Mark Esper

I think one of the key factors that helped me get into West Point at age 18 was I was a three-sport letterman, and, of course, I played sports at West Point as well.

But I came to learn over time that, particularly in civilian life, the people, when I would interview people for jobs, I always looked to find, were they members of a team?

Were they an athlete?

Did they play sports?

Because I find that athletes...

tend to have a teamwork mentality.

They understand grit and determination and focus.

They understand the discipline needed to achieve a goal.

And as important, if not more importantly, they know what it's like to get knocked down and to lose and to fail and then get yourself back up, dust yourself off and go back at it.

And whether it's a business pursuit, a public sector pursuit, nonprofit, you name it,

I think those qualities are key in any domain.

And so I always look for that in people.

And to me, the key was always finding did they have this type of sports team background in their past?

Absolutely.

But, you know, my experience with that came in the military.

One of the maxims, the sayings we would always use is train as you fight and fight as you train.

And so we would train all the time in the 101st Airborne Division training.

you know, a deliberate attack, a raid, a defense, you name it.

And then, you know, we got called up to go to the Gulf War in 1990 and eventually combat operations in Saudi Arabia.

And I got to tell you, the combat operations, as dangerous as they were, as unpredictable,