This episode features an interview with Frank Finelli, Managing Director of the Carlyle Group in Washington D.C., where he focuses on investments in the defense and aerospace sector. Frank graduated from West Point in 1979 and retired from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was also a Field Artillery Master Gunner and served in the 82d Airborne, 1st Armored, and 3d Infantry Divisions. On this episode, Frank shares a wealth of valuable insights on how to break into private equity, maintain relationships within your network, and think strategically about your career after the military.
“The key to success is how do you pick the 10 or 15 or 20 things to be the right things. You're not going to get them all right. But if you waste your time on the wrong things, that don't make any difference, you're not going to succeed. And so I really encourage people to be thoughtful about how you spend your time, because you're going to realize that time becomes your most critical resource.” — Frank Finelli
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Episode Timestamps:
*(1:59) - Frank’s reason to join the military
*(3:50) - Post West Point
*(4:59) - Frank’s time at MIT
*(9:09) - The serendipity of Frank’s decisions
*(13:45) - Joining the Carlyle Group
*(15:46) - The Sitrep
*(18:00) - How Carlyle thinks about the new innovations in the aerospace/defense industry
*(20:30) - How Frank maintains his network
*(21:55) - Setting up a career after serving in the military
*(24:30) - How Frank mentors people
*(26:15) - SOP - Standard Operating Procedure
*(29:20) - How to break into private equity
Links
Connect with Frank on LinkedIn
Connect with Eddie on LinkedIn
[00:00:00] Frank: The key to success is how do you pick the 10 or 15 or 20 things to be the right things. You're not going to get them all right. But if you waste your time on the wrong things, that don't make any difference, you're not going to succeed. And so I really encourage people to be thoughtful about how you spend your time, because you're going to realize that.
[00:00:21] Time becomes your most critical resource.
[00:00:25] Producer: You are listening to On Point a show about veteran business leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, financiers, and social innovators who made a name for themselves in the military, and then took the private sector by storm. This show is hosted by the founder of the old grad club, Eddie Kang.
[00:00:42] Eddie: Hello. And welcome to On Point. This episode features an interview with Frank Finelli, managing director of the Carlyle Group in Washington, DC, where he focuses on investments in the defense and aerospace sector. Frank graduated from west point in 1979 and retired from the army as Lieutenant Colonel. He was also a field artillery, master gunner, and [00:01:00] served in the 82nd airborne first armored and third infantry divisions.
[00:01:03] On this episode, Frank shares a wealth of valuable insights on the private equity industry. How to maintain relationships with anyone. And think strategically about your career after the military, leaving the military later in your career as a challenge for many veterans. So it was interesting to hear about how he crafted a truly unique path for himself.
[00:01:20] Before we jumped into it, feel free to check us out on LinkedIn and instagram@oldgradclubandonlineatoldgradclub.com. Now please enjoy this interview with Frank Finelli.
[00:01:35] Thank you so much for joining us really, really appreciate you having on having you on the on point podcast. So to kick things off, I, you know, your father served in world war II as a radar operator, uh, on a landing ship in the Pacific. Uh, was he, was he the main influence to go to west point to join the military?
[00:01:53] Or how did that, you know, start the seed of, of joining the military?
[00:01:58] Frank: Well, thanks, Eddie. [00:02:00] And it's great to be with you, but, but actually no, my dad was drafted in the Navy in world war two and then completed his PhD in chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania under the GI bill and was a research scientist at Goodyear in Akron, Ohio, the rubber Capitol of the world, where he earned nearly 50 patents over his 40 year career.
[00:02:19] So I grew up with no connection to the military. In fact, I think the only thing I did, I knew about the military or the army as I was growing up was when the national guard would deliver the mail and their DuSant have trucks when we had really bad snow storms. Uh, so I had no idea what getting into West Point, uh, or what I was getting into and going to west point.
