Local company offers unique leadership training opportunities

Steven McCloud, left, president and CEO of Trident Leadership, a business management consulting company, speaks to bookstore manager Marie Maquar while in the Chickamaga National Battlefield bookstore where he brings clients to relate historic battlefield leadership lessons to those in the modern workplace.
Steven McCloud, left, president and CEO of Trident Leadership, a business management consulting company, speaks to bookstore manager Marie Maquar while in the Chickamaga National Battlefield bookstore where he brings clients to relate historic battlefield leadership lessons to those in the modern workplace.

For the past 12 years, Trident Leadership CEO Steve McCloud has taken the concepts combat veterans learn and translated them to the corporate world and to leadership teams across Greater Chattanooga.

Prior to that, McCloud spent much of his free time working with WWII veterans and other retired military personnel, listening to and documenting their stories.

"I just realized that they had a tremendous wealth of lessons learned that would be beneficial to the business world, and they were taking them to the grave," he said. " They were messages that apply to any group of people who need to work together to accomplish something."

With the help of some of the veterans who inspired him, McCloud said Trident hopes to continue to carry out the legacy of their life lessons by offering the Battle-Ready Team Program.

The program takes two groups of people who work together and has them compete against one another to solve a problem, which is created specially for the company or group based on their needs. The first team to successfully solve it is the victor. In addition to offering the chance for a shared victory, the teams learn communication and cooperation skills, among other benefits, McCloud said.

"What matters most is the ability to work as one. That's the bottom line," he said. "But there's a lot of things that go into that."

What Trident offers is more than just a company outing to a location like the Chickamauga Battlefield for a bonding day, he said. The program offers lessons that can be carried back to the business's or group's other tasks and goals.

Eventually, McCloud said, he'd love to connect with veterans trying to readjust to civilian life and hire them to lead the programs as options grow.

"People ask what makes [Trident] unique and there's a long list but one of the most important things to understand is that we aren't a field trip, we aren't a pause from the work day. It's about utilizing the Battle-Ready Program and folding that into whatever they are trying to achieve as a team."

To learn more about Trident and its various group leadership offerings, visit tridentleadership.com.

Email Gabrielle Chevalier at gchevalier@timesfreepress.com.

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