This episode features part 1 of a discussion between the honorable Robert McDonald, the new Chairman of the WPAOG Board of Directors, and Todd Browne, the president and CEO of AOG. Bob and Todd share their mutual and individual goals and vision for AOG. The organization continues to grow and is aimed at fulfilling its mission to serve the Long Gray Line by becoming the most highly connected alumni body in the world.
This episode features part 1 of a discussion between the honorable Robert McDonald, the new Chairman of the WPAOG Board of Directors, and Todd Browne, the president and CEO of AOG. Bob and Todd share their mutual and individual goals and vision for AOG. The organization continues to grow and is aimed at fulfilling its mission to serve the Long Gray Line by becoming the most highly connected alumni body in the world.
As a highly distinguished leader and civil servant, Bob shares insights and his vision for AOG. Complementing his vision, Todd discusses more immediate strategies AOG is implementing to ensure growth, connections, and valuable services to members of the Long Gray Line. Their efforts are geared towards supporting the US Military Academy and Margins of Excellence that drive West Point to continue to be the world-class institution it’s been for over 150 years.
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“In today’s divisive, politically charged environment, I always come back to West Point. I come back to duty, honor, country. I come back to military officers choosing to be a-political. And, when I look at the force that West Point is and will always be for good in our country - it really is a guide post, a shining light for what we can be. And, I think our graduates live with that everyday.” - Robert McDonald
“Five years ago we put in place that vision statement for the Long Gray Line to be the most highly connected alumni body in the world. And, then paired with our mission to serve West Point and the Long Gray Line - two simple statements. But, really when you think about it, it’s really two key words: Serve and be Connected. And, if we are successful at the AOG in keeping the Long Gray Line connected, then the Long Gray Line is like a force for good to help both other graduates and the institution of West Point. So, that’s why it is really critical that we stay connected. Because the Long Gray Line is a powerful force when pulled in the same direction.” - Todd Browne
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Episode Timestamps
(04:00) - Robert McDonald discusses new role as Chairman of the WPAOG Board of Directors
(06:00) - WPAOG Initiatives for 2022
(07:30) - Importance of alumni being connected
(09:00) - AOG as a hub for connection
(09:35) - AOG Activities, Initiatives, Programs
(10:50) - Human Centered Design and West Point Graduates
(13:40) - AOG Moments that Matter
(17:20) - Transitioning and Life After the Military
(22:05) - Design of AOG
(26:03) - Making Connections with other Graduates
(27:15) - Where Does AOG Want to Be
(31:20) - Personalization and Outreach for AOG
(33:20) - Comfort and Connections Between Graduate Entrepreneurs
(35:50) - Importance of Data to Help Graduates
(38:00) - Guiding Graduates
(40:00) - Advice for How Graduates Can Better Connect with Eachother
(44:50) - Finding My Next Mission
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Links
West Point Association of Graduates
Todd Browne: [00:00:00] Hello. My name is Todd Browne, class of 1985. President and CEO of the west point association of graduates. Our mission is to serve west point and the long gray line with a vision to become the most highly connected alumni body in the world. We're proud to present the WP AOG broadcast network, expanding existing connections between graduates with diverse content assessable from anywhere in the world.
This communications channel offers an exclusive look at the extraordinary lives of our graduates while keeping you up to date on AOG services, ways to engage and advance at our rock bound, Highland home, our 2030 strategic plan advances, our alumni body's remarkable record of service to west point and to one another.
And this broadcast network is one more way to keep us all informed and connect. If you would like to participate in this broadcast network in any [00:01:00] capacity, please email us initiatives@wpaog.org. Thank you for listening as we unlock the power of the long gray line.
Narrator: Hello and welcome to season two, Yvonne point a podcast produced by the west point association of. Um, the season, we'll be speaking with a number of distinguished members of the west point and military communities, including Robert McDonald, Barry McCaffrey, general Stan McChrystal, and more.
This episode features part one of the discussion between the honorable Robert MacDonald, the new chairman of the WPA O G board of directors and Todd brown, the president and CEO of AIG Bob McDonald graduated west point in 1975 and is a highly distinguished.
And civil servant.
He served as chairman and CEO of the Proctor and
gamble company. And as the secretary of veterans affairs on this episode, Bob joins Todd to lay out their [00:02:00] shared vision for AOG and its mission to serve the long gray line by becoming the most highly connected alumni body in the world.
They discuss the immediate strategies. AOG is implementing to ensure
growth, connections, and valuable services to members of the long grain. So without further ado, here's your host? Ian Faison.