[00:02:38] So ironically, I mean, The U.S. military academy to swim on the swim team. Um, it was cool being a recruited athlete, and I'll never forget my recruiting trip as a high school senior. When I was really impressed by the 50 yard indoor pool back then, there weren't very many of them. And I also thought the long overcoats with the capes were really, really cool.[00:03:00]
[00:03:00] The ones we wear when we're marching onto the field at the Army Navy game. So I went to west point to swim on the swim team and get along overcoat what a dumb idea. But boy was one of the best four decisions on my life.
[00:03:11] Eddie: That that's interesting. I went to go play tennis as well, and people, you know, they ask all these interesting questions.
[00:03:17] Why did you join west point or why did you go to west point and it's, uh, it's good to hear another sports story and can't believe you really, uh, enjoyed those long coats. Cause I know sometimes just cadets people don't really enjoy them that much. So. So after graduating, uh, in 1979, and you served four years in the 82nd, uh, commanded and artillery firing battery at Fort Bragg.
[00:03:37] Um, and then you went to MIT Sloan to get a master's degree in management, uh, dual concentrations, I believe finance and operations research. It sounds like you did that through the military with what were you thinking at that, you know, kind of in that trend?
[00:03:51] Frank: It's really kind of interesting because, um, you know, I was the first person in my class to choose field artillery, branch.
[00:03:57] So I had my pick of assignments and, uh, [00:04:00] absolutely made the right choice in going to the 82nd airborne division at Fort Bragg though. I, I must say I was a leg ranger at the time having gone to ranger school after my yearling year. And I hadn't had a chance to go to airborne school yet. So I just prayed that jumping out of airplanes would be something that I would like to do where it was going to be a long three years.
[00:04:18] Long three years turned out to be four short years, and I had a blast, literally doing all kinds of stuff, uh, culminating and commanding Charlie battery in what was then second of the three 21st airborne, uh, field artillery. But, uh, you know, more importantly, there was, uh, a guy named major general bill Klein, who was the west point class of 54.
[00:04:38] He was my assistant division commander and he had a beautiful daughter named Kathy who has been Mrs. Fanelli for over 38 years. That's the best decision of mine. Despite him not wanting her to date that wild airborne Lieutenant, but th that all kinds of feeds into my decision about going to grad school, because I always wanted to go back to west point and teach in the social department.
[00:04:59] [00:05:00] So I got accepted. So in school of management at MIT to study finance and operations research, as you mentioned, and I was really ecstatic about that opportunity, but ironically, surely before I changed command Charlie battery in the 82nd area. I got a call from my field artillery, branch assignments, officer counseling, me not to go to graduate school at MIT because it would be detrimental to my army career.
[00:05:24] He said that I needed to go command a Persian nuclear missile platoon in Germany. And I kind of pause for a second and said, what are you kidding? Um, so I, I took a step back and then just replied. I said, sir, I understand your guidance, but I'm going to go to MIT and take my chances. And, uh, so I headed to Boston and that summer, and, uh, the rest is history, but definitely one of the best decisions of my life.
[00:05:49] Eddie: It's, uh, it's interesting because in the military you get all sorts of advice, um, and it's tailored towards, it tends to be tailored towards that person's perspective based off of their path or what they've [00:06:00] experienced. You know, one of the things that I'm super excited to hear about is you really forged a truly unique path, both in the things that you did in the military, as well as the things that you did outside of the military, when it comes to what you did at west point as a profession.
[00:06:14] We're in, you know, obviously spent time at MIT learning about what was going on outside of the military. How hard was it to go back in the military? Um, you know, put the uniform back on. I don't know if you wore the uniform at MIT. Um, but then kind of re ingratiate yourself into the military and then try to prepare west point cadets for their future career being, you know, soldiers and young officers and leaders in the military.
[00:06:38] Yeah,
[00:06:38] Frank: well, it's interesting. I think the only time we wore uniforms at MIT was when we had to take our physical fitness tests with the ROTC students. But, you know, from a practical perspective, I agree to attend MIT Sloan as an active duty officer. And so I end. A three for one commitment on the back end.
