The V.A.L.O.R. book goes beyond traditional military development resources. It's a compelling yet practical guide designed to help you excel in both your personal and professional life. Through insightful lessons and real-world applications, this book demonstrates how discipline and growth can lead to extraordinary transformations. Join the V.A.L.O.R. journey and learn to embrace leadership, resilience, and excellence while enjoying every moment along the way.
As a career Army officer, I spent two-plus decades watching Soldiers end their term of service or retire, only to see them struggle with life following service, particularly with employment. As a young officer, I thought there had to be a better way.
Soldiers that I admired, who were brilliant, confident, extremely well educated, had an unwavering moral compass, and commanded the respect of their superiors and peers, somehow struggled with employment. Upon departure, they often lost their identity, their network of friends, and their routine simply ceased to exist. Losing that military “rudder” was devastating.
I knew there had to be a better route, a path by which a transitioning service member could gain the kind of employment they desire, one that fills some of the void of military service.
Early in my quest, I established three personal goals:
1. I want to depart military service on my terms. I had a glorious career, and I did not want to be “forced” out due to a mandatory removal date. That would simply tarnish a great career.
2. I did not want to work as a Federal, State or Military contractor
3. I wanted my next career to be something different
This book is a chronology of the six years I spent learning how to leave service in the Army and gain employment as a senior leader and executive with the ESPN/DISNEY Corporations. I achieved all three of the above goals. Looking back on this, I realized that what I did was not exceptional. I applied the skills and tools taught to me by the Army, became a humble student of learning how to brand and market myself, and took charge of my future following 28 years of service.
What came from this 6-year learning journey was a series of steps, make no mistake, it was not a well-organized plan while I was in the process. Rather it was trying many things to see what would work. What worked became this book, “Valor.”
For decades, I have been an employee and employer. I have served as the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief to the global publication, PERFORMANCE/360 magazine that has aligned me with the top branded personalities, employers, and military generals.
I've spent decades as a business writer, best-selling author of graduate management text and trade books, business owner, and signer of lots of personnel paychecks, along the way becoming a talent development advisor. In my own career, I have had the opportunity to transition from one employer to another, both by design and by forced initiatives.
I have worked with military professionals in their transition campaigns for decades. I have seen and heard everything there is to witness around the topic here of talent management and how one does and does not successfully transition from the military to the private sector for sustained next-chapter success!
For decades, I have served and I have observed from massively successful people and organizations what works and what does not work.
As a professional business genre Journalist and Broadcaster for many years in the Midwest, I transitioned into the world of the Fortune 100 in a selling and business capacity. Through the years, I've built myself into working with senior military leaders and business executives, penned 31-books, translated into 21-languages along the way.
With my work with the Fortune 100 and cutting-edge entrepreneurial businesses, for nearly three decades with JeffreyMagee.com a leadership talent development firm. I have also had the unique opportunity to collaborate with the top two employment search/placement firms CEOs in America - Max Mesner of Robert Half & Associates and Robert Funk of Express Services/Express Personnel.
This book is a chronology of 30-years of front-row-seats to military leaders and private sector business professionals' trajectory to continued success.