Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Why Doing The Right Thing Is Hard w/John R. Miles EP 13

Episode Date: March 26, 2021

What would you do if you are at the crossroads of your life where you have the option of taking the harder right or, the easier wrong? On today’s show, John shares a deeply personal story where he chose the more difficult, harder path at the risk of jeopardizing his entire career. Additionally, you will learn the Three Things that will help you to make similarly difficult decisions. Back in military school, John found himself in the midst of a high-profile cheating scandal.  The answers for the Naval Academy electrical engineering exam were leaked. This impacted hundreds of Midshipmen at the Naval Academy. John was a member of the brigade honor committee when this took place and tells his very personal story about what happened. When the Superintendent mishandled the crisis, it launched an investigation by the Baltimore Sun and the Navy Inspector General.  John was called upon by the Secretary of Navy and even had legal reps defending his innocence when the Superindent tried to make him the scapegoat.  And so, at this point, John had the option of caving in or doing what was ethically and morally correct.  John decided to take the harder right, even at the risk of jeopardizing his entire career. History is replete with examples of stellar individuals who always chose the harder right – even in the face of utmost adversity. John gives the example of Gandhi, who spearheaded India’s freedom struggle.  This timid and seemingly “unremarkable” man fought racial injustice in South Africa before helming the Quit India Movement that forced the British out of India.  Gandhi could NOT have freed millions of people from colonialism and oppression without taking the harder path, again and again.  On today’s show, you will learn the Three Things to help you do the right thing. You will learn that -  It is NOT about your ego – rather it is about integrity and making decisions that you know in your heart are the right ones. It is NOT a decision that you make in haste – think about the long-term repercussions and how your decision affects those around you.  Tune in for some inspiration! What You Will Learn In This Show How to take the harder, right The three things to help you make the right decision How to prepare yourself for the aftermath after making a difficult decision And so much more… Resources Follow Passion Struck on Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/passion_struck_podcast -- Combat veteran, multi-industry CEO, and Author John R. Miles is on a mission to make passion go viral by helping growth seekers to overcome their fear, self-doubt, and adversity. He loves taking his own life experiences, lessons from his time as a CEO and Fortune 50 C-Level Executive, and the truths he has learned to help others' lives better. His new podcast Passion Struck provides inspirational interviews and powerful guidance for people to take their lives to the next level. Watch as these high achievers weigh in on life's biggest questions and challenges as we journey on the path to becoming passion-struck. -- Follow John R. Miles Here: Website - https://passionstruck.com/​ ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_r_miles ​​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Johnrmiles.c0m​ ​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Milesjohnr​ ​​Medium: https://medium.com/@JohnRMiles​ ​ John's Website: https://johnrmiles.com/​ - John's New eBook - The Passion Struck Framework https://passionstruck.com/coaching/​

Jag officers or attorneys in the military who told me that the superintendent was accusing me fabricating all these honor boards and that it was my fault That all of this went down and he was trying to make me the scapegoat and so I Had some decisions to make at that moment and I I decided that whatever I was going to do, I was going to do the right thing until the truth. Welcome to the PassionStruck podcast. My name is John Miles, a former combat veteran and multi-industry CEO,

turned entrepreneur and human performance expert. Each week we showcase an inspirational person and message that helps you unlock your hidden potential and unleash your creativity and leadership abilities. Thank you for spending time with me today and let's get igniting. Welcome to Momentum Friday. I am so excited about today's message. And I'm gonna start it off for a quote that I've loved for the majority of my life.

