Meet Steven Lente | Retiree, both Military and Civilian/Writer/Traveler

We had the good fortune of connecting with Steven Lente and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Steven, how do you think about risk?
In the 1970’s I read an observation that people only had to exert about 30% of their abilities to keep their jobs. That meant if I exerted 35% or more I’d move beyond keeping my job to excelling at it. So this drove me to analyzing the variables of “what’s the worst that could happen” if I pushed some of the boundaries a little bit. Then, in the military security forces I was exposed to risk reduction in the sense that all actions we took involved risk to life and limb and through effective planning we could only reduce risk, not eliminate it. Then the phrase “faint heart ne’er won fair lady” came into my life which I used in developing relationships and which taught me to be more open in conversations. Truthfully, being open caused some problems because “telling it like it is” was not always acceptable in some relationships, either at work or outside of it, but back to “what’s the worst” variable, more often than not I was welcomed as someone who could see through an issue and then advise a workable solution, and that practice led to me being respected for my insights. So, I pushed the edges a lot both in and out of the business environments, but the percentage of positive outcomes far outweighed the number of negatives, and I probably never fully exerted all my abilities.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Two careers really: first in the US Air Force, then in the civilian job markets. I thrived in the structure and disciplines the military taught me, but I also had great supervisors who saw the rebel in me and guided that momentum rather than trying to push my square peg through that round hole. I was promoted through the ranks because of my leadership skills and I was one rank away from the top enlisted rank when I left the AF after twenty years. These same disciplines were transferrable to a second career in the civilian contract and private security fields. But, I did have to learn that leading civilians was A WHOLE LOT DIFFERENT than having the controls I had in the military. I learned to mutate my aggressiveness and assertiveness to more of a compromising role, understanding that most of the risk taking in the civilian world involved financial decisions more than those of life and limb. Another challenge was learning to understand that civilians come in all sizes, shapes, and experiences whereas those in the military tend to be clustered in similar cultures, objectives, and physical abilities. I suppose what I’d like the to world to know is that I’m still a person with developed biases and slanted viewpoints but, paraphrasing the words of George Bush SR, I am a much kindler and gentler person at 70 years old than I was at 40. My way is not always the highway, and I’ve learned there are always alternate paths to life and for those within it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Funny this question: my bestie used to live in Dallas, and after visiting almost twenty years ago he asked, “why does everyone in Colorado always want to go hiking?” He now lives in Denver, jogs consistently, and even hikes to old fire watch stations in the national forests. So, we’d now go to many of the outside places around Pikes Peak, Cripple Creek/Victor, and of course Colorado Springs. We’d also hit historical places, museums, and the like, from as far away as Bent’s Old Fort, to the Olympic Training Center, and on to the Colorado Railroad Museum. However, we’d also go to many of the distilleries and breweries from Buena Vista to Fort Collins. Foodwise, we’d go to the local pizzarias, one-off hamburger joints, and to a couple of the East Coast/NY style delis in Colorado Springs and Denver. Stargazers theater would be a highlight for entertainment.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The United States Department of Defense, specifically the United States Air Force, for providing me a foundation on which to develop the mindsets and skills I later adapted to the civilian business environment.

Other: Website under development. Facebook is private.

Image Credits
All images by Brenda Ashby.