We recently connected with Shawn Jones and have shared our conversation below.
Shawn , thank you so much for making time for us today. We’re excited to discuss a handful of topics with you, but perhaps the most important one is around decision making. The ability to make decisions is a key requirement for anyone who wants to make a difference and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your decision-making skills.
In the Army, during training events our leaders would “kill” the next leader in line and force the next man up to take over and lead the rest. We practiced this every training event, every field problem. Our philosophy is to learn the skills of those one level up and two levels down. So as a private, the lowest rank available in the Army, our supervisor would be removed from the event and the next Soldier would have to step up and take charge. If they were ineffective they would also be removed and the next Soldier under them would be placed in charge. At the end of the event, we conduct what we call an AAR, After Action Review. Typically, this entails going over the plan, the execution of the plan, its effectiveness, 3 things we got right and 3 things we need to improve upon. Rarely were these AAR’s mean-spirited or confrontational as that doesn’t actually improve anything. It was a growing exercise as well as gaining the trust of the unit. We would walk through where we went right and where we needed to improve and then we would run the situation again and again until we can’t get it wrong. Throughout this process the leadership is engaged and providing advice. We were also allowed to improvise because even the newest Soldier may have a good idea or see something the rest hadn’t noticed. In 2010, I was deployed to Afghanistan and we were attacked. During the battle, my platoon’s leadership was taken out and I needed to step up and take charge. The skills I learned through those often grueling training missions were there when I needed them.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Poetry. I am passionate about poetry, both the reading and the writing. I started writing poetry as many people do…as an angsty teenager dealing with depression. Since then I’ve started and stopped writing at various times. And then I saw a YouTube clip of a poet, Sabrina Benaim reciting a poem at a poetry competition called, “Explaining My Depression To My Mother’. In the clip what I thought was her passion and later found out that she was having a full-blown panic attack on stage. But her passion reignited my passion for poetry. I had retired from the Army due to injuries and I was looking for something to do with my time so I used my GI Bill to go back to college. I started at a local community college here in Pittsburgh where I am from and received my Associate Degree in Psychology. I applied to Point Park University and was accepted. I received my Bachelor’s Degree again in psychology Summa Cum Laude and then my Master’s. I applied for and was accepted into their doctorate program with the intention of being a psychologist for the Department of Veterans Affairs. However, in my second semester I suffered an illness that forced me to drop out. After a long debate and a ton of thinking, I came to the realization that if I wanted to be a poet I needed to put serious effort into it. I found a program at Carlow University also in Pittsburgh that had what I was looking for and now I am preparing for my second year of their MFA program. At this point in my poetry career, I have had two poems published by the Lethal Minds Journal, an online journal dedicated to promoting veteran voices. I also had my poem, “Tea Party”, about a real event that happen in Afghanistan was awarded 3rd place in the 2025 Col. Darron L. Wright Memorial Writing Awards presented by Line of Advance, a non-profit literary journal created by veterans who recognized the need for fellow veterans to tell their stories and for the public to read them. Our Best War Stories, an anthology of the Col. Wright Memorial Writing Awards was published in November 2025 contains “Tea Party” in print form.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
For me the ability to be flexible, to think outside the box, to zag when others zig has been extremely impactful. I was chosen for leadership, for military schools, and the like largely because I have the ability to think on my feet, to be flexible, to listen to what others are saying, and to make a decision.
I would tell those beginning their journeys to become comfortable making a decision. As a man who has led troops in combat, I would rather have someone make a decision, right or wrong than to get stuck in analysis paralysis. Make a decision and stand by it.
Another piece of advice I would give is to admit when you are wrong or have made a mistake. Tell your boss that you made a mistake, BUT…have a solution, even a bad one. M Travel! Contact Info:
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
There is so much beauty in this world, go see it! There are so many wonderful people to talk to, new great foods to taste, and achievements to accomplish. Even in places you’d never expect to see something beautiful, there is beauty if you look. There is not one place on earth that doesn’t interest me. I pray for a day when I can return to Afghanistan as a friend, I would show my grandbabies just how beautiful this world can be when you go and see.
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