I'm not gonna give you who it is though until later on in the episode, but this quote has inspired me so much throughout my career. And it goes something like this. It's the action, not the fruit of the action that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that they'll be any fruit, but that doesn't stop you from doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action, but if

you do nothing, there will be no result. And I couldn't have said that better myself. And today, I'm going to talk about what it means to do the right thing, and to give you three tips on how you can apply that in your own life. But before I start, let's talk about the journey to getting to where we are today. I started the Passion Start podcast in my origin episode by discussing the decline in entrepreneurship and business fatality brought on by what I considered to be the contagions of the human mind, the human spirit and the human ego. I then took that a step further in the next episode where I discussed

using Admiral Stockdale as the backdrop, the brutal reality of confronting whatever your current situation is. And I gave steps on the path when locking that current situation and how you face it. I then went into that one of the things that you need to do when facing it is to look at the influences, people, activities that are around you that may halter you from doing the hard work that it takes to face that brutal reality in my episode on the mosquito principle. I then went into an episode where I talked about the importance of showing up and the lessons that Matthew McConaughey told me about showing up and how important

is that you do that every single day so that you are driving your inputs closer to that output that you want. And then I went into what it means to be a visionary arsonist. And last week I covered the topic of the importance of finding a mentor and I gave what I call the four C's defining a mentor. Today's episode I'm going to go through in more detail episode, I'm going to go through in more detail both the story of the person who's quote this is from and my own personal story about doing the right thing and how much both of those change the trajectories of both of our lives. Hi, today I'm going to talk about the concept of doing the right thing.

And on the surface, you might think that sounds like such an easy thing to do. But through my experience, it's actually one of the most difficult things to do in ending on the circumstance, because oftentimes it affects others and not just yourself. It affects how others perceive you. It affects consequences that perceive you. It affects consequences that could happen to others. It affects your reputation. It could affect your relationship. It could affect the relationships between others. And so as you are getting started, or are in the midst of your passion journey, there are going to be many occasions where you're

going to face situations where you're going to have to stand up and do the right thing. I know I have had to do it countless times during my career. And so today, I want to talk about this through the lens of looking at one historical leader who is quote I gave at the beginning of this episode, and then I'll give you one example for my career, and then I'm gonna talk to you about three ways that can help you do the right thing by analyzing the situation differently. So let's get started. The leader I'm gonna talk about today was born in India,

and like many of the stories I tell, he didn't start out by knowing his passion, knowing his purpose in life or anything like that. In fact, most people described him as he was growing up as an unremarkable student. A shy kid and someone who was so timid that even after he got married in an arranged marriage at 13, he still had to turn the lights on every single night until he was in his late teens. And when he was growing up, he had aspirations of being in the medical profession and becoming a doctor, but his father persuaded him to go on and get a legal degree. And so when he did that, at that time,

it wasn't as easy as hopping on a plane, plane, and going to get your law degree, he had to go on a ship and sail the whole way from India over to England, which is not an easy cruise to do. But when he arrived, he spent the next three years getting his law degree. And when he arrived, he spent the next three years getting his law degree. And when he returned to India, he was met with incredible

grief at learning that his mom had died not soon before he came back. But his family didn't want him to know because they wanted him to finish his degree. And then after that setback, he ran into another one. And one of the first clients he was asked to represent as a new attorney. He did such a terrible job representing him.

He couldn't even take on the challenge of defending his own client, because he got so wound up and flustered that he wasn't even able to cross-examine them. And so he was embarrassed. He couldn't find a job anywhere else, and so a relative offered him a break to come to South Africa for a year. And when he got there, he thought things in South Africa were going to be different. He thought he was going to be part of the upper class because he had spent the time in Britain, New Zealand customs, was a lawyer, etc. But at that time, the people of India were created much like the Afro-Canners because of the

color of his skin. And a pinnacle moment happened in the first year that he arrived when he went to board a train where he had a first class ticket and the conductor wouldn't let him get on. And he had a choice to make. Was he going to take a stand and do the right thing and stand up for himself or was he going to do the easy thing which was to take a seat at the back of the train. He ended up standing

up for himself. They wouldn't let him on that train, but eventually he was able to get on the train and use his ticket. But following that experience, it ignited a passion inside him that he was going to take on the rest of his life, the prejudice, the color, and no matter what it caused him in personal hardships, he was gonna do the right thing. And that's exactly what he did for the next 21 years when he was in South Africa. He took on the color prejudice of Indians in South Africa and at the same time became a political figure in India. And during that time of taking

these stands, he did it peacefully, but that didn't mean that he wasn't in prison multiple times and didn't face other hardships along the way. And so after those 21 years of being in South Africa, he went back to India as a national hero, but at that point in time he wasn't yet ready to take on a political career. It wasn't until he saw Polly repregidus again in his home country that he decided to again get involved in politics and get started with the quick Britain movement and to try to separate India from British rule. Something that again caused him present time, caused him great suffering, but he ended up time and time again sticking to his morals and doing the right thing and doing it in a peaceful manner.

