M6 Leadership Spotlight: Paul Thompson
This week, we are pleased to share our leadership spotlight with Paul Thompson. As the head of our National Security Solutions division, Paul oversees current contracts and growth efforts to support Special Operations and the Intelligence Community. He joined M6 through the SkillBridge program and transitioned to a full-time role three years ago. Since then, Paul has been instrumental in building the Irregular Warfare Center from the ground up. His adaptability and leadership in complex situations, along with his unwavering dedication to honor and integrity, are a true testament to his character.
Can you tell us about your background and how you ended up joining M6?
Well, going back to ancient background, I grew up on a dairy farm in Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains, north of Roanoke. I ended up going to the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) for college and then I spent 20 years in the Army – all of which was in Special Forces. The first ten I spent in training and as a detachment commander and the second ten I spent in intelligence. Then, I retired from the Army in 2021.
Gavin McCulley, the president of Morgan 6, and I were close friends back when we were all lieutenants together, 20-something years ago. When I was retiring, I reached out to a lot of friends and colleagues just trying to figure out what happens after retirement. Gavin and I connected, and we talked a lot about what we could do together and where we could take the company. So, we shook hands on that and I came on with Morgan 6 originally as a SkillBridge Fellow, which connects transitioning service members with industry partners to give them real-world job experiences. I was Morgan 6’s first SkillBridge, and then came on in a full time position in the summer of 2021. Since then and over the past three years, I’ve really been finding my role here at Morgan 6 where I manage the National Security Solutions division of the company, which supports the Special Operations and the Intelligence communities. I oversee current contracts in that space as well as growth efforts dedicated to expanding our portfolio.
What about M6 appealed to you?
I liked the small company environment. I like being able to cut through a lot of bureaucracy and be able to have decisions made. I like the agility that we can bring. I like our ability to really think outside the box and come up with creative solutions. With a small team, you can do that, especially our team – it’s very ingenuitive and we come up with some really, really interesting options when we’re looking for solutions. So, that was a big motivator. The other reason is the future potential of Morgan 6. As we continue to grow, I think we have a lot of space that we can move into and a lot of new areas to discover. So, that’s exciting.
What lessons from your military and Special Forces training have you carried through your career?
A lot. Nearly the majority of my adult life has been spent in Special Forces, so there’s a lot of carryover. I think of things like building relationships and building trust. I’ve met people from all over the world and worked with them very closely because we had to build trust very quickly. We had to firmly establish that relationship because we were ultimately going to put our lives in each other’s hands. That had to be done very deliberately and it had to be done across cultures, across environments, across different stress levels. So, that’s one of the major things that I take away and bring to my work at M6, especially when we meet potential partners and start working with new customers. We want trust up front and then develop the relationship around that.
Are there any pivotal assignments you had that helped you to develop as a professional that you could tell us about or any degrees or professional certifications that you’ve gotten?
There’s a lot of training that I’ve gone through and these experiences change the way you see the world. I think as far as pivotal assignments, one interesting one was in USAFRICOM, I was told to stand up a task force from scratch. So, I had to build a whole organization, build its mission, build its vision, bring people on, put all the policies in effect, get all the authorities done, get the funding – everything was from scratch. That was definitely a pivotal assignment. It was very entrepreneurial. It was very much ‘no one’s going to really tell you what to do every day.’ It was just get the mission accomplished and report back if you need help or further guidance, and very, very broad. So, I got to create that however I wanted to. That was definitely one of the most pivotal moments for me because it was just so unique in the military to be able to establish your own thing and do it how you want to do it.
I think that carries over to Morgan 6. As we go into new areas, it’s not because someone is telling us to. It’s because we know the right thing to do even when it’s not the easy thing to do. That kind of keeping our eyes on what’s next and building from scratch is always on my mind.
What experience have you learned the most from?