Ian Faison: Welcome to On Point. I'm Ian Faison, CEO of Caspian studios, west point class 2009. This is a podcast produced by the west point association of graduates.
I'm super excited for today's episode. It's going to feature a discussion between the honorable Bob McDonald, the new chairman of the west point AOG board of directors and Todd browne, president and CEO of AOG. First, Bob, how are you today? Thank
Robert McDonald: you so much
Ian Faison: for doing. Yeah, thanks so much for joining. So excited to chat about all the cool stuff that you're doing in your new role.
And Todd, how are you? [00:03:00] Great,
Todd Browne: Ian. Thanks for doing this today.
Ian Faison: Yeah. Thanks so much for joining. We're going to be talking today about becoming the most connected alumni body in the world. It's a Herculean task. It's one that the two of you are. Are focused on day in and day out. And there's a lot of stuff that happens behind the scenes.
A lot of stuff that I've been privy to over the past months, as we've been leading up to this interview and the continued launch of our OnPoint podcast series here. And I wanted to bring some of those ideas, some of the thoughts, some of the things that are going on behind the scenes, out in the open to old grads around the world, and to kick things off, you know, who better to chat with and both of you.
And so Bob starting with you obviously congrats on the new role. What was it like for you to, to take on this new role? Why were you so excited about it? How did it come on your radar and what does it look like in 2022? Well, yeah,
Robert McDonald: and I've been, I've been on the board of directors of the west point association graduates now for about four years.
And during that time I was doing a number of activities. Board work, both [00:04:00] non-profit and for-profit. And I decided over that time that I'd be better served to focus my energy on the west point board, that, that it was a unique moment. In time. At west point, we were starting a new fundraising campaign. We have a great CEO, we have a strategic plan focused on, uh, 2030.
And, um, and I wanted to, I really wanted to focus my efforts to help my beloved on the. Our beloved
Ian Faison: Alma mater indeed. And, uh, in the small, tiniest little, uh, different sort of way me being involved in this podcast and, and supporting all of the work that AOJ is doing and supporting really graduates everywhere.
I can feel a small sliver of that myself included and. And Todd, it's so exciting to chat with you today. We've been talking over the past months of, of all of the really cool stuff that you are doing behind the scenes. Why are you so excited to have Bob joined as chairman?
Todd Browne: Well, it's a great opportunity for both the AIG and me personally, [00:05:00] to have Bob on board, given his, uh, experience.
Both in the private sector and in the government. So I think, uh, both the AIG team and me personally will learn a lot from Bob in all of his experience.
Ian Faison: Yeah. And one of the things that has been really exciting in our conversations leading up to this is obviously, you know, Bob has been there, done that in the private sector and the public sector and everything in between and old grads.
That's where we sit, right. We sit in this intersection and sit in multiple worlds and it's a really exciting part. And there's a lot of times. We don't really know what the future's going to hold for AIG. We don't really know what the future's going to hold for graduates. And some of the stuff that we've been starting to talk about is so exciting.
And so, Bob, what are you thinking about? That's exciting. What are your initiatives for 2022 as you come into.
Robert McDonald: Well, yeah, and I'd really like to help Todd and the whole board really make significant progress in achieving our vision of becoming the most highly [00:06:00] connected alumni body in the world. You know, the, at the Procter and gamble company is an example on any given day 5 billion people on the planet use at least one Proctor and gamble product.
And during my time as CEO, I started, we were reaching 4 billion people a day. And, uh, when I retired, we're reaching five ban that kind of increase in reach is something that I'd like to see more. Um, more engagement. Todd has a great program for measuring that and importantly, more service are we serving the members of the long gray line and are we serving west point the way that we would like to?
And, uh, that's why we get into the technologies. We use like human centered design, which is something that we used at a, at the Procter and gamble company. It was something. Frankly, I brought to the VA to try to get veterans back at the center of everything that we do at the VA. It's something Todd and his team have embraced.
We have [00:07:00] made great strides with it already. When you look at the activities and the programs that the association graduates now supports.
Ian Faison: And so w why is it so important to be the most connected? Like, what does it mean to be connected? Well,
Todd Browne: that's a really great question. It's really at the heart of what we do at the ALG.
You know, that's why, uh, five years ago we put in place that vision statement for the long gray line to be the most highly connected alumni body in the world. And then paired with our mission to serve was pointing the long gray line, two simple statements. But really when you think about it, it's really two key words serve and be connect.
And if we are successful at the ALG and keeping the long gray line connected, then the long gray line is like a force for good to help both other graduates in the institution at west point. So that's why it's really critical that we stay connected because the, uh, the [00:08:00] long gray line, uh, is, is a powerful force when it kind of pulls it in the same.
