Why Listen:

Well, you know you're enjoying a conversation when midway through, you're already planning the next interview. Tyler is awesome. I just really appreciated so much about this interview. The thing that stands out to me most is his mastery in sales. He talks about his career, which is a variety of different experiences in the functional role of sales while also having most of that in the industry of energy. What I appreciated about his story is hearing about how throughout his career he's picked up different tools, different tricks, different skills that over time have allowed him to really have a mastery of this field in sales. I also appreciated his ability to communicate extremely effectively why veterans are well suited to sales, why this may be an appealing career path, even if you think it's the least likely career path that you would want to pursue. We talk about executive MBA, why he chose to pursue it, which is pretty unique for most guests that I have on the show, and a whole lot more.

About Tyler:

Tyler Johnston is a Sales Director @ Black & Veatch. He is responsible for managing global relationships in the technology sector and helping his clients build critical infrastructure and distributed energy solutions. He started out at the Naval Academy, served as an Infantry Officer in the US Marine Corps for 5 years, and has held positions at NRG Energy, General Electric, and Shift.org. He earned his MBA at Columbia Business School.

You can reach out to him through www.greentechvet.com.

Why Listen:

I just finished up my conversation with Alan and a couple things stand out to me. First of all, it's it's pretty surprising to me that it's taken 374 other episodes, to get to the point of interviewing someone in the aerospace and defense industry. And, you know, it's it's surprising, first of all, because so many veterans go into this space. But more importantly, I feel like Alan, in our conversation, we really flipped the script on my understanding of this industry. And what I mean by that is, nearly all of the people I've interviewed on beyond the uniform talk about purpose, and mission, after military service. And Alan kind of surprised me when I was asking him to explain what he does for a living, he immediately went to that spot of, he's continuing to support the military communities continuing to support his brothers and sisters who are still in uniform. And throughout our conversation that came through, like, wow, this is actually a really good fit for so many veterans, especially those who want to continue a similar sense of purpose that they felt that they likely felt in the military. A second thing that really stood out to me with this conversation is we went deep down the rabbit hole on Alan's role, which is business development. And I know we've done a couple interviews on sales related topics. But I think that you will really benefit from Alan's story, he has over 20 years of experience in business development. And I love so much of what comes through in this. But let's just say in a nutshell, it's not what you expect from a sales related role. And the way that Alan comes across just as a human being, as well as how he explains why veterans are so well suited to this, it really goes against most of the stereotypes that I have of sales people. And it comes down to listening to others, being curious about them, and figuring out how you can help them and deliver value. And even if you're not interested in the defense industry or business development in particular, it's still worth listening because, you know, in my experience, every every role that you will have has some element of quote unquote, sales, and the relational things that Alan talks about this interview, are I'm sure going to help you in your career. As always, at BeyondTheUniform.org you'll find Show Notes for this episode, you'll find links to everything we discussed, as well as a link and information about SCI. We haven't done a lot of coverage of companies in this space. But I appreciate Alan's perspective and want to give some notes there about the company he works for. So with that, let's dive in to my conversation with Alan

About Alan:

Alan is responsible for the Global Business Development for the IMS business segment within SCI, which includes customer relations, program performance, and the acquisition of new and follow-on business. Alan brings more than 20 years of experience in the Integrated Manufacturing industry. During this period, Mr. Hislop has held positions at PIVC, LLC, STMicroelectronics and Sanmina-SCI. Alan served on active duty with the U.S. Army, with the U.S. Army Reserves in New York and with the Alabama National Guard in Huntsville. Alan graduated from the US Army Officer Infantry School in Fort Benning, GA. Mr. Hislop holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering Degree from University of Alabama Huntsville, and an Associate of Applied Arts and Sciences from Clinton Community College. He and his wife, Olga, have 6 boys.

Why Listen:

Well, you know you're enjoying a conversation when midway through, you're already planning the next interview. Tyler is awesome. I just really appreciated so much about this interview. The thing that stands out to me most is his mastery in sales. He talks about his career, which is a variety of different experiences in the functional role of sales while also having most of that in the industry of energy. What I appreciated about his story is hearing about how throughout his career he's picked up different tools, different tricks, different skills that over time have allowed him to really have a mastery of this field in sales. I also appreciated his ability to communicate extremely effectively why veterans are well suited to sales, why this may be an appealing career path, even if you think it's the least likely career path that you would want to pursue. We talk about executive MBA, why he chose to pursue it, which is pretty unique for most guests that I have on the show, and a whole lot more.

About Tyler:

Tyler Johnston is a Sales Director @ Black & Veatch. He is responsible for managing global relationships in the technology sector and helping his clients build critical infrastructure and distributed energy solutions. He started out at the Naval Academy, served as an Infantry Officer in the US Marine Corps for 5 years, and has held positions at NRG Energy, General Electric, and Shift.org. He earned his MBA at Columbia Business School.

You can reach out to him through www.greentechvet.com.

Bob Wiedower is the Vice President, Sales Development and Military Programs at Combined Insurance, a Chubb Company. Combined Insurance is a leading provider of supplemental accident, health and life insurance products in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Combined Insurance Company of America is committed to helping people find the coverage they need at a price they can afford. Bob served as an Officer in the Marine Corps for over 22 years, and worked as an Executive Director at USAA for 15 years prior to joining Combined Insurance.

Why Listen: 
Bob made his transition to the civilian workforce after 22 years of military service with the US Marine Corps. His current employer, Combined Insurance, actively recruits military Veterans and actually guarantees military Veterans and their spouses an interview. We cover a lot of ground in this episode, including why Veterans should consider sales, larger companies, and companies that target military Veterans.

Garrett Cathcart is the Southeast Regional Director at Team Red, White & Blue - an organization that enriches the lives of America's veterans by connecting them to their communities through physical and social activities. He is also the Chief Community Engagement Officer at VETLANTA. He started out at West Point, after which he served in the Army for 8.5 years, with two years in Baghdad as a Recon Scout Platoon Leader and then as an Aide-de-Camp to Commanding General. After his transition from the Army he worked at NuVasive as an Associate Spine Representative before joining team RWB.

Mike works in New Business Development at Google as part of Google Cloud. He started out at West Point, where he was the Boxing Team Captain and a National Champion. He served in the Army for five years: first as an Executive Officer (XO) of a Military Intelligence Company and then as a Platoon Leader and Team Captain of the Army Boxing Team in the Army's World Class Athlete Program at Fort Carson, Colorado. There, he trained to earn a spot on the 2012 US Olympic Boxing team. Since leaving the Army in 2012, he has worked at Sony, LinkedIn, Google, and earned his MBA from UCLA.