I’ve learned a lot from traveling in general. I’ve been to 66 different countries in the world. I’ve lived on four different continents, and I’ve spent a lot of time overseas. That kind of experience of seeing other cultures around the world and seeing how – while they might be different – they’re also very, very similar. Human beings: we’re all very, very similar. Regardless of what culture you come from, there’s just basic commonalities amongst all humans. When you get down to that level, you realize how connected we are and how to communicate with people from different backgrounds. Something that everybody should do in their life is go to some third world country and realize that you’re just like those people. Travel opens your eyes.
What is something interesting or unique about you that others might not know?
When I was in high school and college, I would in some ways train for the military by going on several day hikes in the mountains in rural Virginia just by myself. I would just have a backpack and some very simple things, and I would go up in the mountains for three, four, or five days completely by myself off trails. I mean there was nothing out there. I’d spend that time up there just getting ready for the military, and also just enjoying being in nature.
Who do you admire as a leader, past or present and why?
There are three that come to mind that demonstrate confidence, compassion, and intelligence.
One I always like to research and understand more about is Teddy Roosevelt. I just think he’s an interesting guy. He did a lot of interesting things and had just a really wild, crazy life. You can see where his decisiveness and his confidence really inspired a lot of other people to follow him. So as a leader, it was just wow – people really followed him to the end. I think that was interesting.
Two others are more current. They’re both still serving in the military. One is Lieutenant General Antonio “Tony” Fletcher, who is the current Commander of NATO Special Operations. He was one of my first bosses in the military. He was a young Major and I was a Second Lieutenant. Now, he’s a three-star general. He had a way about him where he showed a lot of compassion, a lot of understanding, and he was the type of leader that you just didn’t want to disappoint. You went out of your way because you never wanted to see the look of disappointment in his face that you let him down. That was just a level of leadership that it’s hard to define and hard to even replicate, but people – anyone that knew him – just wanted to do the best you could for him because you always had the impression he was doing the best he could for you.
The third I thought of was Vice Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, current Commander of Joint Special Operations Command. Even though he’s a Navy SEAL, I still look up to him, though I’m just kidding with my SEAL brethren here but truly he’s just one of the smartest guys I’ve ever met. He understands a very complex problem very quickly. He listens and picks up on very nuanced topics, very complicated topics, and goes the extra mile to understand. This is one of the most intelligent guys I’ve ever met.
Are there ways that you model your own leadership style after theirs?
I think about all three of those strengths: confidence, compassion, and intelligence and seek to be decisive when we need to make a decision. I always think about LTG Fletcher and his compassion and his ability to relate to people in a human-to-human relationship. And I mean, I’ll never be as smart as VADM Bradley, but I’m always trying to understand complicated issues.
What is the best way to determine if someone is a good leader?
I look for their ability to listen. If someone is talking too much and you realize that they’re just not listening, they’re not going to be able to understand a problem. And if you don’t understand a problem, you won’t be able to provide a solution. So when I’m looking at someone and making an assessment of their leadership skills, I look to see if they can listen and absorb information more than they can transmit. I think that’s a big sign.
What does Warriors First mean to you?
To me, it’s two things: It’s our mission and it’s also our people.
‘Warriors First’ is the focus and the ‘why’ of our company. We really like to support the warriors out there. They’re supporting our national security interests around the world. That’s what we want to focus on.
We also use ‘Warriors First’ at M6 to describe our own staff. We put our people in high regard. We want to take care of our people in the same way. So, we will give shout-outs to an M6 Warrior for their accomplishments.
Is there an M6 value that particularly resonates with you? The most of the six?
Our first value – and there’s a reason for this – is ‘Act with Honor.’ To me, honor is doing that right thing, even when it’s hard. It’s doing the hard right over the easy wrong. It’s the thing you do when no one’s looking. It’s keeping your bond, keeping your word. You make a handshake, you say you’re going to do something and you do it and you hold yourself to that more than you’re being held to it. You’re the one that is holding yourself accountable. To me, that gets into the understanding of honor.
And, I think Morgan 6 has lived up to that. There have been a lot of times where we’ve had a hard decision, but it’s the hard right decision and we put that above the easy wrong decision. We remind ourselves of that value when we make decisions.
What has been your most rewarding experience with M6 so far?