Robert McDonald: That's Todd would say that Ian, because, um, as I was looking at wanting to focus my efforts in the future on, on the west point association graduates in today's divisive, politically charged environment. I always come back to west point. I come back to duty honor country. I come back. Military, officer's choosing to be apolitical.
And when I look at the force, that that west point is, and will always be for good in our country, it really is, um, a guidepost, a shining light for what we can be. And I think our graduates live that every day. Yeah. And really
Todd Browne: what we want to do at the AIG is we want to provide the tools so that graduates can often connect on their own.
Because as we looked at that four or five years ago, [00:09:00] we realized the only way we could do that, as Bob mentioned, was through the use of automation and technology. So if we provide the tools and the platforms then graduates connect on their own and we help direct them, hopefully in ways that are supportive to their fellow graduates in the.
Robert McDonald: And much of the activity that Todd Neo G is supported, has been initiated organically. It's been identified by graduates, started by graduates, and that gives us the opportunity to LG and Todd and his team have done this. To nurture those, grow those and involve even greater numbers of graduates in those activities.
And I think it's the organic growth. That's so exciting because it's, it shows you that it's driven and initiated by the graduates themselves. Todd, maybe you want to give an example or two, well,
Todd Browne: The perfect example is this podcast. One of our graduates started it and we said, wow, that's a really good [00:10:00] idea.
And he was willing to kind of turn it over to us, but he got it going. And we saw that there was an opportunity. Another one is. Several of the younger classes have come to the AIG and said, Hey, we think suicide prevention is an area that they should get involved in. And so we have was not originally part of our 20, 30 strategic plan, but it really grew out of the feedback from alumni.
And I think the critical thing that, that comes out of the human centered design besides sort of the mindset of, you know, design thinking is this idea of having empathy. So if we and our staff have empathy and we have the ability to understand what grads need, then we can really direct our programs towards, you know, these, these moments that may matter in their life journey map.
So we went through that process in our human centered design, leading up to the 20, 30 strategic plan. And [00:11:00] I would, I guess I would say that it's a, we're not there it's a path, right? You just continue to learn more about how you can better serve the long gray line in this, this human center design is, is one tool and the design thinking is a way for our, our staff to, uh, embrace, uh, what our grads.
Ian Faison: Yeah, Bob, can you talk a little bit about that process? Taking human centered design and overlaying that on Westpoint and graduates and like why it was so important to them?
Robert McDonald: Well, let me start first in with a historical example from my own, my own career. When I started with the Procter and gamble company, the world's largest marketer in 1980, we created a messaging strategies and we broadcast those to people.
We did that in those days. You could, you could run an ad on CBS, ABC, and NBC, and reach nearly all the United States population today with digital technology. [00:12:00] It's about, it's about connecting with each individual, connecting with them where they are understanding where they are connecting with them, where they are, and then understanding what their interests are and having them initiate the marketing or the communication or the messaging for you or with you, you guide it, but they initiate it.
And. Todd Simos. So in human centered design, you actually journey map, meaning you, you draw a map of the life cycle until eventually Westpoint and the association of graduates many, many times. And as Todd has talked about, many of those moments are moments that really matter. For example, if, if a Western graduate is being buried in the west point cemetery, That for his, his or her family and themselves is a moment that really matters.
We know that. We want to design it. So it's a, it's, it's a moment that, um, that w we [00:13:00] satisfy, we delight the family and, uh, we then get scores on that. And, um, and if we're not doing well, uh, we redesign it, but it's all about systematically looking at those moments that matter and designing the activity to totally delight the customer.
Ian Faison: Yeah. This is something that, um, I think is so critical to, uh, Understand for like, you know, old grads everywhere, which is ag is putting a lot of time and effort into all of those moments that matter from when you need the most. And I think that there's a lot of times as a cadet or like as a young grad, when I go.
I didn't realize kind of EOG was, was there, uh, it's kind of the classic, like, you know, uh, there's only one set of footprints in the sand, but it's things like March back it's things that are happening that you don't really know are happening and that are so important to like being a west pointer. And it's so elemental, like, think of how many other.[00:14:00]
Graduate organizations have anything that's like March back, right? Where, you know, the class 50 years prior, it gets to walk with the new, you know, the new grads, a number of miles. Like those are these really unique things. That are so cool and unique and to think about those and when they happen or to be buried at west point or any, any number of these moments that like, we have to think about these and think about like how to put a dog in a place where they can really serve, you know, Old grads.
