John Flynn has had many roles all through his life – together with as a soccer participant, serviceman within the Air Force, adviser to then Vice-President Joe Biden as part of the Obama Administration, and he presently is the senior vice chairman of administration and aviation for MGM Resorts International. Regardless of the place he has held or the folks he has labored with in these positions, there are two frequent traits – service and management.
Flynn stated about MGM Resorts Global Aviation Division, “I’ve got a couple of different departments I get to lead and manage. We’ve got several planes and a couple dozen pilots.” He additionally works with the Security Operations Division and their Military and Veterans Program (MVP) with different navy members. In whole, Flynn works with over 2,000 folks in his a number of roles within the company world. That may seem like very totally different in comparison with his navy profession, however he discovered that the 2 fields have extra in frequent than one could imagine.
“Some of the things we learned in the military are what we value in the private sector. I think a couple of those things are you learn to be flexible, proactive, how to reprioritize different goals like you would with the military, and you fail a lot. But it’s not a matter of failing. It’s a matter of whether you get back up.”
John Flynn’s dedication to management and the betterment of others could be traced again to his childhood. Flynn was the youngest of two kids rising up in Irvine, California. Sports was an enormous a part of his life because of being round groups such because the California Angels (MLB), Los Angeles Rams (NFL), and others. He wasn’t only a fan of these sports activities, however he performed them as effectively.
“I grew up playing baseball, football, and basketball, whether it was in my school or in Irvine.”
Football was the game that Flynn succeeded on the most. He began as quarterback for Mater Dei High School for 3 years, they usually completed because the primary workforce within the nation. That led him to pursuing alternatives to play for Vanderbilt or the United States Air Force Academy. He felt that top faculty was an essential time for him as a result of among the classes he discovered on the sphere might be utilized off the sphere.
“It’s where I first learned how to successfully recover from failure on a play-by-play basis,” he stated with amusing. “It was a good lesson for life.”
He was capable of be taught different classes from folks that served as mentors akin to his dad and mom, coaches, and lecturers throughout his childhood as effectively.
“You don’t fully appreciate those mentors until you’ve kind of moved away, grown up, matured more in life.”
As he was ending highschool, Flynn had thought he was going to go to Vanderbilt, however a change within the head coach place there shifted his sights to the Air Force Academy. One journey to Colorado Springs, Colorado later, and he knew the place he was going. In hindsight the selection is smart for him as a result of he grew up in an space the place it was frequent to see Marines and Members of the Navy. His father served
within the Marines and his grandfather was within the Navy throughout World War II. Even although he was becoming a member of a distinct department, the navy could have been future within the making.
“The idea of flying planes, graduate, and basically go do whatever you wanted to do that the military offers were certainly appealing to me.”
He could be a backup quarterback in his soccer function, however he obtained to take pleasure in a number of moments along with his teammates and discovered useful classes on the faculty stage as effectively. He additionally labored as a coach on the again half of his senior season. He remembered that 12 months fondly as a result of his workforce completed within the prime ten in rating within the nation.
“For a service academy football team to finish in the top ten in the national rankings, it was a pretty big deal.”
Once his faculty profession ended, he dedicated to the Air Force full-time, the place he gathered greater than 3,100 hours as a C-17 Evaluator Pilot. Part of his profession was spent in Afghanistan in addition to in Baghdad, Iraq and different areas. He was proud to be part of that effort, however he acknowledged that missions of the magnitude he was concerned with took the assist of quite a lot of teammates and fellow servicemembers.
“Fighting in the early days of the War on Terror in the mid-2000’s was pretty incredible. Being in the military and pulling off these successful missions required working with a lot of people.”
Besides working below nice leaders and as part of management in each sports activities and the navy, one other frequent theme is being bodily prepared always. That’s why health has been an essential a part of his life, and it nonetheless is immediately.
“Once again, there’s a lot more similarities than differences,” stated Flynn in relation to health stage for each fields. “Generally, I think staying fit, keeping your cardio going, keeping your muscle tone going is important. Sometimes, you have to carry 150 pounds on your back on these missions, and you have to be in pretty incredible shape to do that.”
John Flynn would transfer on to work in Washington, D.C., the place he labored for the Department of Defense as a Legislative Fellow below Senator Bill Nelson, on the Pentagon, and finally could be concerned with the final word type of management – a Presidential administration. Flynn served as a Special Assistant to the forty fourth President of the United States, Barack Obama and as an adviser to then Vice President Joe Biden. After flying for ten years, that change in dynamics might be a shock for most individuals at first, however Flynn adjusted and located yet one more technique to contribute to his nation.
“It was really educational and insightful after being on the tip of the spear to be on the tail end of policy and then the orders come down and you follow, operationally, those orders,” he recalled. “That was incredibly educational for me.”
Following his time in Washington, he moved on to the place he holds now with MGM Resorts. He continues to be concerned with the Air Force as a reserve assigned to AFWERX. He additionally commits time to staying in form as a result of it’s a variable that enables him to be his greatest for everybody round him in addition to himself.
“You can make clear decisions, you can make better decisions, and be more confident in what you’re doing,”
John Flynn needs to verify the subsequent era of Americans are conscious and positively impacted by the navy as effectively. He took his son to a Veteran’s Day occasion referred to as Salute to the Troops that paid homage that have been keen to offer their all to freedom.
“Very important this next generation sees us celebrating service members,” he stated.
Even although he’s within the non-public sector now, he feels the navy can nonetheless be an excellent choice for younger folks that need to set themselves up for excellent success sooner or later. He advises to take a look at all choices rigorously earlier than making a closing choice.
“It’s a really exciting time to be a 17 or 18-year old graduating from high school because there is so much for you out there that can help you achieve your goals,” he defined. “Do your analysis, and you have to be trying into firms and the navy, and even schools or universities to search out the most effective choices for them.
You can be taught extra about Col. Flynn by following him at John S. Flynn on LinkedIn