[00:06:56] So that would it be essentially five years for my [00:07:00] nearly two years in grad school. And three years of those would be at west point. So for me, it was a no brainer to take that path, you know, and certainly I was very grateful to have the military covering my tuition and expenses in Boston because MIT is not an inexpensive school, uh, for sure, but I really.
[00:07:17] You know, had intended, as soon as I finished my commitment, I just go to wall street, but I, I really had a series of wonderful opportunities. At west point. I worked, uh, not only teaching, but in a neat think tank called the office of economic and manpower analysis, where I became one of them, army vice chief of staff, max Thurman's operations research analyst.
[00:07:39] He used to call us Orissa pods. That was an awesome assignment where I learned a ton about how the army really runs budgets, requirements, programs, investments, and then, then had an awesome assignment in Germany with the first armored division and third infantry division. There's really nothing better than leading army soldiers.
[00:07:58] And my last year [00:08:00] in Germany, I had an amazing opportunity to serve as the aid to camp, to general David Maddox, who was the commander in chief of us army, Europe, and NATO central army group. And he was a brilliant thinker and strategist who taught me a ton about leadership and management. And I was kind of hooked on the army at that point.
[00:08:19] I would say that wasn't until I was assigned to the joint staff Jade and the Pentagon. Working on a special staff for them, uh, for Admiral bill Owens, who was the vice chairman of the joint chiefs, but he was another brilliant and analytical leader whose vision was incredible. And as you can imagine, Amarillo has kind of stacked the joint staff with the best and brightest rising Navy superstars.
[00:08:42] I think all those guys became three or four star admirals, and I joked that those Navy guys ruined my army career and I can't thank them enough, but in all seriousness, the real story. Is that the Amarillo once introduced me to then Senator Dan coats who wanted me to serve as his defense [00:09:00] and intelligence staffer on the armed services and select intelligence committees.
[00:09:04] And that was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. So I retired and went directly to Capitol hill.
[00:09:09] Eddie: So do you think your transitions were planned? I mean, you had interesting assignment, like in, you know, having served in the military, like. Those roles are in some ways, like really unique, right? Like they're not really standard bill it's.
[00:09:23] Did you, did you plan that or was it just, you know, one thing led to another?
[00:09:27] Frank: No, it's just the grace of God. I mean, that's all I can say. I'm the luckiest guy on the planet, I think. But boy, having the opportunity to have been mentored and learn from the likes of max Thurman, David Maddox, bill Owens. I mean, it's just incredible.
[00:09:41] And, and I think that's kind of where the serendipity in life kind of continues because. You know, I transitioned from the military, kind of went to the hill without thinking a whole lot about it. And then the opportunity to work for Senator Dan coats was incredible. I mean, he's an amazing politician diplomat, also a leader who [00:10:00] lady became ambassador to Germany and the director of national intelligence and, and working for him was an absolute blast.
[00:10:06] He was the chairman of the air land sub committee, where we were responsible for the research and development and procurement program. For essentially all of the defense programs except ships and satellites. And so I got a chance to really learn a ton about the legislative process and about defense programs from a budgetary perspective.
[00:10:28] But I also gave me an opportunity to get to know some folks from the Carlisle group. Uh, the Carlisle group had been in existence for about 10 years. Then we only had about 5 billion in assets, under management, but. 30 to 35% of that was invested in aerospace and defense companies. And I got to meet five or six of the chief executive officers of those companies because they were talking to me about the programs that they were trying to get funded in the defense bills.
[00:10:56] And so the luck kind of continued because [00:11:00] Senator Cotes knew Frank Carlucci, who was chairman of the Carlyle group. This is a Frank Carlucci, the former defense secretary. And so I had a chance to meet with them. And certainly my finance background from MIT and I had been awarded a charter financial analyst designation.