And like, for me, as I was learning about all of those things from you all, like I was just so taken back as I was like, huh? I never really thought that like someone was planning the March back or someone was planning these things and it is happening behind the scenes, but you don't necessarily always realize it as you're kind of sitting there as an old.
Well,
Robert McDonald: I thought the AIG did a terrific job with the March back. I'm in the 50th reunion class this year I'm class of 1975. So we were the reunion class that March [00:15:00] with the class of 2025. We had basically, we had two. Tell folks, they couldn't go on the March. Cause we had so many people that volunteered. We had 50 complete the entire March.
We had another 19 go from the golf course and our folks just totally loved it. Now, as an example of the connectiveness, you know, I marched back with the grandson of my former computer science professor at Western. My former computer science professors, class of 1961, I think it was. Um, and, uh, I got to March with his grandson.
I mean, how good is that? How connected is that? I mean, I don't, I don't know of another alumni body in the world with that kind of, um, opportunity.
Todd Browne: And you know, what Bob's describing the grad March back is one of about 10 programs that are part of what we call the 50 year affiliation program. Which connects the class, uh, 50 years prior to the, you know, the current four [00:16:00] classes and the old grad March back is been an amazing, uh, because it's, it's really, uh, Great for both the graduates and the cadets, the, uh, the new cadets, because the graduates get a sense of what the, uh, current cadets are like for all of us talk about the core has, but the old grads learned that really the core hasn't and that these, uh, young folks are really just as good as they were.
And then the. They have a great experience and they get a sense that there's life beyond that day at beast or the next day at beast or reorg the week there's maybe even life beyond plea beer. The, so they start to see that the opportunities and for both fellowship with fellow members of the long gray line, but also a sense of what the graduates do, both in the army and out of the army.
And so it's really been an amazing program, uh, about 20 years old now.
Ian Faison: [00:17:00] So, you know, you mentioned, you know, that time of, you know, when you're a cadet and kind of going through that kind of scary part, another scary part is when you get out of the service, and I know that this has been something super important because it's this period in time where strange, it's scary, it's unique.
It's unlike anything else that's out there. It's a time where you can feel, you know, very daunting or lost or all of those things. It's the time where a lot of. A lot of west pointers choose your, you know, they choose their career for the first time ever, uh, you know, after being in the military. And so I'm curious, like, you know, Bob, how do you think about, you know, ushering in this kind of new wave of people?
How do you think about that moment of transitioning and how AIG can be there for. Well, first
Robert McDonald: of all, you, and I think Todd and I both agree that we'd love as many graduates as possible to stay in the military and have an entire career. But of course there are also people retiring from the military who are looking for [00:18:00] jobs in the, in the private sector as well.
I remember being totally scared, totally anxious. Um, you know, life life's transitions are about all was starting. And, uh, when you go from being an airborne ranger captain and the 82nd airborne division to being a new hire at the Procter and gamble company, starting at the bottom, it's a scary proposition.
I remember going to my first boss and telling me where's the field manual to tell me how to organize my desk. And of course there wasn't such a thing, even though in the middle of. We would have field manuals that would tell us how to organize file cabinets. So, you know, no matter whatever the need of the graduate is or whatever the need of the cadet is, if we can have groups of people who have gone through it before, which of course we do be given the diversity of our, of our alumni.
This is an opportunity for us to pay it back or to pay it forward to those people who are going to go through. [00:19:00] And we've experienced. We are, and hopefully we can share some of the mistakes we made and, and help ensure that they don't make the same mistakes. And I think that's what the EOG and what our connectedness is all about.
Todd Browne: A couple of things on that. Ian, you know, every survey probably that the ASG G has done in its history has indicated that, uh, graduates want the AIG to help them with these transitions. And, uh, the human centered design study confirmed that. And in frankly, they said that graduate, see, that is the most important moment that matters.
And their relationship with the AIG. So to put that in context, the AIG had something called the service academy career conference, which was kind of our only transition program until about five years ago, which was a quarterly career fair. That we sponsored with the other academies, but we felt like given, given the importance of [00:20:00] transition, uh, and the expectation of grads that the AIG helped there, we put in place a, kind of a full service career program that helped with placement.
We did that three years ago. Uh, we did it in a partnership with Korn ferry. But we also included two groups of advisors that are graduates, one that are geographic based and the other that are industry based. And so it really gives, as Bob said, the opportunity when you combine Korn ferry and all they bring to the table, the staff of professionals that we now have, who all have a lot of experience in placement with the long gray line.
