The Wave Strength:听Welcome to The Wave Strength, innovative solutions for a secure retirement presented by 麻豆传媒. Hello everyone.听
Jim:听And welcome to another episode of The Wave Strength podcast series. I'm your host, Jim Breen, Head of Marketing with 麻豆传媒's Institutional Team. We're honored today to be live in the studio with two very distinguished guests joining us at the GPFA Annual Membership Meeting here live in Newport Beach.
Joining us here in the studio, we have Major General Spider Marks. General, thank you so much for being with us.听
Spider:听Sure, absolutely, Jim.听
Jim:听And we have Lieutenant General Mike Groen. General, thank you for being with us. And I want to thank you first, both of you, for your service.听
Spider:听You are welcome, more than welcome.
Jim:听Absolutely, so thanks for joining us here. And before we get into kind of the听why听we're sitting down, I'd love to help our audience understand the very unique stories that both of you bring to the table, obviously very unique backgrounds in military service. Spider, perhaps we can begin with you.听
Spider:听Thank you, Jim, very much.
Yeah, being in the military, being in the Army specifically was a family business. My grandfather did it for 40 years. My father did it for over 30 years. I did it for over 30 years. In a hundred years, there was always a Marks guy in uniform, uninterrupted. So I really had, it was a family business. The shingle kind of moved along a little bit.
I always had a sense of purpose. I always had a focus. It was not inevitable that I would serve. You can't choose your parents. I feel like I absolutely won the lottery in that regard. So the opportunities were wide open. I chose to be a soldier. Loved every second of it. What's really phenomenal about service, specifically service to nation in uniform, is that I always knew that I had to show up.
There were others that were depending upon me, and I was very much a part of a team. I wanted to make sure I could contribute, and I think that's the beauty of the service that I was able to provide. I know the service that Mike was able to provide. It's all about others. It's about us as a team, and how can I lean in, put my shoulder to the wheel, and contribute.
And then you grow up in this organization. And you look around and you go, my goodness, the talent has just multiplied. I really have an obligation to make sure that I can deliver. It was wonderful.听
Jim:听I say the same thing with my family. You, can't choose the family you're born into. And I feel like I won the lottery in the same way.
I, it's funny to hear you say that. I say the same thing. Spider, thank you for sharing that. And, Mike obviously you're familiar with the show. This is your second time on the show. Again, thanks for coming back.听
Mike:听Of course.听
Jim:听Perhaps you can share a little bit about your background for those just becoming familiar with you.
Mike:听Yeah, great. It's, maybe not as exciting story. Like we we did not have a military tradition in my family. But when I when I finished college, it was something I thought, you know what, I want to do this, I want to serve, and even for, if it's for a very limited time.
I went and saw the Marine Corps recruiter, and we talked about a good program, and I said, that sounds right up my alley, I'll do three years, and then then I'll get on with my life. And I did three years, and I fell in love with every aspect of military service surrounded by great people, dedicated to a great cause get getting to do like really cool things.
Like what a way to serve. And my first three years went like that. And I remember the day very well, my commanding officer came and said, "Hey your three years are up. What do you want to do?" And I said, "Sir, I'm not going anywhere. Like I'm, I wanna do this forever."
Spider:听Good answer.听
Mike:听Yeah, and 36 years later that's an unintentional career that I can't imagine not doing, looking in the rear view mirror, it's just like one great opportunity after another.听
Spider:听Mike, wasn't it true that as you were going through, you may not have loved everything you were asked to do, but you love being with those people who did.听
Mike:听Exactly.听
Spider:听And that's the way I viewed it. I want to be with these guys.听
Mike:听Yes.听
Spider:听There's something about that.听
Jim:听I think there's something to be said too about positivity in general, right? When you look at life, even. Look, there are always things that you can complain about, things that you can be upset about.
It's important for us to take a moment to take a step back and, focus on that positivity, right? Did you utilize that mentality? It sounds like you did, but is that something you utilized in your careers?听
Spider:听Oh, totally. It was, it's a, it's combat multiplayer, right? Positivity can drive you through the most difficult circumstances and you have to be, as we've discussed a number of times.
You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And in order to achieve that, you've got to be able to see something beyond your immediate that's going to give you a notion that I can navigate through this. When you're in the middle of a storm and you're sitting on a boat and you're bouncing up and down, Mike did that as a Marine.
I did that less often as a soldier, a ground pounder. But the the deal is that when you're bouncing around, you don't pray for the storm to end. You pray to get through it. That's the positivity. I can manage to make myself, be effective, continue to contribute, and I can get through this.听
Jim:听There's an amazing author, Victor Frankl, who wrote a lot about this.