[00:11:15] That was all helpful to give me the financial bonus CDs that I needed to be able to transition to Carlisle. So when Senator coach retired, I got fired as is the custom on Capitol hill and added up opportunity to transition to the Carlyle group back in the fall of 1990.
[00:11:34] Eddie: It's such a unique transition.
[00:11:35] And I didn't realize that you had actually kind of worked with them or gotten to know the group prior to leaving the public sector.
[00:11:42] Frank: W well, it was really the CEOs of their portfolio companies that paved the way for me. And, uh, they were my best advocates as I went to try to convince Carlyle that they needed to hire an old army guy under there.
[00:11:55] Yeah,
[00:11:55] Eddie: absolutely. And were you the only ex military veteran that was [00:12:00] working in Carlisle at the time? No.
[00:12:01] Frank: As a matter of fact, one of the founders was a military vet Navy. Dan Danielo bill Conway was actually a Navy brat, uh, grew up in a Navy family. Uh, David Rubenstein's dad served in the Marine Corps. So you had that sense of service and there were several other of the partners who also were military.
[00:12:21] In the deal teams, there really weren't other veterans, but, um, certainly there was a principle of service and a respect for service across the firm as part of our culture. And I think that helped pay the way. Plus the firm knew that they needed to develop deep expertise and for investing in the defense and aerospace.
[00:12:42] Eddie: Yep. Absolutely. I have a close friend, his name's Dan guac, and he runs the private investments for point 72. Now I know Dan very well. I was visiting Danna a couple, maybe two or three weeks ago, open sand hill road in Menlo park. And I mentioned that. [00:13:00] You know, I was, I was going to speak to you and he was, he called you the godfather of aerospace and defense private equity.
[00:13:07] I was like, wow, I've got a lot of questions for the, the, the godfather of, of, uh, you know, space and defense, private equity. But so as you were starting the, you know, the
[00:13:16] Frank: well Dan's nose Dan's nose was probably growing just a little bit when he said that, but, uh, he's an awesome guy who did great work for us at Carlisle ended in Q talked before heading back to the.
[00:13:27] To the private sector and we thank him for his service in the Marine Corps, for
[00:13:30] Eddie: sure. Absolutely. Uh, Dan is Dan's the best. And, um, so Frank, when you were starting at Carlisle, how much, what existed there prior to you getting there when it comes to the aerospace and defense practice and then what do you really build or set out to really, um, kind of grow while you, when you joined the team?
[00:13:48] Well,
[00:13:48] Frank: it, it really is a team and I think that's the key, the key point that we want to make with everybody. Um, We had some excellent investors who had done [00:14:00] some tremendous deals in the defense and aerospace area. So they had a good familiarity with how the financial aspects of them worked. If anything, we had a difficulty really understanding the budgeting process and how requirements are set because we came in to.
[00:14:18] 19 98, 19 99, 2000, kind of the end of the Clinton administration, where we actually had run some budget surpluses, but it was pretty clear that that wasn't going to be sustained. And there was pressure on the defense budgets before nine 11. And so Carlisle wanted to have more expertise on how to think about forecasts for the programs in defense companies and how that would feed into our financial forecast.
[00:14:43] So I was able, I think, to bring that dimension to the team, uh, which helped us. You know, I think thick in our investing process. And then I also had relationships across the sector that helped us bring in a broader expertise of strategic consultants that could advise our companies.
[00:14:59] Eddie: Yeah. I mean, [00:15:00] I, you know, looking back at your, the, was it 20 years that you did in the military?
[00:15:04] Frank?
[00:15:04] Frank: Almost. I actually retired early as a Lieutenant Colonel because I had to retire in order to take that position on the Senate.
[00:15:11] Eddie: Yeah. I mean, I'm sure you didn't plan it at the time, but it seems like almost everything that you did was almost in preparation for that job. The economic background, that the background on Capitol hill, it was perfect.