It's really kind of an unbeatable group. And that goes back to this idea that if we can keep the grads connected, you know, they're this force for good. And so we now have 700 graduates that have signed up to be advisors. And so it gives them a, uh, an opportunity to pay it forward. As Bob said, [00:21:00] and it's really been a successful program only about three years old at this.
Robert McDonald: That didn't exist. Of course, when, when I left the military in 1980, and as a result, we were prisoners to the money-making recruiting firms, you know, that were trying to get us jobs and that we'd get a fee for getting us a job. And I can remember. Uh, I didn't MBA at night and on the weekends and I wanted to be in marketing and every recruiter I talked to said, no, no, you need to be in sales.
You need to be in manufacturing because that's what the military is like. And I said, well, no, that's not what I want. And in those days it was because this didn't exist at the AIG. It was all about fitting. Round pegs into square holes. Whereas what we're trying to do at the EOG is design it with the alumnus in mind, design it for the, you know, so whatever the alumni need, we can help guide them in that direction.
And we have somebody who's [00:22:00] probably done it before.
Ian Faison: Yeah. I mean, uh, I went to, uh, I went to SAC, you know, years ago. It was the best thing that, that happened to me at that time. I remember. Talking to look into my buddy. And I was like, I can't believe like there's this many people that are just kind of lining up that want, that want west point grads.
And then, you know, I did the same thing that Bob, you said, I was like, I wanted to go into marketing and it's like, there's no path, right? There's no path for, you know, a west point grad to go into a marketing career. Like those are the sorts of things that are so critical in this kind of moment is that AIG is thinking about all of those pathways and aligning.
Different types of advisors and resources towards those pathways. Because I think in that moment, like you just don't really know you're in this like consumption mode. You're trying to learn as much as you can. There's all sorts of different people that are giving you, you know, advice. Uh, if you talk to your mom or your dad, they might tell you one thing, but you know, they don't know how to get a job in marketing.
And so I think that [00:23:00] there's this kind of transition moment that AIG now has all of these things that we're building towards and like, That's so exciting. Something that like, I think is going to be, you know, for young folks, whenever they decide to get out, whether that's after 20 years or, or five, that there's going to be so much more.
And like the whole point of a network is, as it grows, more connections are made and like, it's going to be better four years from now. It's going to be even better than that eight years from now, it's going to be even better than that 20 years from now. And that's like, to me, it's just really, really.
Todd Browne: And we're already starting to see that as mentioned, our program of course, is free to all graduates and we're tracking the jobs that the grads get and the companies, and, you know, in a couple years when somebody moves up from being an entry level to middle manager, and then they have the opportunity to maybe hire somebody else will we're going to call them because they're part of the network.
Robert McDonald: And I think the beauty of a, to Todd. The alumnus, the graduate. [00:24:00] Is it the center? It's the desires of the graduate that are driving. The infrastructure of the system. It's not, it's not somebody imposing something. Here's what we think you need to do. It's really the graduate who's at the center. And that that's really what service is all about.
Yeah.
Todd Browne: And we've tried to be really careful that there are no conflicts of interest if you will, in the program. And when you, when you kind of take the financial aspects away, you know, ensures that it, it just focuses on what the. What the grad needs and wants
Ian Faison: over the years, being connected has really changed if you were to, uh, you know, wave the magic wand and you were to be, uh, you know, getting out of the military tomorrow, how would you think about making connections with other graduates and like, how would you think about the different ways that you would do that, your approach?
What would it
Robert McDonald: be? Well, obviously I, I think first thing I would do, and as I would go to the west point network, because this is a [00:25:00] network of individuals where I, uh, I know they're purposeful. I know I trust them. I know their values and believe me, given my experience in the private sector and my experience in the public sector, you can't always make those assumptions.
I would go there. I would go to Sally port and, um, and sign up on Sally port, which is our, um, is. Network and, and I would try to connect as much as I could. I would go to the local west point society. I would go other places to try to connect with other graduates because I know they're like-minded and share my.
Ian Faison: Yeah, Todd, you and I had talked about this idea of these kind of like unintentional and intentional places. The AIG wants to be where grads are. And also, you know, you have some things that AIG, you know, the own channels, but also the places that they're not, where are the different places where AIG wants.
That's a great
Todd Browne: question. Ian, you know, five years ago, really the AOD services [00:26:00] were in support of two major groups, right? Your classes and your societies, and the societies are the, there are about 140 chapters around the world and those services were, were good, but really it meant we were providing services.