Yes. And great, amazing stories of, trial tribulation and focusing on those positive moments to try and drive you through the storm, Spider, as you say. Yeah. So let's move on from the background. Thank you for sharing such a phenomenal stories there. Let's talk a little bit about Academy Securities, this phenomenal organization that you've put together and the great work, not only that Academy Securities is focused on in the communities in which you do business.
But also to the partnerships and how 麻豆传媒 might play into that.听
Spider:听Oh, it's wonderful. What Academy Securities has been able to achieve is frankly unprecedented, in terms of our outreach to veterans that are transitioning back into their communities. So what we bring to these engagements with partners is a manifestation every day of what a focus on talent, values, character can mean in terms of uplifting firms that we deal with and those people within those firms with whom we deal. Every day I am incredibly enthusiastic about the young men and women that I am blessed to be able to work with those that served in uniform and that those who have become financial experts and mentors of these young men and women that are cycling back in to their communities and that magic that occurs, is again, it's unprecedented, but I don't think Mike is surprised by that.
I'm not surprised by that because that's the life that we lived as soldiers and Marines. So our ability to impact others is what it really comes down to. And I think that's our differentiation.听
Mike:听And there's a practical aspect to that in the sense that, I think we add value to the Academy's mission and what they're trying to do.
So Academy Securities, disabled, veteran owned, and about, hovers right around 50 percent veterans as as employees in the firm. It's, so it's a fantastic environment. And I tell you the you talk about positivity. The young warriors that are largely on these Skill Bridge programs.
So they've had six, seven, eight years in the military service. And then they decide, you know what, I'm, I'm ready for something else, a different challenge. And they come into places like Academy and, the energy level just powers you up if you're in that space, because you're surrounded by nuclear engineers and pilots and infantrymen and artillerymen and intelligence officers, young men and women with enormous talents, enormous initiative, great positivity.
Who wouldn't love going to work in a place like that? And then you add the social mission, and the outcomes that Academy Securities seeks, and that is to help veteran causes, help young warriors transition. And then operate successfully as a firm as well.
And so that core ethos is such an important thing at Academy. And it's something that just picks you up. It is an inspiration to show up in the office. It's really great.听
Spider:听Every day and every conversation begins with, what can I do to contribute? It's about us. It's about the team.
It doesn't the conversations don't start with the first person singular.听
Jim:听Yes. Yes.听
Spider:听It starts with us.听
Jim:听Absolutely, and you bring up a great point to touch on what you mentioned a moment ago, Mike, and these servicemen and women, who goes through such rigorous training and we're talking about folks, as you mentioned that are piloting these nuclear aircraft carriers or, some of the technology in the submarines that they're working on and the great experiences that they can bring, even aside from maybe these very complex and complicated roles in the military, but just their situational awareness, just even at that, bringing that, leveraging that into society and also into careers, that employers really could find great value in some of those those skill sets.听
Mike:听Yeah, and not every one of them stays in the financial business.听
Jim:听Yeah.听
Mike:听We have, great men and women that do spend a couple of months with Academy and then decide, you know what, I actually want to go be an engineer or I want to go back home and work in this, my father's garage, or whatever it is, like, that path still enables a veteran, right? It still has enabled a veteran to move from a service position into a successful job search on the other end. So, every little piece of it adds up to a really great firm. And I, will also say, and Spider, I'm sure you would, say the same, the folks that we deal with, our clients across the industry, what a great reception. What great partnerships. We we have great friends across the industry, right? Because, they know that we're a trust based organization of veterans who've served, who are continuing to serve, they know that, and you can, it's inherent, you build partnerships really quickly when you know that you have somebody that you can trust on the other side of the table.听
Jim:听Because character counts, right?听
Mike:听Absolutely.听
Jim:听And obviously, folks that are coming from that side of the aisle in terms of the military service. That's a big part, I know as someone who has a father who was in the military and, the discipline and all those elements that play into the training that one receives in the military is, important and, can be very crucial in certain roles.听
Spider:听Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.听
Jim:听Spider, Mike, this is great. And obviously I very commendable all of the great work that Academy Securities has underway to, to help these vets transition from military service to civilian life an important bridge, if you will, that you're providing these folks. Let's pivot now and talk about Academy Securities, the firm.
A lot of fantastic work that you have underway there. Perhaps maybe through a geopolitical lens, we can talk a little bit about what you have on deck and some of the work currently underway.听
Spider:听Jim, the reason you're talking to two former general officers is because Mike and I are members of the geopolitical intelligence group with which Academy Securities founded when it was being established.
And it was established back in 2008, 2009. And this gig, as we call it, was established to provide that differentiation that the bulge bracket banks would not otherwise provide. Look, we don't have the depth of research that the large firms have. Which is just phenomenal, and we don't want to compete with that.
