One of the most valuable leadership lessons I ever learned happened long before I became a Sergeant.

In fact, it happened when I was still a Private First Class.

A PFC.

Which, in Marine Corps terms, means I had enough experience to have opinions and not nearly enough experience to realize how much I didn't know.

At the time, I thought I was pretty smart.

Looking back, I was wrong.

Not about everything. But about this.

And it became one of the most important leadership lessons of my life.

Camp Shoup, Kuwait

Our battalion was staged in Kuwait prior to moving into Iraq.

We were living at Camp Shoup.

Calling it a "camp" almost makes it sound nicer than it was.

It was mostly GP tents in the desert. Primitive. Dusty. Hot. Very hot.

The kind of environment that looked like it could have come straight out of a World War II documentary.

One afternoon, in the middle of the heat, our Platoon Commander ordered us to conduct crowd-control and riot-control drills.

I remember thinking: this is ridiculous.

I was an infantry Marine. Everything I had been taught up to that point revolved around closing with and destroying the enemy.

Why were we doing crowd-control drills?

Why were we practicing formations?

Why were we rehearsing opening our line, grabbing an instigator from a crowd, and then closing the formation again?

Why were we spending precious training time on this?

At the time, it made no sense to me. None.

PFC Baucom Had Opinions

Now, to be fair, I wasn't completely brand new to responsibility.

I had held leadership positions in training.

I had been made squad leader here and there.

I had run small civilian business ventures before the Marine Corps.

I wasn't completely clueless.

But there was one important fact.

I had been in the Marine Corps for about six months.

My Platoon Commander had been in the Marine Corps for roughly six years.

He was a Captain. I was a PFC.

He possessed ten times the experience that I did.

PFC Baucom failed to appreciate that fact.

At the time, all I knew was this: this training seems pointless.

Fortunately, nobody asked for my opinion.

One of the great traditions of the Marine Corps is that nobody asks a Private First Class how to run the war.

So I rogered up and completed the training.

Truthfully, I even enjoyed it. It was actually kind of fun.

I just thought it was useless.

Fast Forward Two Months

A couple of months later, we were in Iraq.

Specifically, operating around the municipal center in Al Kut.

And suddenly, the exact training I thought was pointless became relevant.

Very relevant.

We weren't conducting the type of operations I had imagined in my head back in Kuwait. Instead, we found ourselves dealing with situations that required exactly what we had rehearsed.

• Forming up as a team.
• Opening the formation.
• Isolating an instigator.
• Closing the formation.
• Maintaining control.
• Working together.

Everything we had practiced.

Everything I thought we would never use.

Everything I thought was a waste of time.

We used.

The drills weren't theoretical. They were preparation.

My Platoon Commander had seen something that I hadn't.

The Captain Was Right

Here's the part that matters.

The Captain wasn't right because he outranked me.

He was right because he understood the mission better than I did.

He knew things I didn't know. He had experience I didn't have. He had context I lacked.

I was evaluating the situation through six months of Marine Corps experience. He was evaluating it through roughly six years.

Turns out six years beats six months. Who knew?

Today, that same Platoon Commander eventually became a Major General of Marines. That fact doesn't surprise me at all. The signs were there long before I understood them.

Teachability Is a Leadership Skill

One of the biggest mistakes young people make is assuming:

If I don't understand it, there must not be a good reason for it.

Age and experience teach something different. Sometimes the correct response is:

I don't understand it yet.

That single word changes everything. Yet.

The danger isn't being wrong. Everybody is wrong sometimes.

The danger is believing you cannot be wrong.

The danger is assuming your perspective is complete.

Teachability creates growth.

Growth creates competence.

Competence creates trust.

The Lesson Shows Up Everywhere

I've seen this same story replay itself countless times in business.

A new mover thinks a procedure is unnecessary.

A new Team Leader thinks a standard is excessive.

A new employee thinks a policy is pointless.

Then six months later they encounter the exact situation the procedure was designed to address.

Suddenly the standard makes sense.

The lesson wasn't that the new person was stupid.

The lesson was that the new person lacked context.

Experience often sees around corners.

The Real Lesson

When I think back to Camp Shoup, I don't remember the heat.

I don't remember the dust.

I don't even remember the training itself as much.

What I remember is the lesson.

PFC Baucom thought he knew better. PFC Baucom was wrong.

The Captain saw something I didn't. And two months later, reality proved it.

That's a lesson I've carried into business, leadership, and life. There will always be people with more experience. There will always be situations where someone sees a larger picture than you do.

The question is simple:

Are you teachable enough to learn from them?

Because sometimes the thing you think you'll never need becomes the exact thing you'll need two months later.

And sometimes a Captain really does know more than a PFC.

Even if the PFC doesn't realize it yet.

Semper Fidelis,
Nicholas Edmond Baucom
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Two Marines Moving

Marine Combat Veteran Founded & Owned Since 2008. Industry Leading Pay. Moving Done Right. Join the Mission.