To the leaders of those two groups. So we felt like a pretty small percentage of the long gray line was receiving, you know, service from the AIG. And so that we really wanted to endeavor to branch out and provide services that all grads would, uh, receive. And that was, uh, Bob mentioned Sally port. That was one of the key reasons we started Sally port, not only a platform to help the groups, the classes and societies, but also there's a component of that called grad link, which in essence puts the AOGs database on every grads phone on an app.
So now if you want to screen across about 17 fields, [00:27:00] Which includes people's careers and positions. And of course, where they live, et cetera, then you can go and find folks like Bob. You know, when he tried to do that 40 years ago, he had, it was all by happenstance. So now we want to give folks a tool so that every grad could do that on their own.
Now, just to take that a little further, so we believe what the grads expect in, what they want to do is they want to connect in different ways, not just within their classes. And within their society, but they want to connect in other graduate groups, maybe things they were involved with as cadets. And that has led us to something called shared interest groups, because we, we want to help grads connect, however they want to connect.
And if they want to connect with the folks that you know, the alumni glee club. Great. We now have shared interests groups for like entrepreneurs. Uh, we have a career in networking, shared interest group west point when. What's Pointe scholars. [00:28:00] And so really the point was the one we made before. We want to be there for grads to help them connect in whatever they way they want to.
And the expectation that over time is that we will be able to provide tailored service kind of down to the individual. And that's really where we're, where we're moving towards with our 20, 30 strategic.
Robert McDonald: That's the dream of, of any marketers to be able to, uh, communicate and to satisfy the needs of every individual person.
That's the ultimate measure of digital technology, the ultimate end point of digital technology. And it's a high bar to get to because. Generally, what marketers have done over the years is they've segmented or classified, you know, um, men and women, certain religions, right-handed people, left-handed people.
Now, you don't need to make those simplifications. Now you can go to the individual and understand what their individual needs are and delight them just [00:29:00] based on their individual.
Ian Faison: Yeah. And, you know, I think that for so long, there was kind of things popping up here and there where it's like west point dentists or, you know, whatever it is, um, these little groups, and I think what's so cool that AIG is thinking about, you know, all of these things.
Not only is it about like, Hey everyone, like come to AIG, but it's that AIG comes to all of those, those groups that like where, um, where grads are. Meeting and hanging out that like AIG wants to kind of be that voice in the room saying like, Hey, can we, can we help with this? Like, is there anything that we can do here?
And I think that that's like a pretty new approach to being able to serve, like, to do that personalization, Bob, that you're talking about, that, you know, every, every modern company is figuring out how to do personalization, how to do it better, how to get individual, you know, feedback and take action on that stuff and be in those [00:30:00] groups and do that stuff.
And that's just a. Stark difference from kind of like the alumni networks of the past, where it's like, Hey, you know, we'll meet you every five years or 10 years. And that's kind of it, even though we know that there's all these things that you kind of need in the meantime,
Robert McDonald: I couldn't agree with you more.
This, this is much more dynamic. You know, Todd and his team have done a terrific job. Mining what the needs are and then creating opportunities. I think Todd, one of the recent ones, which is really intriguing is the work that you've done to help entrepreneurial. Yeah. You know,
Todd Browne: early on, we saw that as a group that wanted to get together and we said, well, what, you know, what's our value added?
Well, our value add is that we have really good data on graduates. And so let us help this group connect. And so now the entrepreneurs' shared interest group is about five years old. You know, they, they have an annual conference. They have a speaker series and then they [00:31:00] have all the sort of informal connections just from, you know, having the list of all the other like-minded entrepreneurs.
And so as graduates want to pursue these different entrepreneurial opportunities, that's another group of, uh, mentors, if you will, to help them get to. And they support each other along the way, and often become investors and provide knowledge from what they learned as they pursued their entrepreneurial dreams, you know, earlier many very success.
Ian Faison: Yeah. I mean, I really got this firsthand. I got a lot of support when I was starting my kind of entrepreneurial journey in a very unofficial format with, from a lot of grads that were just like, Hey, you know, you're out there, you're trying to do different stuff. Let me introduce you to this person, which might be a customer.
Let me introduce you to this person who might give you advice. Let me introduce you to this person who might be an advisor. And there was a lot of grads that really helped me and would take, you know, take the 30 minutes to say like, [00:32:00] Hey, make this connection. But it was always a connection. Right. Like the advice, like that's the whole thing, like being an entrepreneur you're out there there's information everywhere that you can, you can learn from the best entrepreneurs in the world.
But the difference when you're trying to connect with, when, when you're, when you're in, when you're in business in the cross hairs are on you, you need the person who's going to actually buy your stuff or make the connection to someone else. And like, that's, what's so important. Like how responsive our community is to that stuff, because we actually do care about each other.
