to expand and improve their commercial business skill sets.

The Veteran’s Internal Personal Improvement Plan Items

(1) Positive, Constructive Attitude - Attitude is one of the most important mental criteria that will make an employee shine in terms of both performance and leadership.

(2) Cognitive And Physical Well-Being - Cognitive and physical well-being is the mental and physical state when your mental purpose is aligned with your physical body

(3) Continued Professional Education - Another key to success in formal education is not to be too concerned with trying to force an enormous formal business education in a short period of time. Business education is best when it is surrounded by business context based upon day-to-day challenges or upcoming projects.

(4) Openness To New Experiences - The summation of all of these uncertainties in the marketplace, fluidity of roles in a commercial organization, and differences between the veteran and non-veteran employee peer groups can encourage a status-quo or “pull back” approach by the veteran employee. No matter the expressed definition of workplace activity and company roles, you should dive into whatever roles and experiences are offered immediately.

Veteran External Personal Improvement Plan Items

(1) Personal Appearance – Conduct a reconnaissance at work to determine what they generally accepted dress style is at your place of employment. Next, your goal of personal professional appearance is to dress somewhere between the typical employee and the personal appearance of the superior that is one position higher than your boss.

(2) Professional Decorum - Your goal is to portray and supportive physical bearing in the workplace.

(3) Professional Language - Your quality of speech needs to be clear, understandable, free of non-industry jargon, confident, and compelling. Remember, cursing and swearing is rarely acceptable and generally frowned upon.

(4) Example Setting - An employee who projects a positive and supportive internal attitude and a positive external appearance is a tremendous asset to an organization.

The challenge to be a good businessperson is exceptional, and a steadfast personal improvement plan needs to be a core part of your new profession. In the military, routine personal professional development was a central and important part of the military profession of arms. Personal professional development remains a core part of being a good businessperson.