The fluorescent lights hummed, casting a blue glow on the rows of desks in front of me. The air smelled faintly of old coffee and BBQ sauce.
I was ten years old, hunched over a flimsy desk in the back of a cavernous classroom at the Naval War College, a box of McDonald's Chicken Nuggets — my dinner for the evening.
My dad, a Commander in the US Navy and a professor at the college, was at the front of the room, lecturing a group of officers about strategy, tactics, and the art of war. I was supposed to be doing my homework. But honestly, who could resist eavesdropping on discussions of battlefield intelligence and operational planning?
Dad was such a good story teller. He was captivating.
Those nights, surrounded by the hushed intensity of military minds at work, had a profound impact on me. While my daytime classmates were learning about fractions and spelling, I was absorbing concepts that would shape my entire approach to life and business.
It's no surprise that, years l…
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