And, um, and that's the sort of stuff that like you can't fake, you can't, uh, you, you have to, you know, be able to, uh, you know, to facilitate that stuff. And, and with the way that as we build out all of these affinity groups and build out all of these groups like that stuff becomes more and more strengthened, you know, west pointers that are, uh, that are marketers when they get together.
That's going to be way more valuable 10 years from now, when someone is getting out of the [00:33:00] service and wants to go into marketing, it's like, oh, Hey, here's a bunch of people who I at least speak their language a little bit. I might not know marketing at all yet, but at least I can like be around those folks.
And like that to me is the next kind of evolution. Well, you know,
Todd Browne: most graduates feel the same and they're more comfortable dealing with another graduate, whether it's, you know, in a business environment or. So when you just make those connections, you know, great things happen at our entrepreneurial summit.
This past fall in Austin, Texas, we had five or six west point grads pitch their businesses. And folks in the crowd came up afterwards and all of them were receiving, you know, offers for funding and connections and all sorts of things because the grads just feel comfortable with the entrepreneurs and they have a certain level of credibility with each other.
So it's amazing how quickly those things take off. When you just put the, [00:34:00] put the folks together in the
Ian Faison: room. One of the things that I really like about. The network that has happened, uh, over, especially with like things like LinkedIn and all these other, you know, tools to figure out like who the heck is out there and all that stuff.
And obviously, you know, the, all of the non AOJ stuff combined with AOD stuff, you can really get a good kind of picture with this. You know, Todd, you mentioned data and how important that is, you know, every single, every single company out there is trying to figure out their, uh, how, you know, their, their data strategy.
And what's one, IOG is no different sitting on a mountain of data over, uh, you know, over the past couple hundred years. How do you think about data? Why is that so important and how's it going to help grads connect in the future?
Todd Browne: Yeah, well, you know, for us, as you mentioned, I, I joke with the members of our team that.
AIG was really started to be in the data business. It was called the register graduates. Uh, but we, we do have really good data and a lot of that's because our [00:35:00] graduates want to make sure that they stay connected. So they provide us with their information, et cetera. But really the way we think of data is how can we put it to use in a way to help our graduates.
And that that's in a myriad of ways. One, I already mentioned by just giving them access to it so they can, they can connect. But the other things, the other things it does is provides us often with insight. To what our grads need, where we then can be more efficient and productive in providing these services.
Like the ones we've discussed with the kind of the holy grail being these tailored services and communications. And so I think the key point is that, uh, we want to use the data to gain insights into what our grads need, so we can then provide those services. Uh, at the optimal time, along that journey map that we discussed at the moments that matter, that's [00:36:00] what data means to us.
Ian Faison: You know, Bob, one of the things that. I think is tough for younger grads to figure out is kind of like what value they have to offer, you know, the business world or the, or just figuring out they're kind of way, way in the world a little bit. But as you get older and you, you develop more and more connections and things like that, you have your own kind of network.
That's more established and things like that. And, you know, uh, lots of people that are, have nothing to do with west point. And so I'm curious, like you've obviously cultivated a massive network, people at the Procter and gamble company and, and the VA and, and beyond what would be your advice to younger grads that are trying to figure out like how to make connections in the early days.
Robert McDonald: Well, first of all, I, I have to say that there's tremendous value in having what I would call a reverse mentor. I loved having younger people, either at the VA or at P and G or [00:37:00] when I was in the military, helped me understand. How do you use new technology? How to do things that were unusual? I mean, one, uh, you know, one of the things that I often get asked is what differentiates those who succeed versus those who don't.
And I say, it's the ability to learn new things. And, um, as you get older, it's harder and harder to learn new things. So I used to. Bring a group of new hires in to talk to our new general managers. They would complain to them about how those general managers didn't know how to text message or, or would walk up behind their computer while they're working on it or other things.
And, um, and then I would stop it and I say, okay, well, what's going to be, you know, 20 years from now, what's gonna be the new text message. What's going to be the new LinkedIn. What's going to be the, and, and will that will the young person today. Be learning new things well enough to keep up on those new things.
I just think it's just so important to learn new things and reverse [00:38:00] mentoring is a really good way to, uh, to help. And then I would just simply say, treat everyone with respect. And, um, you know, do the best you can to help them because you're never certain whether that help that you provide someone could, um, could help, uh, more and more people, uh, as they pay it forward.
