Parent, Business Leader & Citizen: What We Can Learn from the Marine Corps

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

The Marine Corps Birthday

Last night, I took a friend of mine, Tony, out for an important evening. He’s 96 years old, a retired school superintendent, teacher and deacon. I think he is the father of seven. We went to an event that had about 200 people of all ethnic groups, ages 20 to 96. It included a billionaire, federal judges, musicians, attorneys, business people, and moms and dads. Blue collar and white collar. A diverse group bound by one thing: the birthday we share as US Marines.

It’s a thing. Every November 10^th, Marines all around the world celebrate the birthday of their Corps.

In 1775, 243 years ago, the Marine Corps was born in a tavern in Philadelphia. Today, Marines will celebrate their birthday in formal balls, by sharing a birthday meal in a trench in Afghanistan, or even just by saying “Happy Birthday, Marine” to each other.

So, what can a fighting organization founded almost 250 years ago in a bar teach us about life today? A lot, I think. Let’s talk about three life lessons—story, diversity and relationships.

Story

The Marine Corps spent much of its history as a military afterthought. It’s obvious that every nation needs an army to defend its land and a navy to defend its seas. But do we need a Marine Corps?

Marines started as soldiers at sea who guarded the captain from potentially mutinous sailors and boarded enemy ships in combat. But mutiny hasn’t been a serious issue for almost 200 years and no one today is firing muskets at an enemy crew.

Sure enough, our Marine Corps has been threatened with extinction several times in American history. Even after the Marine Corps performed spectacularly in World War II, many in government (and the Army) tried to abolish the Marine Corps. Your Marine Corps.

If you talk to the Army or Air Force, the Marine Corps survives because the Corps has great public relations. But that misses a deeper lesson. The Marine Corps survives—even thrives—because the Marine Corps understands the importance of telling a compelling story.

All the military services have honor and courage and commitment. But the Marine Corps brings those virtues alive in a super-powerful way by transforming them from theoretical ideas into real-world stories.

In 1847, during the Mexican-American War, the Marines played a role in the capture of Chapultepec Castle on the approaches to Mexico City. The Marines quickly published the story of their role in the battle as an example of Marine heroism. From the Halls of Montezuma….

In 1805, during the war against the Barbary states, seven Marines led several hundred mercenaries across the Libyan desert to fight the Battle of Derna. The battle itself didn’t mean much. It was fought after the Barbary war had ended. But the Marines turned this relatively inconsequential battle into an epic story. To the Shores of Tripoli….

The Marines turned their role in these relatively minor battles into their Story. They told that Story in song:

From the Halls of Montezuma,

To the Shores of Tripoli…

The first two lines of the Marine Corps Hymn, a song that a surprising number of Americans know.

The Marines didn’t just turn these battles into epic stories and song, they made them concrete in their uniforms and tradition. The red stripe on the legs of the Marine Dress Blue uniform remembers the Battle of Chapultepec. All Marine officers have a Mameluke sword, given to the Corps in remembrance of the Battle of Derna.

Going into the Spanish-American War, there was a move to abolish the Corps. The Marines happened to be the first forces to land in Cuba and won a relatively small, but tough battle at Cuzco Wells. The American newspapers—desperate for news about the war—made the Marines heroes.

In World War I, the US Army fought hard, but didn’t allow newspaper reporters to accompany them. The Marines took the reporters with them into battle. In the US, the heroic exploits of the Marines at Belleau Wood and Chateau Thierry filled the newspapers. The French even renamed Belleau Wood after the Marine Brigade that fought there.

In World War II, the Army captured islands in the Pacific, but it was the iconic photo of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima that became the most published picture of the war. Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, said “This means a Marine Corps for another 500 years.”

The Marine Corps tells great stories about Marines showing leadership, commitment, camaraderie, integrity and honor in the most difficult situations imaginable. By constantly telling stories about Marine super heroes like Dan Daly, John Glenn, Ted Williams and Chesty Puller, the Marine Corps convinces current Marines—those average, everyday Americans who are you brother or aunt or next-door neighbor—that they can be super heroes too.

The Marine Corps tells the Marine Corps Story verbally, but also in the uniforms, the customs, the traditions and the way of life.

Like my friend, Tony, receiving the first piece of Marine Corps birthday cake because he was the oldest Marine at the event. 96 years old. That’s the Marine Corps birthday tradition.

The Marine Corps is a way of life that stays with you. Making sure you hang your shirts exactly the right way in the closet. Standing at attention anytime the national anthem is played. Celebrating your birthday on November 10. Even if you left the Corps 50 years ago. Once a Marine, always a Marine.

A Marine today in Afghanistan will give everything he or she has trying to live up to the stories of Belleau Wood and Iwo Jima. Trying to live up to the Marine Corps Story.

That’s why the Marine Corps makes a big deal of celebrating its birthday every November 10. It is another opportunity to tell the Marine Corps Story. To live the Marine Corps Story. To be part of the Marine Corps Story.

How powerful is Story? It has captured you.

Hollywood. Movie writers know that when they tell you that a movie character is a Marine, you will know exactly what that means. Honorable. Courageous. Tough. Integrity. Loyal. Good. In the movie The Equalizer 2, in the background of a shot you see a Marine Dress Blue uniform hanging in the cabinet. That tells you everything you need to know about the history of Robert McCall, the character played by Denzel Washington.

