Talk Description:

"I knew at an early age that military service was my calling in life. This conclusion was largely based on my desire to repay my nation for taking my family and I into its arms as refugees from Communist Cuba. So, at the tender age of 17, I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. 

At first, my life’s planning horizon only extended as far as my initial enlistment contract. Several years into my enlistment, I concluded that I had an affinity for military culture. I also discovered a previously hidden ambition to become a commissioned officer. 

What started out as merely a 6-year enlistment commitment evolved into a long military career. My military service encapsulated 35 years of my life, 30 years of it predominantly as an infantry officer. In those years, career progression was mostly dictated for me by the Army’s institutional promotion system. 

Advancement required meeting certain time-in-grade gates, successful accomplishment of ever increasing leadership roles, even attendance in military-centric higher education layovers. Then, in the summer of 2015, I discovered that I needed to plot a new course in my life. 

One, that no longer dictated for me. Much like feeding data into a GPS system, recalculating my life’s purpose required that I deeply reflect on the passions in my life by answering these five questions:

1. In my obituary, what do I want the narrative to say about me?

2. What deep insights can I share with a new generation of life travelers?

3. What am I most passionate about?

4. How do I establish a new work-life balance?

5. How do I avoid the traps and pitfalls immature decision-making?

John Valledor LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnvalledor/