After four years rising through the ranks of the U.S. Army—and only four years after graduating from Texas A&M—Jeff remembers thinking, “I want to continue to be part of a team and serve people in a civilian career, but I have no idea where to go next.”
It’s not an unfamiliar story. But the story of why Jeff landed on the Johnson & Johnson Veteran Sales Pathway, what he brought to the program and what it gave him in return could be a template for you to write your own.
Build on unique strengths and capabilities
The Johnson & Johnson Veteran Sales Pathway is an innovative initiative that helps military veterans transition into growth-oriented sales roles by building on existing strengths, capabilities and interests.
“For me, it was always three things: I loved being part of a team, I loved being competitive while collaborating with others and I loved serving the mission,” Jeff says. “Operationalizing a site is a large-scale collaborative undertaking, not something any one person can accomplish alone. You have to understand what your specific job is, which piece of the pie you’re responsible for and when to tie in other resources, with clear metrics in place to measure performance.”
What does “mission accomplished’’ look like in this context for Jeff? Bringing potentially life-saving therapies to patients with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer that kills more than 12,000 people each year in the U.S., for one.
I’m using my military background to ensure that the best treatments are available to patients, with as few barriers between patients and treatments as possible.
Apply lessons from military leadership
Previously a Platoon Leader overseeing 30 soldiers, then an Executive Officer in charge of 80 soldiers and finally a Staff Officer responsible for a 700-person squadron, Jeff says, “I had a lot of reps communicating information up and down the chain of command.”
Among his takeaways: Anyone can communicate information. Leaders inspire people to buy in.
“There may be a misperception,” Jeff explains, “that just because you’re a leader in the Army, if you give a command everyone stops what they’re doing and executes it right away. It doesn’t always work like that in reality. You have to foster relationships, understand how each individual best receives information and tailor your message to them. In a sense, it’s important to ‘sell’ yourself a little bit in order to get the people on your team to buy into a higher-level objective and do things efficiently.”
It’s a rare skill, and one that could be called by many names: the practice of inclusive leadership, say, or the ability to personalize storytelling in the service of a shared mission or purpose. It’s serving him well at Johnson & Johnson.
“Imagine you’ve been asked to present the same piece of information to two different people: first to a private who’s been in the Army for a month, then to a general who’s been in the Army for 30 years. I face similar challenges in my work with Johnson & Johnson. The Director of Hematology at a large cancer center, for example, is going to care about very different pieces of information than a nurse in that same facility. But again, it’s about building relationships and presenting information tailored to the individual.”
Be your authentic self
A gifted athlete who excelled in soccer, basketball and baseball throughout high school, Jeff recognizes the ways in which competition and collaboration, far from being opposing forces, can function rather more like fire and oxygen in accelerating the development of teams.
“Being competitive while collaborating with a team, trying to bring out the best in yourself and in others—you do it naturally as an athlete, and you’re required to do it in the military all the time,” he says. “You’re also numerically ranked against your peers every year in the Army, which is very similar to seeing where you stand in the sales rankings quarterly or annually with Johnson & Johnson. And for me, the fact that everyone here on the team loves to compete definitely adds a level of internal motivation.”
Find community
Jeff recently advanced into a new role, Oncology Sales Specialist, after a nine-month ramp up with the Johnson & Johnson Veteran Sales Pathway. He credits his success in part to the support he’s received from the Veterans Leadership Council, our award-winning Employee Resource Group for the military-connected community, which began on day one.
“It’s more than a great opportunity to interact with senior leaders from across the company, though that part’s great, too, don’t get me wrong,” Jeff says. “It’s about connecting with people who you immediately relate to because of shared experiences, which means there are a handful of people here who I can turn to 24/7 for advice, support, guidance—anything.”
Join forces with Johnson & Johnson
Serving a cause far larger than yourself. Communicating with diverse stakeholders to accomplish a shared mission. Collaborating to bring the best out of everyone on your team. Small wonder that people like Jeff thrive as part of the vibrant military-connected community at Johnson & Johnson, or that you might, too.
Explore job opportunities if you’re ready to join us. You should sign up for our global talent community to receive notifications when relevant opportunities become available in the future, too.