[00:15:21] Frank: Well, it was interesting cause I did have to decline command. Which was something I was looking forward to in my whole career. But, but again, and my wife, Cathy was right. She said, uh, you really do need to take this opportunity on Capitol hill. And I think she wasn't exactly wild about going back to Fort Bragg and living in 1400 square feet of uncle Sam's finest.
[00:15:42] Eddie: No. Yeah. Um, it's, uh, things have turned out well, um, yeah, for sure. Onto the next segment, the sit rep or the situation report in this segment, we'll dive into what our guest is focused on today and how their vision is transforming the future of industry in society. You know, you've been in at [00:16:00] Carlisle for over 20 years now.
[00:16:01] Um, I'm sure there, the firm has changed. The AUM has grown dramatically since when you were there. Uh, first there. Um, what are you, what are you up to these days? Is it. Is the role different than when you had started? Are you more managing and then deal-making like, how does that work?
[00:16:17] Frank: Yeah, it, to be honest, it really doesn't change it.
[00:16:19] As you said, our assets under management have grown from 5 billion. When I joined the firm to 275 billion or over 275 billion today. So it's been, it's been quite a scale, but what I would say is. What I do at Carlisle is ironically not all that different from what I did on the hill or what I even did in the military.
[00:16:38] Sure. And some of the special assignments that I had, it's about how you develop a calculus to sort through problems and figure out the key drivers for improving processes, creating value, reducing risk. And so that's really what it's all about. I get to do a bunch of fun stuff. Um, you know, assessing deals, developing [00:17:00] sustaining networks of key players and organizations.
[00:17:03] National security and aviation marketplace writing about the economic outlook, weighing in to solve strategic and tactical challenges and, and also mentoring, you know, our rising superstars and Carlo. I mean, I consider that one of my most important responsibilities because they're going to lead our firm for the next generation.
[00:17:20] And I also really enjoy working with the portfolio company management teams, helping them punch above their weight, if you will, by leveraging Carlisle's capabilities and our expertise and our nets. To give you some idea, you know, we've acquired over a hundred companies in the defense and aerospace sector over the last 30 to 35 years.
[00:17:39] And that means that we've worked with a ton of very talented executives and developed a bunch of key relationships and learn a lot about how to grow companies. We've also got a lot of lessons learned from mistakes we made or challenges we confronted, and we want to bring those insights to our report folio companies.
[00:17:57] That's
[00:17:58] Eddie: super cool. And so. [00:18:00] You know, as I think about the aerospace and defense sector, there's a lot of growing young companies, whether it's like endurable or some of these younger companies in, in mainly on the, I would say some of them on the west coast, how does the new innovation that's happening, um, in the new initiatives when it comes to funding some of these companies, whether it's through DIUX or through or some of these organizations, does that factor into how you Carlisle thinks about the
[00:18:23] Frank: sector?
[00:18:24] Well, it's a great question. And, you know, to be honest, We are not venture investors, early stage investors. Um, Carlisle, you know, 20 years ago had one of the largest global investing platforms, but we transitioned that to really more of a classic private equity leveraged buyout and kind of growth capital platform.
[00:18:49] And I think what we had to recognize to ourselves is that we really didn't have the technical expertise. To keep up with the venture community. And I think one [00:19:00] of the worst things you can do is, is know a little bit about technology. Cause then you're dangerous and you're going to hold back the folks who really do know what they're doing.
[00:19:09] So our view was look, we're a lot better at helping companies grow and establish the real foundation. That's going to make them successful over time. So I think of transitioning technology into product. Products into programs. And once we start seeing programs coming into form, that's when Carlyle can get excited about things and, you know, to be honest, most of our deals are several billion dollars.
[00:19:36] And so we're not investing in small, early stage stuff, but we do work with some, as I mentioned, growth, capital or growth equity deals, several hundred million dollars or so. And so we're watching this technology space a lot. What is interesting though, is that within the debt defense marketplace, It's really tricky to see how these programs transition and where they get funding.
