How the Army Taught Me to Jump Out of Planes — and Stick Every Career Landing

Parachuting onto the 50-yard line is an unusual way to arrive at a football game.

As a West Point senior on the sport parachute team, I joined several classmates leaping from a helicopter and landing inside Michie Stadium with the game ball.

At the academy, I got hooked on jumping out of aircraft — Huey and Blackhawk helicopters, Twin Otters, Cessnas, even from the ramp of a giant Air Force C-5 transport plane. I tallied more than 450 jumps over four years. In hindsight, those experiences helped prepare me for a career where I’ve repeatedly parachuted into a new role, big challenge or unfamiliar environment.

After leading an Army platoon in Afghanistan, I taught at the Naval Academy (deep behind “enemy lines”), worked on a presidential campaign and served at the Pentagon. I shifted to the technology industry in my early 30s, first at a startup, then at Meta, then as a corporate advisor. I began my current role as chief of staff at tech pioneer Coherent (NYSE: COHR) this year.

These transitions might seem jarring. In fact, they’re anything but. Throughout my career, I’ve intentionally sought opportunities to build diverse skills, knowledge and relationships to prepare myself for greater responsibility and impact.

But this has required mastering the art of parachuting — landing in new roles and unfamiliar territory. Here’s how I’ve learned to make the most of those shifts and what others can take away from the experience.

Related: What My Near-Death Experience Revealed About Resilience

Fear is inevitable. Get used to it

There’s nothing natural about hurling yourself out the open door of an aircraft and falling through free space at 120 mph. In paratrooper training, even some of the toughest guys froze out of sheer terror… only to get a boot in the back from the instructor. My fear of heights made parachuting an especially unlikely passion — but it squares with my view that the best way to conquer a fear is to stare it in the face.

Changing roles, whether it’s at the same company or moving to an entirely new industry, can be equally scary. Our careers are our lives, after all. They’re our financial mainstay. They’re often intimately wrapped up with our sense of self. It can be terrifying to stand on that ledge and leap into the abyss.

But facing that fear — and getting comfortable with it — is worth it. So, what are some concrete takeaways for leaders and entrepreneurs on reckoning with fear?

• First, a shift in perspective is critical — from seeing change as an aberration to a constant. As Elon Musk notes, “Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.” Most people will now shift roles more than a dozen times in their lives, so all of us need to get comfortable plunging into something new.
• Another key step is reminding yourself of times that you’ve been intimidated and overcome challenges in the past. This kind of neural rewiring can be an effective antidote to fear.

You get a 15,000-foot view: Take advantage

Most afternoons, I’d get a couple of practice jumps with the team after class. As any former cadet can attest, it’s an exceptionally busy time, and just getting through the day often seemed a huge challenge.

But putting on my parachute rig, dangling my legs over the helicopter skids and getting some distance from affairs on the ground always changed things. I was able to leave my worries below as we climbed higher above the Hudson River Valley. Then, the freefall to the ground: It only lasts a minute, but time seems to both condense and expand.

Something similar happens every time I prepare to dive into a new role. I see my working life, and its possibilities, with fresh eyes.

Practical questions you can ask to achieve that “15,000-foot” moment of clarity during transitions include:

• What will success look like? Experts recommend “starting with your why” and creating an image of what you want to achieve.
• How can I bring my existing experiences and skills to bear on an unfamiliar situation?
• What do I hope to take away from this next challenge?

Related: What is Resilience and Why is it Vital to Your Success?

Preparation is indispensable

As brief as a jump may be, that minute or so in the air requires intense prep. During basic parachute training, aka “Airborne School,” at Fort Moore, Georgia, we had two weeks of ground training for the week of five jumps that would make us paratroopers.

Sport parachuting takes that obsessiveness to another level. We spent several months packing and unpacking parachutes, rehearsing safety protocols and practicing landings from a platform before the first tandem jump. A year’s worth of training in my event culminated in four jumps and 40 seconds of recorded footage at the collegiate championship. By the time I began an acrobatic sequence, I’d already visualized myself doing it hundreds of times, with AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” as my soundtrack.

That same level of preparation can help as you move into a new role at a company. In practical terms, business leaders and entrepreneurs can take the following steps to prepare before a transition:

• Explore opportunities for lateral movement in your own org. Experts at Google emphasize the power of internal movement to gain access to new managers, a new network and new ideas. This can help you test the waters.
• Determine the gaps in your skill set and seek out resources to upskill. As the adage goes, the best time to get ready for a new role is while you already have one.
• When you settle on a role to pursue, get to know a colleague in a similar position, whether it’s by chatting with them or shadowing them on the job. From Richard Branson to Robert Herjavec, leading entrepreneurs attest to the power of mentorship to accelerate your professional learning curve.

Stick the landing

Ironically, an Army paratrooper’s main challenge isn’t jumping; it’s landing. The standard-issue Army parachute is shaped to fall straight down, minimizing the risk of collisions but leaving little room for finesse. Landing on your feet isn’t possible, so you do a five-point landing fall, leaving you curled up like a shrimp. This inelegant maneuver is where paratroopers often get hurt, with ankle injuries accounting for some 60% of mishaps.

For anyone changing roles, the first days, weeks and months on the job call for sticking the landing, too. This is where you’ll make it or break it.

My advice: Have a boundless appetite for learning and cultivate a beginner’s mind, which combines openness, curiosity and humility. Of course, your past experience is valuable, but it shouldn’t blind you to new ways of doing things. You should also be willing to put in extra hours at the start, when it really counts. Be open to new responsibilities, no matter how daunting they seem. And don’t be afraid to delve into a new subject area and all of its intricacies — as I’ve been doing with materials science, datacom transceivers and lasers in my first year at Coherent.

The transition won’t always be smooth, so expect the inevitable awkwardness. As clumsy as it might look, that five-point landing will hopefully see you through. Stand up and just keep marching.