We were entrusted to build the Irregular Warfare Center for the Defense Cooperation Security Agency. That’s been a very rewarding experience. Again, to build a unit organization from the ground up, to have your footprint in it, to have it as a piece of you when you develop an organization…building the Irregular Warfare Center definitely took everything I had and everything a lot of other people had as we were building that thing from scratch. It’s blossomed, and it has grown, and it’s doing amazing things. So it’s great to be a part of.
Can you tell us a little bit more about where M6 generally and the National Security Solutions division specifically are heading?
Morgan 6 is really focusing on the National Security Solutions division of the company and putting a lot of our weight into expanding that area. We see this division focused on support to intelligence, information operations, support to education and training, support to IT services, and international development too, really support across irregular warfare. We see those all as growth areas – they’re areas that we have experience in from our time in service, but also as a company. We think we can add value to the U.S. Government and our national security interests. So that’s what we’re doubling down on. And that’s the future of the NSS division.
What aspect of M6’s future are you most excited about?
As we expand into supporting national security, there’s an opportunity to really make a difference in the world. You start to get closer to that edge where things really matter, where people’s lives are at stake, and where we’re more connected to current events and really protecting the nation. So that’s really exciting me to be closer to that, making a difference and helping our nation.
Any final thoughts on M6 that you want to share?
Our culture is really important within the company itself. We are very blunt and open and honest. There’s a Chatham House rules style for when we make decisions, and everybody has a voice. I had a boss tell me one time that no one has a patent on ‘the good idea’ and it could come from anywhere. We really take that to heart. Sometimes the best ideas come from an outsider to the problem set, but we bring everyone together and someone puts their hand up and says, “Hey, I’ve got a wild and crazy idea to throw out to the group”. It’s all yours, that’s what we want.
That culture is really important to bring out the great ideas, to bring out the complex problem solving. The imagination is really just linking different ideas together, and that’s where I think we really add value. That’s one of our strengths and it’s embedded in our culture, which I think is really interesting.
Rapid Fire Questions
What’s the best title you’ve ever had? Personal or professional?
So, I had the title Chief of the Unicorn Potatoes, and there’s a very long story to it. But that was one of the best titles I ever had. To make a long story short, this was a title from that task force that I stood up underneath Africa Command. We built the culture there to be very unique and different and very intentionally we said we were going to be unconstrained in our thinking. There’s a long story about why those two words, but it was just to be very different. We wanted to be just outside-the-box thinkers because we had a very outside-the-box mission.
What’s the best location you were stationed or a place you’d want to be stationed if you had the choice?
We had the best time in Stuttgart, Germany. We were there for three years. If anybody gets the chance to live in Europe for a couple years, I highly recommend it. Just to travel and see the Old World and all the different cultural aspects of Europe was a lot of fun for my family and for me professionally.
What can we find you doing in your free time?
Well, we just moved to Virginia, so all my free time’s going to be taken up with this move. I did a 12-hour adventure race with a friend of mine in the spring, and that was a lot of fun. And I’m being talked into an 18-hour adventure race this fall. I really enjoy that hobby. It’s a weird, crazy thing to do, but it’s a lot of fun.
What’s your go-to news source?
That depends. Domestically, I’ll read The Hill for domestic type politics. For international news, I look at the BBC and Al Jazeera. Then, if I really need to do ground-level understanding of stuff, I look at live UA maps. They give you a very tactical level understanding.
Are there any books or movies that you’ve read or watched lately that you think are amazing that you want to tell people about?
Right now I’m reading The Comfort Crisis and really enjoying it. It’s about not being comfortable for too long and staying outside your comfort zone, it’s inspiring me back into that adventure race.
As for a movie, Inside Out 2 was just a great movie. My son’s 11, so he thinks he’s a teenager, but he’s just entering that pre-teen environment. It’s just a very relatable movie in my family right now.
Who would you most like to have dinner with or be stuck on a desert island with?
I would really love to meet Thomas Edward Lawrence – Lawrence of Arabia. His story was inspirational as I was going through Special Forces training. He had the wildest, craziest life I can imagine. So I would love to talk to him.