Todd,
Ian Faison: from what you've seen, obviously kind of sitting at the epicenter of grads connecting over the years, what advice do you have for, for how grads can better connect with you? I
Todd Browne: don't want this to sound too much like an ad for the AIG, but really the tools that we have provided now provide a great opportunity for grads to connect.
So the groups that exist of graduates are really the best starting point. The classes, the societies, these shared interest groups, and each of them kind of is its own special niche. And you can use them for different [00:39:00] purposes. You know, if you, if you want to connect. Uh, with people that are in your geographic region, the society, if you want to connect with people that you have had a long relationship with often a very deep relationship with your, your class, same goes for the shared interest groups.
And we're starting to see groups like, you know, the sprint football team group, and they, they stay connected because of their relationship all the way back to when they played a sport together. But then beyond. The younger grads, especially make use of these new tools. We've provided like a Sally port grad link, you know, all the different social media platforms and the AIG has a presence on all the primary social media platforms.
And, you know, we have. Of course Facebook groups and LinkedIn and Instagram and all, we don't have a tick tock presence, but you know, most of the other ones, including YouTube. So I [00:40:00] guess in some ways it's really dependent on the purpose and there's each of those. Ways to connect probably has a best fit, you know, whether it's geographic or, or whatever, but I think there's just so many opportunities.
I happened to have stayed in the military for 28 years. And I don't think that, uh, those of us in the military really stay as connected, frankly, is those that, that get out often, which is an area at the AIG that we'd like to work on. I don't think we've exactly figured that out yet, but I think there's an opportunity there to help figure out how we can help the grads that stay in the military, stay connected and there's, you know, kind of a long.
History where people have been concerned about being perceived as ring knockers, et cetera. And we need to figure out how to get beyond.
Ian Faison: Yeah. I mean, I think it's so important. Um, and yeah, you know, teeing it up a little bit, but obviously this isn't an ad. There's nothing to buy. So I [00:41:00] think the important takeaway, you know, that you both mentioned is like, just to plug in somewhere and whether that's, you know, going to a Benny havens or whether that's, you know, finding one of the, you know, digital channels between like, Real life, uh, or, or digital, uh, meetings at this point, I think we all probably have little bit of a, of zoom fatigue and all that stuff at this point.
And it would be nice to, you know, get together more often. You know, watch army Navy together or whatever it is. But I think that just being intentional about that stuff, I think you'd be surprised at the results that it can have, like both personally and professionally and sometimes, like, I think we just don't want to be the awkward person who, you know, moves to a new city and shows up to the society and like, Hey, I don't know anyone sort of a thing.
And, and I think historically, Like you said that was just kind of geographically and you're kind of looking at everybody's name tags, and maybe that's a little awkward, but now there are so many different ways to plug in based off of what you're interested in. And you can use that stuff to your advantage, whether it's, you know, personally or [00:42:00] professionally or, you know, that that's part of staying connected and it is important.
And I think Bob, you're a Testament to this is like, it is important to stay connected if you don't want to be. That's one thing. Like, if you look at a lot of the people that have stayed connected over the years, that like it does pay dividends in a lot of. I think
Robert McDonald: that's a great Fadi in, because what really, what happens is the older you get, the more connected you want to be.
I think, you know, as I think about life, life's about relationships and, uh, you know, might be first-year relationship with your God and your faith and second family and third friends. And some of my most fulfilling experiences in life have come through relationships. Very fortunate that when I was searching the VA, the deputy secretary, who was my west point classmate, we served together on brigade staff.
And I think the VA benefited from that, that strength of our relationship that we could get [00:43:00] a lot more done. Relationships are everything. And I really do think that this is a huge opportunity. And if, if people haven't explored it, don't wait until it's too. Get after it. Now don't wait to your 50th reunion.
Get after it to three, four or five
Todd Browne: years. You know, Ian, we've talked a lot about our human centered design and the moments that matter. Well, one of these moments that matter is called finding my next mission and the, in this study, what we found is that there's a pretty common path. Where graduates usually after they've gotten out of the military and they're sort of comfortable in their, their next career, they kind of have a yearning.
To, you know, give back often it's to give back to west point and get reconnected. And so I mentioned that we try to put in place programs that align with those moments that matter, that move us towards our aspirational goal [00:44:00] of being the most highly connected. Well, often those folks at, at that point in their life, say, what can I do to help west point in, in often it's things like become an admissions of volunteers.
Or, uh, you know, do something philanthropic and support a west point, et cetera. So I think that gets to the point. Bob just made,
Narrator: On point is a production of the WPAOG broadcast network. Please take a moment to rate and review the show and join us for part two of this discussion between Bob McDonald and Todd browne.
Thank you for listening.