Success After Retirement Does Happen

Success after retirement from the military is worth noting. When we started the Global SOF Foundation (GSF) we needed to gain corporate partners to get the funding we needed to take the first steps. We reached out to companies that were run by people in or from the SOF community that would quickly grasp the value of a professional association to support SOF. Make no mistake about it we had no past performance, no money, and we were trying to unite a community that is tribal, operationally overstretched and not looking for more work - easy day.

Al Di Leonardo was a retired Army intelligence officer that had served with SOF all over the map but got out and formed his own company HumanGeo. Al knew the mission, people and requirements of the IC and SOF and immediately started to build his business at a blistering pace. Al was also blessed to hire some of the most talented people and he hired Abe Usher to be HumanGeo's Chief Technology Officer - a guy that is always thinking.

In 2014 the GSF reached out to Al and the HumanGeo Team about joining the GSF as a Corporate Partner. It took about 20 minutes to get them to commit to join the GSF as a Corporate Partner and Plank Owner in the only SOF professional association - an early adopter and not a late adapter. Al new that hybrid warfare was reality and SOF, cyber and Intelligence operations were going to be critical components in this fight. The GSF was barely 2 months old and our partners had to do a lot of work to get the foundation moving and HumanGeo gave the GSF the same level of support as they did their businesses partners and life was good. When we were all comfortable lightning struck and an opportunity appeared for HumanGeo.

In 2015 Al was approached with an opportunity to sell HumanGeo to the Radiant Group. Giving up HumanGeo was not a simple decision but the Radiant Group had a great reputation in the intelligence community and Al decided to sell but remain with HumanGeo under the Radiant Group. Over the first year of being under the Radiant Group things went well – very well and the Radiant Group leadership decided that Al and Abe had greater potential so on 18 August 2016 they named Al as the Radiant Group CEO and Abe to be the Chief Technology Officer. https://m.marketwired.com/press-release/the-radiant-group-inc-announces-the-addition-of-key-principals-to-the-executive-team-2151993.htm BAMM! Good work is often rewarded with more work and Al and Abe leaped at the challenge. 

For those of you that know Al you know he works like he did on active duty. Al took off the uniform and had the courage to build a business in a period when defense was being cut. A lot of active duty people tell me they don't want to work hard and I often tell them to stay in government because that is not how the private sector works. Successful people in the private sector often take risk that could get them fired or destroy their business. The world is not always kind to these people but I have not seen anyone from our SOF community give up when things got tough. They ALL dig themselves out with the same level of hard work they used in the military.

Success is not easy - it takes risks and hard work and I know a lot of former SOF own their own businesses and they are doing well. These are people that wanted the challenge and they are the architects of their destiny. Despite being tired they have all learned and grown with the challenges they face.  I believe SOF personnel have the mental agility, courage and panache to leave the service and build their own businesses.  

There is no doubt that the Radiant Group leadership made the decision to promote Al and Abe based on their performance and success with HumanGeo. The GSF is really happy to report their success and as GSF Plank Owners we are proud to have them in the SOF community. We also assume that Al and Abe will be buying a round when we all come together at the GSF Happy Hour and Book Signing at La Tasca, 2900 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA at 1700 – 1900 hours on 21 September 2016. Register at https://tools.eventpower.com/reg/index/KvDfaypRRh. Come meet with GSF partners and friends and congratulate Al and Abe on “Moving on Up” with the Radiant Group.    

To Al and Abe - BRAVO ZULU and bring the rain!