And it eventually led British government, giving India its freedom in dividing the country between India and Pakistan. And unfortunately, just after getting out of prison once again, a radical individual ended up assassinating Gandhi, the person I've been talking about who most Indians would argue is the father of modern day India today. And if you look at Gandhi's example that I gave you, and if you're not familiar with him, you Google him more, you will see countless times that through peaceful protest, he did the right thing instead up for what he believed was something so important to take on color prejudice. And he ended up not only uniting an entire nation, but Martin Luther King and also Nelson Mandela ended up using his philosophy to help launch peaceful protests in the United States and South Africa that led to huge reform.

And so I give this example of Gandhi and his message at the beginning about doing the right thing because some of the aspects that he was going to accomplish in his life, he saw the fruits of, but many others did not occur until long after his death. And how easy would it have been for Gandhi to have taken the easy path, to have taken the one that so many people at that time were following instead of doing what was tough to make that right decision,

that led him to be remembered like he is today. Similar to NASA and Mandela, similar to Martin Luther King. Now, I'm going to talk about this through the lens of my own personal story. And I have had many throughout my career that I could talk about, but I'm going to talk about a defining moment because it happened very early to me in my career. It actually happened when I was at university at the United States Naval Academy. And my senior year started out as a fairly typical year. I was still involved in varsity sports and was on the rugby team, was gearing up for

service selection to pick where I was going to serve after I graduated. And it was basically a normal trajectory until we got back from Christmas break. And we learned at that point in time, the first pinklings that there had been a cheating scandal that was occurring around the electrical engineering final that took place just before Christmas break. And this started out by two midshipmen who had cheated on the exam, kind of unknowingly. They had been given this documentation,

which we often called at the Academy of the Gauge. Typically, you would get the gouge, but it wouldn't have exact questions on it. It would generally be a study guide to help you prepare for a big test. But in this circumstance, a midshipman on the football team and another had launched a mass plot to make money by distributing the actual electrical engineering exam. But these two individuals came forward. They

were both ranked at the top of their class. And I thought they did the right thing. They recognized that they had been given the gouge, and paid for it, it had just been given to them. And so they came forth to tell their story of what happened. And when this occurred, myself and several other leaders on the brigade,erboard went to the Commodont and the superintendent and asked them not to take the typical act,

which if you're found guilty, violating the oner code, which was to throw them out, but to use them as an example of two people who came forward not knowing that they had purposely done this, and to show that they could still be punished but could learn from their mistakes. And unfortunately, that didn't happen. They were both kicked out, and it started a huge investigation. NCIS was involved, based police were involved, the Mitchittman Honor Committee that I was part of was involved, and we quickly realized the magnitude of this

was that there were hundreds and hundreds of Mitchittman who were involved in cheating on this exam. Are you ready to overcome your fears and start committing yourself to mastery and growth in your life and career? If you are, we're ready to help you. Go to passionstruck.com slash coaching right now and you'll be able to download the passionstruck framework and connect with a member of our coaching team. and connect with a member of our coaching team. And so, the number of us went to the superintendent, who you could think of that if you're not in the military, it's kind of the president of the university, and went to him that this was bigger than something that we could handle, and it needed to be handled in the right way.

And we advocated that he take this to the uniform code of military justice and not have it be handled by the midshipment system because we knew at that time, perils of doing that. And how difficult it would be in that period of time to try to run hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of midshipmen through this process of doing these on our boards when we only had at that time six or seven of us who were there to facilitate these boards

but in that meeting where Myself and the others were trying to do the right thing, the superintendent came back and said, you're going to do it my way, where you're not going to graduate. So he told us that in his mind, there were only 25 people, 26 people who were implicated in this, and that was who we were going to go after.