[00:19:59] And [00:20:00] so that's why I think we're staying a little bit more later stage. We certainly are supportive of this investment in commercial technology is going to be great benefit for national security. And quite frankly, I think some of our portfolio companies can be great channel partners for those technology companies.
[00:20:17] And so we try to stay close to that community. To be honest, we're not investors in that early stage. It
[00:20:23] Eddie: makes sense. Makes sense. And so Frank seeing as though that you, you're still very involved in the ecosystem, how do you maintain your context in, in the Pentagon or, or different aspects of, of the government side of the house?
[00:20:37] Do you still talk frequently with that, those
[00:20:39] Frank: individuals? Well, I mean, again, I'll tell you the west point network is phenomenal. Um, and so we do try to stay close to classmates and friendships that we're doing. You know, for decades serving in the military and, uh, for those outside, I mean, there's, there's folks that are in politics.
[00:20:56] There's folks that are in policy there's folks that are in companies and [00:21:00] there's folks that are still supporting, uh, the department of defense and government. And so I would encourage all grads to continue to, to work and cultivate that network, but it's also very important to become involved. There are some tremendous organizations, uh, in and around the national capital region.
[00:21:17] That focus on national security, whether it's business executives for national security, uh, where I'm a board member, the council on foreign relations, the Lexington Institute, the Atlantic council. These are forums where leaders, Ross, the defense industry and the national security community have great opportunities to collaborate.
[00:21:39] And, and that's really powerful.
[00:21:41] Eddie: Yeah, and it sounds like it ends. So to take it back a little bit, you have such a unique career, both in the military public sector, as well as now in the private equity world. What advice would you give to somebody who's in the military? Whether they're three years in or five or 15 years in [00:22:00] on setting up their.
[00:22:02] Military career to help them transition to a private sector career. And I asked that because everybody, at some point leaves the military, whether it's five, 10 years, or whether it's a 20 or 30 year career, you have to do something after what you've done nearly 20 years. What would your advice be?
[00:22:19] Frank: Well, it's a, it's a great question.
[00:22:21] I was very lucky because I got to do some projects. Commercial finance when I was in the military. I mean, look, the department of defense has a budget over $700 billion in a year. You know, although it's a government entity, it had still has all the corporate functions of the largest firms in the world.
[00:22:38] So you've got to understand a little bit about that. I think the key thing is for people who were in the military, you're going to be very busy, but, but I would encourage you to try to identify some areas that really do peak your interest. Try to become an expert in those. Uh, I think if you can become a go-to [00:23:00] person in a given area, that's something that will be valuable when you go thinking about transition into the private sector, it really is all about domain expertise to key question is what are the domains that are going to be interesting to you?
[00:23:14] So I would just encourage people to really think hard about that. The second thing is to just think about. How you're going to interact with people. You're not going to be in a military environment. You're going to be in one where organizations are quite frankly, much flatter and the way you work with your peers, seniors, and subordinates in a respectful and collaborative way, I think is really important.
[00:23:37] You, you want to be the type of person that people want to work with, and if you can be engaging and become known as a really effective collaborator, I think that's another thing that will really pay you. Good dividends. Secondly, I mean, and then thirdly, I'm sorry. I think you also ought to be able to demonstrate how you are trying to professionally develop yourself.[00:24:00]
[00:24:00] Take advantage of what's going on in the military. What you can learn from a leadership perspective, what you can learn from a team building perspective, what you can learn from just operational execution and operational excellence. Those are all vital skills that quite frankly, a lot of times, folks in the private sector have a hard time developing.
[00:24:17] So I think you can identify those areas that differentiate yourself and try to really focus on.
[00:24:23] Eddie: Frank, you mentioned that you really focused setting up new, early investors at Carlyle mentoring them and growing them. Uh, it's something that the military tends to do in some ways, probably better than the private sector.
