In Brief: Essential Insights for Post-Military Transition
3 Apr 2023 · 5 min
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In this solo episode of the In Brief podcast, Jordana Megonigal, CEO of the Recon Network, offers a concise, practical guide for veterans navigating post‑military transition decisions. She frames the act of leaving the service as an inherent risk‑reward calculation and explains that risk refers to potential loss while reward denotes potential gain. Jordana outlines a five‑step decision process: (1) list all possible options, (2) identify objective risks and rewards for each (distinct from subjective pros and cons), (3) weigh the options by comparing risk‑reward profiles, (4) make a decision based on the analysis, and (5) fall back on gut intuition if analysis stalls. She emphasizes that risks and rewards are more quantitative than pros/cons, that anxiety often inflates perceived difficulty, and that failure is a natural part of growth. The episode aims to give listeners a clear mental model to make informed, confident choices during challenging transitions.
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This is In Brief. Let's get to it. Hey there, and welcome back to the In Brief podcast. I'm Jordana, CEO of the Recon Network. This is where we take just a few minutes each week to dive into a different topic. Hopefully it gives you a new perspective to think through in this new week, and hopefully it makes your post-military Transition a little bit easier. This week we are talking about risk. Now, whether or not you realized it at the time when you decided to leave military service, you took on a certain amount of risk by doing so. In that decision, you accepted, whether consciously or not, the risk that you may not have an easy transition, or that your expectations in that transition. might not be met. You likely did so because somewhere in your mind you did the math and decided that the reward for you at this point of time outweighed that risk. Now, risk and reward are 2 really important concepts that are often associated with making decisions. In general, risk refers to the potential for loss or failure when taking a particular action, while reward refers to the potential for gain or success. When making decisions, we typically weigh out the probability of that loss versus gain. For example, if you were up for a promotion at the time you decided to exit Surface, it may have shifted the balance for you in that decision to leave. Then again, depending on your own personal circumstances, that might have been a larger risk in and of itself than simply leaving on your own terms. The relationship between risk and reward is typically a trade-off, meaning that the higher the risk involved in a particular action, the greater the potential reward if that action is successful. Conversely, if the risk is low, the potential reward is also typically lower. Understanding that relationship between risk and reward is crucial for making informed decisions, whether that's in personal or professional contexts. Now, when there are easy decisions to make, that whole process can chug along virtually unnoticed by us. But what happens when there's a hard decision, one that's really challenging everything in us? How do we actually learn to be more conscious about that risk that we're accepting? And how do we mentally measure our risk versus reward when we have a hard choice in front of us? Well, first we're going to start by identifying our options. Now, when you're doing this, don't do anything more here than just figure out the possible paths forward, however many there may be. All you're doing is listing, I have this option, I can do this, or I could do this. Once you've established all those options, consider the potential risks and rewards associated with each option. Now, a quick note, this isn't the same as considering the pros and cons. Okay, so pros and cons are usually associated with the advantages and disadvantages of a particular decision or action, while risks and rewards are typically associated with the outcomes or consequences of a particular decision or action. So we're basically, in general, pros and cons tend to focus on more subjective factors. Do I feel this is a good thing? Do I feel this is a bad thing? While risks and rewards are more objective and quantitative. What would happen as a result of this action? Now, once you have all of your options with each of their connected risks and rewards, weigh those options. Evaluate potential risks and rewards of each option and weigh them against each other. Consider which one provides the most significant rewards while minimizing potential risks. Oftentimes, by the time you get to this point, it's really clear where you need to go. But if it's not, then you have objective information in front of you to guide you. Then from there, make your decision. Remember that no decision is entirely risk-free, but by understanding the potential risks and rewards, you can at least make an informed choice. Now, if all of that fails, use your gut. Sometimes you can't think your way out of the box. You have to go with your intuition. We talked about this a few episodes ago in A Punch in the Gut. But whether you're making decisions based on objective risks and rewards or your more subjective gut reaction, know this: significant decisions can have a major impact on our anxiety or stress level at the time, but rarely are the problems in front of us proportional to the emotional weight we attach to them. So take a breath. Remember that failure is natural and happens all the time. And if you're not failing, you're not growing, and you're not learning. Take the weight away from that decision and just do the best you can. Be confident that with this process, you've done the hard work you need to do to make the best decision you can possibly make.