So we again, objected to that and told him that it needed to be handled a different way. And so he ended up punishing us for not agreeing with that decision and taking away our liberty and other things during our senior year. And we ended up doing those 25 or 26 honor boards and about 95% of them were found guilty. But then he

decided that those who were on the football team that originated this entire scandal would all for the most part be allowed to hook. And so it caused a huge reputational ripple effect throughout the academy when that happened. And the reason being is he was a captain of the football team, and one of the midshipmen who was implicated was actually the son of a fellow teammate who at this point was the head of the Alumni Association. And so unbeknownst to me at this time, I didn't find out until about 25 years later, a pyramid who was on the honor committee with me ended up going and talking to his

father who was a high-ranking officer in the army. And between his father and himself, they ended up going to the Baltimore Sun, who launched a number of articles based on what transpired. And as I was nearing graduation, this set of articles started coming out, detailing the enormity of the situation and how the superintendent Admiral Tom Lynch had tried to cover it up by doing the wrong thing.

And so an investigation was then launched by the Navy Inspector General that ended up going on beyond the time I graduated. And I went on to Master's School and was getting prepared to go to my first duty station. When out of the blue weeks before I'm supposed to go, I was called up to the Admiral's office who ran my entire community. So you can imagine this year, an Ensen at this time, barely out of the academy and all of a sudden your son summed up to the admiral's office, which can't be a good thing. And I walk in and I'll never forget it. He said, son, I have no idea what you did, but the secretary of the Navy is dictating that you're to be at the Naval Academy. This was a Friday Monday morning in your dress whites, where you're going to be met with legal representatives to defend you

And whatever the proceeding that's going to happen there and at this point I had no idea what was going on But I reported that following Monday and was met by two Jag officers or attorneys in the military who told me that the superintendent was accusing me of abrecating all these honor boards and that it was my fault that all of this went down and he was trying to make me the scapegoat. And so I had some decisions to make at that moment and I decided that whatever I was going to do, I was going to do the right thing until the truth. And so I walked in to the Naval Academy Library and spent the next two to three days undergoing intense scrutiny by this vice admiral who was the Navy Inspector General, other admirals and senior officers, both Jag officers and non-Jag officers alike. And I told my story not knowing what the repercussion would be, but knowing that it was the right thing to do. And after those

three or four days, I was called back to DC one time to meet with the Navy Inspector General and the Secretary of the Navy one-on-one, where again, I was read the riot act and accused of sabotaging much of what was happening during that time. And I stuck to my guns and I told the story and I did the right thing and told the truth and stood up for myself and the other members of the Honor Board in that situation. And a few months later, I found out that Admiral Lynch was relieved of his duties and that the Inspector General ended up finding hundreds and hundreds of midshipmen who had been guilty many more with were dismissed and most of them were punished. I never knew from that point on what was

going to happen. I never got an apology. I never heard anything back and went into my career not knowing if the next day might be my last because I was going to be terminated and my commission taken away from me. But I knew that I had done the right thing and I knew by the actions of the Inspector General that it mattered and that people were held accountable for doing the wrong thing. And the superintendent who also tried to cover this up was also punished for doing the wrong thing. And that taught me, although it was painful and traumatic, very important lesson about sometimes you've got to make a choice and stand up for your personal or values, whatever they may be. And for mine, it was standing up for doing the right thing,

doing the hard thing, regardless of the circumstances and regardless of how my reputation might be affected. So using both Gandhi's example and my personal story, I wanna give you three tips that you can use if you're faced in a situation where you're called upon to do the right thing. Of course is, you need to step back and rationally think about the situation that you're in. There are different ways that you can do this, but oftentimes when we're faced with something like this,