[00:24:35] How are you mentoring these individuals? What advice do you give them? And then in order to grow a, you know, a successful career in the field,
[00:24:43] Frank: it's very much like mentoring in the military, except there's a little bit more of a one-on-one relationship. And so, you know, I'll be, you know, available to talk to a broad class of them, but there's always, probably two or three or four that I'll focus with on a given kind of six months, [00:25:00] we go in six months cycles where I really try to work with them and challenging them about how they are trying to get better in what they do today and how they're preparing for what they're going to do moral.
[00:25:10] And again, what you don't want to do is. You know, convince everybody that they need to work 15 hours a day and then study three hours a day and try to live on three or four hours sleep. I think one of the biggest lessons is that they have to have balance in their lives. That that balance has to be financial.
[00:25:31] It has to be professional. It has to be spiritual and it has to be with respect to their family and friends or social, if you will. And so I think that's really important and you have to take care of your hair. That's one of the other things. Unfortunately, we have had some phenomenal leaders that didn't take care of themselves and so they never made it to the finish line.
[00:25:51] And that's a shame. So again, we just try to make them think about the bigger picture is one of the key things we're very blessed because these folks are phenomenally [00:26:00] brilliant and so they can pick up stuff in a nanosecond. Um, but I think it's the broader whole person package that I think we really gained.
[00:26:09] Uh, respect for in the military that I try to share with the folks at Carlisle that I'm working with,
[00:26:16] Eddie: let's get into our next segment, the SOP or standard operating procedure in this segment. We're going to talk about the personal routines, habits and words to live by that have been instrumental to our guests success.
[00:26:28] What do you do on a daily basis that you focus on? That's allowed you to be, um, you know, get to where you are today. And this could be like, Eating a certain way. Um, exercising, waking up at a certain time, making sure you call your mother once a week to, uh, to tell her, you know, w what's what what's done you well in your life?
[00:26:48] Well,
[00:26:48] Frank: I'd say I did take Admiral McRaven advice, the former commander in chief of special operations command. So I do make my bed every day, but no, I mean, in all seriousness, um, you know, [00:27:00] I'm not sure that I, I really think about it that way. A lot of it is. How you identify what's on your plate. There's a hundred things that you could do every day.
[00:27:10] The key to success is how do you pick the 10 or 15 or 20 things to be the right things. You're not going to get them all right. But if you waste your time on the wrong things, that don't make any difference, you're not going to succeed. And so I really encourage people to be thoughtful about how you spend your time, because you're going to realize that time becomes your most critical resource.
[00:27:34] And so I think that's one of the keys and, you know, it's interesting if we can kind of step back a second, because, you know, you mentioned about, you know, what do you kind of do to be successful or what's been a key to your success or whatever. And to be honest, my view on that really hasn't changed. And it was general Thurman that kind of informed me about how to think of that.
[00:27:57] If you know, I think back to the first year I [00:28:00] worked with him, it was in 1986. I'll never forget. The first year I was in the social department and the army was transitioning to a high quality, all volunteer force. And we had the analysis to show that smart soldiers were actually better soldiers. And so we changed the Army's marketing approach and adopted the catch phrase, be all you can be.
[00:28:19] And so I've always thought of success about me, you know, asking myself the question. Am I being all that I can be. You know, that's really about using the talents that God has blessed you to the maximum extent, you know, and if you are, then you're making an impact for his kingdom. And, um, you know, quite frankly, my view about what's important in life, all, you know, fundamentally changed, uh, 22 years ago when I was a liver donor to a very close friend.
[00:28:48] And, um, you know, that transplant was a success that saved my friend's life. But I would say that that transplant process saved my life. And taught me that success in life is [00:29:00] really all about following the path that God has for each and every one of us. And so that's really the question I ask myself every morning is, you know, what's my path today and help me follow it.
[00:29:10] Eddie: That's, um, that's really impactful. Uh, I really appreciate you sharing that, you know, getting back to the, the younger graduate audience that might be listening, um, you know, let's just say they, I get, um, a lot of emails or calls asking. You know, how do you, how do I get into private equity or venture capital or something like that?