There is nothing new in this story-telling. People have been telling compelling stories for tens of thousands of years. Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Illiad. The Odyssey. The Aeneid. The epic stories of the Irish and American Indians and every other civilization in history. Stories are the primary way that all people throughout history have handed important lessons down from generation to generation.

As a parent, if you want your children to become the best, most successful people possible, tell them compelling stories that inspire them. Make your own life a compelling story that inspires them to goodness. Make your relationship with your spouse a compelling love story that teaches and inspires them. Story is the most powerful way to inspire and raise your children.

No matter what your position, be a leader at work. Lead by telling compelling stories that inspire your co-workers to excellence. Tell that story through your actions. Tell that story through words.

Everyone’s life is a story. People join the Marine Corps because they want their life story to be part of the Marine Corps story.

If you want the highest performing teams at work, make the work a compelling story that people can’t wait to join. People don’t want a job. People want a vocation. They want their work and their lives to be fulfilling, to be part of a larger story.

If you can’t tell people how their work with you is part of a larger, compelling story, then you are under-performing as a leader.

As citizens, we need to constantly tell and re-tell our American story. We must tell it in our schools. We must tell it in our families. We must tell it by the very way we live our lives. If we fail to consciously tell our American story in a compelling way, we will forget what it means to be America. And we will lose America.

Diversity

The Marine Corps can teach us a lot about diversity.

The recruits that show up at boot camp are a diverse bunch and they are pretty useless. Diversity, by itself, is a hindrance. The group of new recruits is useless because they come from so many different socio, economic and ethnic backgrounds that they can’t do much together. Their diversity, by itself, works against them.

The Marine Corps unites that diverse group with a common goal: graduating boot camp and earning the title “Marine”. Focused intensely by that common goal, what was once a hindrance—diversity—becomes an incredible asset. They become a group of people focused on a common goal with diverse ways to think about and accomplish that goal.

Think of it in musical terms. Imagine that every person is a musical instrument. If you are a violin and you play a song by yourself, that’s nice. Now imagine that you bring in clarinets and oboes and horns and flutes and cellos. Diversity. If everyone practices and plays the same song together, you have an orchestra playing a symphony. The more you practice together, the better the music and the more different ways you can play that music.

That’s diversity united by common purpose. It’s powerful and beautiful.

Now imagine those diverse instruments just playing whatever they want. No unity. You don’t get music. You don’t even get noise. You get a screech. Diversity without unity becomes a screech.

Whether you are leading your family, at work or in the community, unity of purpose is critical. With unity of purpose, you can bring diversity into play in the most powerful way possible.

Relationship

Perhaps the biggest lesson we can learn from the Marine Corps is the importance of relationship.

As we discussed in an earlier blog/podcast, the key to Happiness in life is high-quality relationships. The key to success at work—no matter what kind of work you do—is high-quality, high-trust relationships. And the key to a great community is, again, high-quality, high-trust relationships.

Are you seeing the pattern here?

That’s why, more than any other military service, the Marine Corps emphasizes leadership. Relationship.

Your knowledge or technical competence is important, but secondary. The Marine Corps figures that if you can lead, they can teach you what you need to know. How to be a pilot or infantry officer or do logistics.

Leadership. Relationship. That is what is most important.

The Marine Corps wants the most powerful teams possible. That means high-trust teams. That means high-quality relationships.

Not relationships based on money. Those fall apart when the risk is not worth the money.

Not relationships based in fear or power. Those last only as long as the fear is maintained.

The Marine Corps wants relationships based in fulfillment and love. Those are the deepest relationships. That’s when your life story lines up with the Marine Corps Story. That’s when people are willing to die for each other even if they don’t like each other.

The Marine Corps is the best major fighting force in the world because the Marine Corps emphasizes, above all other things, leadership and relationship.

High-trust, high-quality relationships based in love. That’s what will give you the best chance for Happiness in life. The best chance to lead a great family with great kids. The best chance to really succeed at work. The best chance to have a good community. High-trust, high-quality relationships based in love—it’s the key to success in every area of your life.

Story, Diversity and Relationship

Let’s pull it all together.

You are a leader. You are the leader of the story of your own life. You are a leader in your family. You are a leader at work. As a voter, you are a leader in your community.

Develop high-quality, high-trust relationships based in love to have the best life, the best family, success at work and a good community.

Use your life to tell a compelling story about why people should join your team. When people learn about high-quality, high-trust relationships from you, they will have the best chance for happiness in their own lives. The best chance for good families. The best chance for success in their work and communities.

Unite people with a common purpose, then utilize each person’s diverse talents and experiences to develop them and achieve success.

America doesn’t have to have a Marine Corps, but it needs a Marine Corps.

The Marine Corps exists today because America loves Marines.

The Marine Corps has come to represent what is best in America. The Marine Corps does this by telling compelling stories of everyday Americans doing extraordinary things under the toughest conditions. By telling us stories of great relationships based in love.

That’s the Story of the Marine Corps. That’s a Story of America. That’s Your Story.

Happy Birthday, Marines!

What’s the Story of Your Life?

Please share your comments, questions and insights. And don’t forget to share us on social media!