Should You Be an Individual Contributor or People Manager in the Private Sector?

The Weekly Sitrep

Happy Sunday Sitreps Team!

I’m writing this post from the Centurion lounge in the JFK airport. I wrapped up my 15 year reunion this weekend at West Point and it was a great time! Amazing connecting with my classmates and seeing how they are doing. I would say most leveraged a top 20 MBA to start their post military career and are doing very well. To the point that they are hitting a big stride in their careers where they are no longer junior in the corporate community. Some are moving into senior roles and starting to make big money. It's great to see and demonstrates the power of the top MBA. 

There were a lot of questions and talk about me running this page. I’m always humbled by how many people in the military and veteran community follow me and find value and insight from my posts and commentary. People who I have not talked with in several years came up to me right away and wanted to ask me about the page and tell me how much they enjoyed it. I even posted a meme on the bus ride up to West Point for the game and in a couple minutes people were laughing and talking about how I posted while on the bus. I also had a couple followers who are 2nd years in the Stern NYU MBA program give me some Kimsey Club level tickets for the West Point game. It's truly amazing to meet followers and listen to their stories and hear their thoughts about the page.

Something my classmates and I talked about extensively was the common belief among many transitioning military that they need to become people managers in the private sector. There are a lot of material differences between being an individual contributor (IC) and a people manager in the private sector.  I feel like there is a lot of confusion on this topic. We have all seen the memes and stories of former company and field grade officers thinking that they should be able to step into some very senior people leader roles in the private sector. 

This is likely due to the fact that in the military, leadership is often synonymous with management. The military uniquely places the burden of leadership on people at a very young age. Company grade Officers and NCOs are frequently under the age of 30. We let people in their mid 20s fly multi-million dollar aircraft. Even E-1s in the military are trained on leadership and expected to demonstrate it at some level. However, there are some key differences between military leadership and private sector management, and not all transitioning military personnel are well-suited for people management roles.

First a primer on the difference between Individual Contributor Roles and People Manager Roles.

When it comes to career advancement in the private sector, there are two main paths: individual contributor and people manager. Both roles have their own pros and cons, so it's important to weigh them carefully before deciding which path is right for you.

Individual Contributor

An individual contributor (IC) is someone who focuses on a specific area of expertise and delivers results in their own right. ICs are often responsible for tasks such as software development, product design, marketing, and sales. They can have titles such as Sales Director, Program Manager, Account Manager, Financial Analyst, Customer Success Manager, Account Executive, etc etc.