the natural urge is to make a quick decision. And I would tell you to do the opposite, and to take a step back and think through it and all aspects of the situation that you're in. Think about the repercussions that come from your action, and all aspects of the situation that you're in. Think about the repercussions that come from your action, not only in the short term, but also the potential ramifications

that could come in the long term, both positive and negative. Think about what got you into this current situation in a possible solution that could get you out of it by doing the right thing. Ask yourself, could whatever this crisis you're in be avoided? Who else is this affecting? What would the consequences be to them

by not doing the right thing in the circumstance. How will this affect your own personal reputation? How will this affect the way you view yourself and how you feel about yourself if you don't do the right thing? Also, compare your current predicament to things that you've faced in the past. And think about how those manifested themselves and the repercussions that you faced when making those decisions compared to the one that you're facing today. Second, imagine all the possible outcomes. And don't put yourself in a stressful situation where you're doing this, where you're forcing yourself into a panic, or try to take a step back, and logically think through, what are

the repercussions of the decision that you're going to make? I would encourage you to weigh the pros and cons of the decision, and to look at them and to make sure you look at them objectively and filter out the noise from the decision that you have to make. And more importantly, prepare yourself for the unexpected things that may occur and how others may view you when you're forced to make this decision. It may be difficult to anticipate the unexpected, but getting in the mindset that it could happen is so important for you to think about the decision that you're going to make. Lastly, consider other people who may be affected by this decision and the other individuals involved. Doing the right thing isn't just about you. It's like my classmate at the Naval Academy who ended up going to the Baltimore Sun

and exposing this massive cover-up that was happening. He did the right thing. And he apologized to me for 25 years later because the ramifications of his decision directly impacted me. He wasn't called upon to do the library like I was. None of my other classmates that I'm aware of who were on the honor board were either. But I accept his decision because he, along with me, we're trying to do the right thing in that situation. And think about what Gandhi had to do in his life.

The ramifications of his decisions not only impacted him, they impacted at times hundreds, thousands, millions of people around him. So I would encourage you to ask these questions when you're thinking about, and I'm making the right decision. Now we'll do in the right thing, be for the benefits of others. How will situations the right thing be for the benefits of others? How will situations get better when I do it? How will relationships both improve and potentially worsen? And most importantly, what makes what you're doing the right thing? And that's one that you really need to spend some time on. Because you need to make sure

that doing the right thing isn't because of your ego. It's not because you're angry at some person and you're doing this in spite of them. It's because you truly believe that it's the right thing to do. And I know throughout my career, as I've been faced with very difficult decisions, I've used this similar series of steps to help me think about the right thing to do and making sure that I do it. And I hope you're able to apply this lesson today

into your own life and take this forward because as I said at the beginning, the important thing is that we do the right thing. You may not know now and it may take a long time and you may never know the fruits of your labor, but if you do nothing, then nothing, as Gandhi said, is ever going to happen. Just like Gandhi, in my experience, has been able to academy, how often are we faced

the decisions throughout our life that could have huge consequences? But the importance, and I hope what you took away today, is a framework that you can use and some questions that you can ask yourself about doing the right thing because it can have such a profound impact on you and your passion journey and how others see you. I am so appreciative to each and every one of you for taking the time to listen or watch the Passion Strike podcast. And if you really liked today's episode, please share it with growth-minded friend of yours on Instagram, Facebook, or wherever they may be on social media.

Thank you so much for joining us. The purpose of our show is to make Passion Go viral. By sharing the knowledge and insights you can use to unlock your hidden potential. To hear more, please subscribe to the show in iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you'd love this episode, we'd appreciate a five-star rating on iTunes, where if you'd simply tell free of your most driven and motivated friends about the show

and post to your social accounts, that would help us grow our PassionStruck community too. If you want more tools to unlock your potential, please make sure to also visit our website, passionstruck.com, sign up to our email list, as well as check out all the links and resources in the show notes. Be sure to tune in on Tuesdays and Fridays for our next episodes, and remember, make a choice, work hard, and step into your sharp edges. Thanks again, and I'll see you next time.