We complement that with the experiences and the insights that we bring to the table. Sitting here across from you is close to 70 years of experience in uniform. Multiply that by the 30 folks we have, we've got a pretty significant group of individuals, leaders at this, at a significant level in the intelligence world and the supply chain distribution, AI, you're talking to an ex, the expert in the department of defense, artificial intelligence.
Jim:听We, and we talked about that earlier and a side note to our, get our folks watching, check out the episode that we have on deck. Yeah. With the Lieutenant General Mike Groen, where we talked about the DOD work that you're doing from an AI perspective and that you have done. It's pretty amazing. Yeah.听
Spider:听So you just add that to every place we've been, all the time zones that we were asked to serve in.
So you have this talent that we can bring forward and we can, provide some context to what is undoubtedly inarguably a very chaotic world that we're a part of that's what we do and then what we allow our clients to do is take those insights. They're now going to go back and make adjustments accordingly.
Jim:听Yes.听
Spider:听That are going to benefit them.听
Jim:听Yeah, a lot of great experience that you're bringing to the table. Even just collectively between the two, Spider as you mentioned, that really differentiates you, right? It sets you apart.听
Mike:听It does, and it allows because we have a very wide, varied bench of generals and admirals you've got Spider and I both happen to be intelligence officers, but on the team, infantry officers, aviators, ship drivers, a couple of NASA astronauts.
So again, it's a great differentiator and it's a great opportunity for us to continue to serve by the skill sets that we've all refined over decades of service. And the ability to share which is something that we we certainly did as our job when we were in uniform, but we still want to explain, and clarify, and put in context the things that are happening in the world around us.
Some of them will impact the investment in the financial aspects directly. Some of them won't, but just to help our partners with with some understanding, I think that is very satisfying for us to do as well.听
Spider:听I would imagine that all firms assign probabilities to potential outcomes.
That they see every day, we don't do that. We simply provide our insights in terms of not only what is happening, but what we think the kind of array of, outcomes might, what those might look like.听
Jim:听Let me ask you a Spider. We'll start with you early in your career, did you think you would be in the position that you're currently in now, is that something that was even on your radar?
Spider:听Of course, not. I have a number of classmates from my West Point class who are still surprised that, Spider, did you serve a full career? What happened? There must've been a metamorphosis of some sort. So absolutely not. Very humbly, nobody starts a career. Mike told that great story.
Three years, he turns around and he goes. I like it here. Same thing with me. I wanted to be a part of those organizations. And you do not establish, those that try to establish. that they're going to reach a particular level within the military routinely fail to reach that level because they're not focused on the immediate task at hand as we've both said, it's all about showing up.
And in fact, I'm not a very good golfer at all, but the most...听
Jim:听You're in good company. I just want to, yeah, yeah,听
Spider:听It's true, there's a large grouping. But the most important shot in golf. Is this shot, pay attention to this, show up and get it right.听
Jim:听Let me ask, what percentage of folks in the military achieve the rank that the two of you were able to obtain? It, must be a small number.听
Mike:听It's a small number, yes, I have no idea. But, I think just building on Spider's comments, honestly, like I, what I remember what I think about is the young men and women that I served with at every level. It's just, it's a joy to build a team.
Especially a team that surrounds a mission, something that has to be accomplished. And it's something that has to be accomplished that's important. It's part of the intelligence community's effort. It's part of DoD's effort. And like, how can you not be excited in that kind of environment? No kidding, it's painful, it takes every hour you have, people get stressed out. You have to go to the Pentagon, my god, . But, this is a life's work, right? And so for us now in the roles that we have with Academy we get to continue to contribute in ways that we were responsible for it before.
Now we get to just use our experience and the history we have to just help others understand the decision environment that they're entering, whether they're selling securities or buying securities or what have you. It's just a good grounding in what's happening in the world around us.
Spider:听And the military certainly is hierarchical. But the most creative group of folks I've ever been around wore a uniform. These young men and women are incredibly creative and of course they're in a hierarchy, but they can pop their hand up and it's not encouraged, it's required. We need to know what's on their scope of things they want to try to achieve and what they want to try to fix or improve or reinforce.
It's a matter of routine. It's the voices must be heard from all levels within the organization.听
Jim:听Yeah. And I think you said it in an earlier podcast, that, that vitamin 'I', right? Having that imagination, right? That ability to think outside the box in sometimes extraordinarily stressful environments too.
Mike:听Yes. But, at other times, hilarity, right? I like, I laugh thinking about the the episodes with young Lance corporals, youngsters they're 18, 19 years old, especially if you're out in the desert, it's night, they can't see you're there.
And just to listen to those young men and women talk and it's just, you'll walk away from some people would walk away okay, I just spent two weeks in the desert. I got snakes all day. I got heat on whatever, I'm freezing cold at night. And you laugh at the experience because wow, I just got to spend some great time in the desert with some of the funniest,
most creative most abilient people that you've ever met and this is not necessarily what I think America thinks of when they think about the military. But these are great warriors that are committed to...听
Jim:听And people, nonetheless, right? But warriors also, right?听
Mike:听young Steve and young Julie from hometown USA.