[00:29:30] Um, would you have any advice for those, those individuals that are seeking a career? You know, a similar path that, of yours,
[00:29:37] Frank: it's really hard. And normally you can't get into private equity unless you have experience in private equity. And so it's almost impossible to get started. We did hire a west point grad and, uh, one of our, in our cohort that starting this summer and he actually got some experience with.
[00:29:54] Another firm and had gotten into one of the wall street vet programs, which was really, uh, really [00:30:00] important. But what I would say is this is where the west point network can be very, very important or just a broader military and veteran network. You will have a very difficult time getting directly into a private equity firm.
[00:30:13] And there's a ton of people that are trying to do that. And, and, you know, quite frankly, it's hard, there aren't that many slots, you know, there. Four managing directors and the team that I work with and, you know, three of them are seen or two of them are senior to me. Um, so I mean, again, these are groups that stay together for 20, 25 years, and it's quite impressive.
[00:30:32] But what you can do is try to identify maybe CEOs of companies who are west point grads or who were army. And maybe there's roles in those companies where you can get experience doing, add on transactions, develop your financial skills, become more involved with strategic planning and financial planning and analysis.
[00:30:52] And these can be some of the real skills that can help out. Also private equity is a huge, has a huge ecosystem around it. I [00:31:00] mean, at Carlisle, we have less than 2000 employees. Half of whom are kind of administrative and legal and accounting. And so you have roughly a hundred or a thousand people dealing with 275 billion in assets.
[00:31:13] We have over 250 companies around the world. So the private equity firms themselves can only do so much. We need a whole bunch of expert consultants and advisors around these companies to help us create value. And so there's good opportunities there that I think west point grads could be very well suited for in the consulting arena as well.
[00:31:34] That's
[00:31:34] Eddie: a that's great advice, Frank. Um, Frank, I think, uh, I think that's all we've got time for today, but it's been really great. I feel like we could have talked for a lot longer. Um, but before I let you go, um, where can people find you? Is there anything else that you'd like to leave the listeners with?
[00:31:49] Frank: Thanks so much. I mean, please feel free to reach out to me. Frank dot finelli@carlisle.com. I'll do my best to get back to you and would love to. A conversation, [00:32:00] but for those of you, maybe I could leave you with a thought, uh, when, um, for those of you that are thinking about transitioning, I would encourage you.
[00:32:08] If you find a company that you're interested in, seek out veterans who work there and find out what they think about the firm and whether they're getting an opportunity to be professionally developed or to pursue their professional development. And I would also encourage it too. One make sure you absolutely understand who your boss is and who your bosses boss is.
[00:32:30] I mean, I think we all remember about the officer evaluation system and the person who checks the block for you is not your boss. It's your boss's boss. And so you kind of don't have that same framework in the military or in the, uh, private sector, but it still exists. So your boss and your boss's boss are key.
[00:32:48] You should try to meet them cause they'll control your destiny. And then the other, other kind of two things. Make sure you're going to have fun. We all spend way too much time at work to be doing stuff that we don't enjoy. [00:33:00] So don't put yourself through that. And lastly, and this may sound a little bit ironic, but don't worry about the money.
[00:33:07] If you do a great job, you're going to make plenty of money. And if you don't do a great job, you shouldn't make plenty of money. So again, that'll kind of sort itself out, but have fun and respect the people you're going to work for. That's what I'd say as a part of that.
[00:33:20] Eddie: That's incredible advice. Thank you so much for the time Frank, the support is really, really appreciated across the community and, uh, hopefully, uh, we'll have a chance to speak again.
[00:33:31] Really appreciate it.
[00:33:32] Frank: Thanks so much. And thanks for your leadership, Eddie and putting on this series. I really commend you for it and hope that a lot of people around the west point community will have a chance to.
[00:33:42] Eddie: Thank you Frank. Really appreciate it.
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