8 Lessons in Military Leadership for Entrepreneurs. Robert T. Kiyosaki

Intelligence

      The reason physical intelligence is at the top of this diagram is because all learning is physical. For example, for a child learning to walk, the learning process relies on physical intelligence, more than mental intelligence. In school, learning to read, write, and do arithmetic is primarily a physical process. Like learning to walk, the student needs to do something.

       The Cone of Learning

      In 1969, educational psychologist Edgar Dale released The Cone of Learning pictured on the next page. Please take some time to familiarize yourself with the points Dr. Dale is making.

      As you can see—at the bottom of the Cone of Learning—reading and writing (the staples of most schools) are the least effective ways for a student to retain what they’re taught.

      At the top of the Cone, simulations and doing the real thing are the most effective way to learn. In other words, you learn more by doing. Making the point another way: It is almost impossible to learn to walk or play golf by simply reading a book or listening to a lecture.

      Making matters worse, our schools punish students for making mistakes. That would be like punishing a baby for falling down or a golfer for making a bad shot. If a student does not make mistakes, the learning is retarded.

      Physical intelligence is located in the body, and it’s also called muscle memory. For example, a person learning to play golf, will repeat, repeat, and repeat different shots, making mistake after mistake, until the muscles remember the proper physical process.

      The second highest level of learning, according to the Cone of Learning, is called simulation. In sports it is called practice, in the arts it is called rehearsal, and in science it is called experiments.

      For those of you who have been in the military, you understand the importance of simulation. It’s how the military teaches and trains. For example, while in flight school at Pensacola, student pilots spent nearly as much time practicing crashing as they did flying. After receiving my wings, I was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, for advanced guns and rockets training in preparation for Vietnam. Again, on every training flight, we practiced crashing, equipment failure, and other emergencies. I am alive today because I learned how to fly a helicopter with—or without—an engine. I could never have learned to fly by listening to lectures, reading a book, and being afraid of crashing. I needed the hours I spent in the simulator.

      Great athletes are gifted with physical intelligence. Yet even gifted athletes must “practice, practice, practice,” making mistake after mistake, until their physical genius emerges.

      I like to look at the word genius as the geni-in-us or the magician in us. When a professional athlete’s genius appears, creating magic on the playing field, success and (very often) big money pours into his or her life.

      In traditional education, when a child makes mistakes the child is punished. Hence many students leave school—having memorized all the “right” answers and living in terror of making mistakes—but unable to really do much. They learned to avoid making mistakes rather than practicing ‘mistakes’ and learning from them.

      In traditional education, a student who makes too many mistakes is labeled slow or stupid—yet in real life—a person who makes the most mistakes and learns from their mistakes is often called successful.

      The reason I believe many military personnel have the potential to become great entrepreneurs is because, in the military—regardless of branch of service—each person is tested to the breaking point, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. Anyone who has gone through ‘recruit training’ knows the military first breaks you down then builds you up in all four intelligences, rebuilding a stronger human being.

      Many civilians go through life, avoiding being ‘broken down’ which I believe is why many civilians may be smart intellectually, academic “A” students or technical whiz kids, but weak in one or more of the other intelligences.

      When a recruit washes out, most do not just fail mentally. They fail in several, if not all four, intelligences. As John F. Kennedy, President and World War II war hero, said:

       “A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living. Today’s military rejects include tomorrow’s hard-core unemployed.”

       Unemployment Statistics

      After the real estate and stock market crash of 2007, unemployment (including unemployment among our youth) hit all-time highs.

      The following chart shows U.S. unemployment rates. You will notice that there are differences between the official government statistics and the Shadowstats.

       What Will You Choose to Believe?

      There are many reasons why unemployment is high. One reason is that jobs are moving overseas to lower-wage countries. Another reason is that technology is replacing workers, much like the car replaced the horse. Today, we must require our workers to be retrained, reeducated, and transitioned into the world of technology. Simply put, the choices today are: High-tech jobs, low-wage jobs, or long-term unemployment. It’s not surprising that we continue to see the middle class shrink.

      The primary reasons I am not an “unemployed baby boomer” today is because, when I left the Marine Corps in 1974, I chose to learn to become an entrepreneur, rather than go back to school, get my MBA, and become an employee… a corporate executive. If I had become an employee, as my poor dad encouraged me to be, I am certain I would be one of those executives who would have lost their job to “outsourcing” or to a younger, tech-savvy worker who was willing to work for less.

      The good news was that I had four years of education at a military academy and five years as a pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps. That means I had a well-rounded education—the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual training required to become an entrepreneur. I still had a lot to learn, and I continue to study and learn today. But my military education and training prepared me for the tests required to become an entrepreneur.

      The following are my ideas on how military education and training prepared me for life as an entrepreneur.

       Mental Intelligence

      Mental intelligence takes place in the brain. It is still a physical learning process. For example, learning to read is a physical process. When learning to speak a new language, the person repeats, repeats, and repeats until the brain remembers the words.

      People who are gifted with mental intelligence often become teachers, scholars, and attorneys.

      Mental intelligence, in my opinion, is the least important of the four intelligences for success as an entrepreneur. A true entrepreneur, like a true leader, does not have to be smartest person on the team. That means a true entrepreneur must be a leader, smart enough to lead smarter and better-educated people into the battlefield of business.

      True leadership does require the next intelligence.

       Emotional Intelligence

      Emotional intelligence is our ability to control our emotions.

      We have all lost our tempers. When we lose our tempers, we demonstrate low emotional intelligence. An emotionally intelligent person will experience anger, but not so much anger that it may cause them to do or say something stupid. They remain in control.

      A person who cannot control their temper, or complains all the time, or is chronically depressed, is a person who demonstrates low emotional intelligence.

      Examples of high emotional intelligence are when someone walks away rather than throws a punch, listens rather than argues, sees another person’s