And they're working together on a mission like it's just, there's nothing more powerful than that. And God help us, if we start to lose that, and that is something that I think also Spider and I and the kind of the rest of our colleagues, really we want to make sure that military service and the services keep that edge, keep that focus on successful mission accomplishment. This is, a really important, it's important in any time, but it's especially important now, too.听
Jim:听Spider, I asked you a short time ago, early in your career, did you see yourself where you are now? But Mike, let me ask you, a different form of that question. And if you could look back at the young Mike early on your career, what advice would you give them? And perhaps that advice, maybe that young Lance corporal watching you right now, they could take that advice, something that you wish you can go back and tell your younger self.听
Mike:听Yeah it's a, great question. And I do there's a couple of aspects, I think the first one, don't take yourself too seriously, right? Like you're here to, you're here to execute a mission. You're here to succeed in a career. But so is everybody else. But the young soldiers and sailors and airmen they are joining something that's precious for our nation and our national security.
And it is on the backs of those. I reach back to the, you go to the veterans hall and you see these old guys with their red berets from World War II or Vietnam. You think wow the continuity that goes all the way back to the Continental Army, and to today, men and women have raised the right hand.
Men and women have stood in that line. Men and women have suffered cold, suffered darkness, suffered pain. But did it nonetheless, and did it for a cause that was bigger than themselves. What a powerful image, right? And I would recommend it to every young man, every young woman that's thinking about, hey, maybe I should do some service before I enter my career field.
I will tell you, you will come out of the service much more broadly experienced, have a much better reasoning capability of okay, what's truth? What's not truth? You will you will be a different, more mature person that can make better decisions, and really start thinking about your life goals.
When you're in your early twenties, not every young man and woman gets that chance, right? And they kind of, bop their way through there until they're 30 years old, then they try to decide what they want to do when they grow up, and Marines don't have that problem. And soldiers don't have that problem.
Jim:听I was gonna say, or let's not forget the Navy or the Army or the others my godson Jack is in the ROTC and he's he's loving it. He's telling these fantastic stories. He was on a submarine a few weeks ago for a week. And he's just as you say, having the time of his life, not taking himself too seriously, I would imagine, but having just so much fun and, it really builds that character, right?
And it forms these bonds with your fellow Americans that are lifelong bonds, right? That you're going to be able to have.听
Spider:听Forever bonds.听
Jim:听Forever bonds.听
Spider:听Piling onto what Mike said, as a young man, one of the most defining conversations I had with a sergeant as a very young second lieutenant right out of ranger school, you don't know a thing, but you're full of a bunch of emotion and you really want to step forward, is he took me aside and he said, Marks, I, Lieutenant Marks, I have recommendations for you.
One is, never give up the opportunity to keep your mouth shut. And number two, You better be prepared to sound off when you must. What that puts directly on your shoulders is an ability to differentiate between the two. Incredible lesson learned at the age of 23. Yeah. You go, man, life lesson forever.
Jim:听Yeah. Absolutely. Mike, Spider, I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy days to sit down and join us on today's podcast. So thank you very much.听
Spider:听Jim, it's our pleasure.听
Mike:听Yeah, real happy to with our partnership and our acquaintance with 麻豆传媒. What a great, team you have too.
So, it's a pleasure for us to be here today. And We were really glad to to have the conversation with your folks today.听
Jim:听We'd love to have you back. And, always a pleasure to talk to you both.听
Spider:听Sign听
us up.听
Jim:听Yeah, absolutely. Okay, great.听
Mike:听Thanks, Jim.听
Jim:听Absolutely. And to our audience, I want to thank you for spending time with us on today's podcast, and I want to encourage you to find more content like this, head over to Spotify, YouTube, and Audible, search The Wave Strength.
And hit like and subscribe so that you can stay current with content as it becomes available. We'll see you next time, everyone.
The Wave Strength:听This has been another episode of The Wave Strength presented by 麻豆传媒. Don't forget to catch us on YouTube and make sure to subscribe. Although this podcast is presented by 麻豆传媒, the opinions and views expressed are those of the hosts and participants, and do not necessarily reflect 麻豆传媒's views on any of the topics discussed.
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Each insurance company is solely responsible for the financial obligations accruing under the products it issues. This podcast was recorded on November 20th, 2024.听
Jim:听Thanks for joining us on today's show. We'd love to hear from you. Join the conversation below and leave a comment on your thoughts on what the industry can do better for participants as it pertains to lifetime income solutions. And if you'd like more interesting content, click one of these links over here.
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