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In a world at war with the coronavirus, your worst enemy is the game your mind plays with itself.
The soldier will lead
We have come into a time that few of us have encountered in life. A virus has invaded our borders, thrusting us onto a battlefield in which we are called to fight for our lives, both literally and figuratively. America hasn’t seen rationing like this since World War II. The panic that the coronavirus has caused in our minds has become a more serious threat than the illness itself.
Up until now, technology has been the insurgent enemy on the attack: roboadvisors like Betterment and Acorn, the low-cost TAMPS, retail trading platforms like Robinhood. Advisors have been able to pass those off as tools for people who weren’t rich enough to be desirable. Now you are under siege by a far more deadly adversary: a global pandemic that knows no difference between rich or poor. It has set up a base. It’s armed with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.
It is fearful times like this when the soldier will lead the rest. Will you be the warrior who attacks, or will you be the target who retreats?
To quote Heraclitus:
Out of every 100 men (women), 10 shouldn't even be there, 80 are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he (she) will bring the others back.
These are the times that show who we really are, both as people and as professionals.
Which one do you choose to be – the leader, the soldier, the warrior? Or the retreating target, the casualty, the defeated?
Somebody is going to make a million dollars as the world rattles and shakes because they figured out how to attack when others were retreating. There are advisors who are hoping that this market volatility goes on for as long as possible because they arrived ready for the battle. I’ve seen advisors charging straight into the kill zone while the others sit back making excuses.
I say this to all of you reading: get up and fight! Your highest value as an advisor is in times like these.
Straight into the kill zone
Sergeant Dakota Meyer is a retired Marine who earned a Medal of Honor for his brave actions during the Battle of Ganjigal during Operation Enduring Freedom in Ganjigal Valley, Afghanstan.
On September 8, 2009, a platoon of allied U.S. and Afghan troops were ambushed by Taliban forces while executing a patrol mission, leading four marine soldiers to become stranded in Ganjigal Village. Although they radioed for help, the commanding officers at the operations center failed to realize the extent of the insurgency. Requests for air support were denied.
Stationed at a support position, Meyer recognized that the four marines trapped in the village were under fire without anybody to fight for them. He leapt to action to rescue his brothers. Meyer convinced Sergeant Juan Rodriguez Chavez to drive an armored truck into the valley while Meyer fired the gun turret.
They faced a blizzard of bullets fired by over 50 heavily armed enemy insurgents. As they drove through the kill zone, Meyer refused to leave any of the wounded he encountered behind. In some cases he left the shelter of his turret to rescue his brothers.
In a podcast with Jocko Willink, Meyer recounted the moment at which he faced his own mortality.
They had elevation on us, and so they were hitting inside the turret. Man, you could hear ‘em coming by…Your instinct is to duck down in the turret. But you do that, they’ll overrun you. I mean, they were running at the truck. So you duck down, they’re full sprint. You’re never gonna come back up, you know what I mean.
I just kept waiting for a bullet. I just knew it was just gonna hit me in the face. Lights out. There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to die. Zero. Zero doubt. But I was gonna make the [explicit]s earn it. They had it to do.
So beautifully do those words capture the essence of courage: to give everything you possibly have to help another person, even if doing so means facing the certainty of an adverse outcome for yourself.
Meyer was, to echo Heraclitus, the one to bring the others back. And that he did. Meyer rescued over 30 wounded Afghan and U.S soldiers and received the Medal of Honor from former President Obama. The story of Sergeant Dakota Meyer is one of unbelievable courage, leadership, and selflessness.
The soldier
You have been thrust onto the battlefield. Every day, you have to fight to keep the things you used to get so easily. When you know that, your mind starts to play all types of tricks on you.
I know some of you reading this are saying, that’s ridiculous! I’m a veteran advisor! I have 20 years in this business and clients who love me! I don’t have a thing to be concerned about! This is a trap that your mind is inventing. Remember the commanders in the operations center in the Battle of Ganjigal? It was their complacency that put their own forces in danger. They were their own worst enemy.
The mind knows itself better than we consciously realize, and it uses this against us in ways we rarely understand. I’ve learned to talk to my fears, because my own mind, not the economy, is the adversary that is fighting me from getting what I want. Yes, I actually speak to them as if they are people. If I can conceptualize it, I can demolish it. But I can’t beat it by trying to pretend it doesn’t exist.
It may sound crazy, but the other day while I was eating breakfast I said these words to them (my fears).
Coronavirus, I know you’re trying to get into my lungs and make me cough and kill me. I see you there at the grocery stores trying to somehow get me when I’m ringing up my paper towels. Yeah, I know you’re trying to take my business down, trying to make my clients leave me. Not happening. You’re not gonna get it. You’re messing with the wrong person. Go find someone else to bother or face destruction. You are talking to an elite force and I’m not giving up one inch of my territory. Now go on and get outta here, you ...
Even crazier, I invented a soldier. I explain more about the origin of “Sandra” in this podcast. Basically Sandra is my soldier hero, a savage female warrior who puts her worries into a chokehold. She is a skilled operator who will machine gun down any person, place, or thing in the way of her mission.
Invent your own soldier. Maybe it’s Andre, an Army Ranger who executes high altitude jumps to infiltrate the enemy territory. Andre knows how to carry out air strikes, drives a tank, and drinks out of a canteen.
In fact, you may need to invent yourself a whole battalion of Andres or Sandras to fight for you during Operation 2020 Recession.
Sara’s upshot
In 2019, I resolved to inspire higher standards of ethics in our profession by interviewing industry leaders. Strangely, I have found some of the most powerful lessons can be learned from leaders outside of financial services. It’s come from individuals such as a Navy SEAL, an autistic YouTube star, a former FBI agent who used to catch spies and others.
I was looking for leaders; instead I found heroes.
Please subscribe to my podcast or YouTube channel so you can watch these inspiring interviews as they are published.
Sara Grillo, CFA, is a marketing consultant who helps investment management, financial planning, and RIA firms fight the tendency to scatter meaningless clichés on their prospects and bore them as a result. Prior to launching her own firm, she was a financial advisor.
Coronavirus quarantine day two march 21st 2020 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eU8njwy2-c&authuser=0
Medal of Honor recipient recalls deadly ambush - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mev2exb1C0g&authuser=0
Jocko Podcast 115 with Dakota Meyer - Into The Fire, and Beyond the Call of Duty - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6LbwCKJ0lo&t=9839s&authuser=0
Navy SEAL Clint Emerson explains how to prepare for Business Emergencies - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI1hC41I4tI&authuser=0
Financially Empowering those with the Beautiful Gift of Autism with Dan Jones of the Aspie World! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spjx-RETMho&authuser=0
Read more articles by Sara Grillo
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
