Young Professionals Network with Military and Business Leaders

Forty Young AFCEANs gathered in February to discuss critical success factors in military and business careers at the chapter's second Young Leadership Forum. The panel included Lt. Gen. Klaus-Peter Stieglitz, GEAF (Ret.), former chief of the German Air Force, along with other former military officers now working in industry and academia. Differences in hierarchies or culture do not matter very much, said Dr. Georg Wilmers, a member of the Executive Board of the German Armed Forces information technology services provider BWI Informationstechnik. Prior to that position, he served as head of the Human Resources Department for the German Department of Defense.

In addition, Gen. Stieglitz said that it is more important to be visible with your strengths and to be fascinated by what you do. You always have to have targets, he related. Gen. Stieglitz wanted to be pilot, he wanted to study or he wanted to lead a squadron. Targets are better drivers than money or power, he said. Jrn Becker, sales director at CSC Germany Solutions, backed this statement. When moving out of the armed forces, it was a clear target as well as luck that helped him find a challenging leadership position in industry. A desire for change is another driver for careers, Dr. Mirko Hornung, professor for air and space at the Tech University Munich, said. A desire for change helped Hornung make his way from the military to the defense industry and finally into academia. Ralph Michel, consulting director public services at the consulting and services company IDS Scheer, said that you always have to do what you can do best. Former military are often welcome in industry teams: they know what teamwork means.

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