Military college alumni application of leadership competencies in the workplace

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the leadership competencies that are effectively transferring into the workplaces of recent military college alumni from both their curricular and co-curricular experiences. Design/methodology/approach Through semi-structured interviews, this study explored 15 military college alumni’s perspectives on the leadership competencies they developed in college and currently apply in the workplace. Findings The findings indicated the 15 military college alumni participants developed and applied the following student leadership competencies at work: productive relationships, helping others, supervision, empathy, ethics, functioning independently, resiliency, positive attitude and scope of competence. Originality/value Limited research explores leadership learning at military colleges and service academies in the United States. Yet these collegiate military environments have a missional focus on leadership education and development. This article highlights the importance of the alumni lens in assessing leadership learning in collegiate military environments and provides recommendations to administrators of this institution type.