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- Ducati North America CEO Jason Chinnock enlisted in the US Army out of high school.
- Chinnock served as a tank driver with the Third Armored Division and is a veteran of Desert Storm.
- Teamwork and selflessness are key attributes that make veterans great hires, he said.
For nearly a century, Ducati motorcycles have been some of the most sought-after in the world.
The Italian brand's exotic and high-performance motorcycles are often compared to fellow Audi subsidiary Lamborghini's glamorous supercars. Few images are more evocative than a bright red Ducati superbike flying down the Italian Autostrada.
Last year, Ducati sold nearly 60,000 motorcycles globally, the third-best year in company history.
Since 2016, Ducati North America CEO Jason Chinnock has been the executive tasked with running the motorcycle maker's crucial US business, its largest market outside Italy.
Ducati
But before Chinnock started climbing the corporate ladder, he served for two years in the US Army.
Chinnock, now 53, enlisted out as a 17-year-old to help pay for college and became the driver of an M1A1 Abrams battle tank.
"I joined with the intention of getting money for school, but the great thing is that I ended up benefiting from so many other things besides the actual money," Chinnock told Business Insider.
He said that his time in the Army forced him to learn self-discipline and a sense of responsibility as a crew member operating tank worth millions of dollars.
"I was responsible for the maintenance and the upkeep. Imagine if it's not working when you're going into combat or when you're doing an exercise, it's on you," Chinnock said.
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His service with the Army's Third Armored Division included a deployment to the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Storm.
Nowadays, Chinnock is one of 18 million veterans who have served with the US Armed Forces and one of roughly 3 million who served in the first Persian Gulf War.
Why more businesses should hire veterans
As an executive, Chinnock values job candidates who have served but notes that just having a military background is not enough to get the job.
But when there are two equally qualified candidates, he knows that the person with the military experience has a couple of key attributes the others may not have.
The first is selflessness.
"Being a veteran shows me that they have been selfless at some point in their life, and that's to give up part of their life, whether it be a couple of years or ten, to their country," Chinnock said.
Ducati
That's regardless of the personal situation behind the individual's decision to join the military.
"Whatever the motivation, the reality is when you sign up, you're hanging it out there. So I understand that even if they are doing it for personal benefit, they understand the greater good," he said.
The second is the ability to thrive working as a member of a team.
"Through military experience, you're engrained with 'there's no I, it's we,' and that's a big element because you have to work toward that common goal," Chinnock said.
This ability to successfully function in a team setting is a crucial skill for people on his team.
Chinnock said veterans can also be strong hires for their discipline and ability to persevere when facing challenges.
"At Ducati, everybody has to be a significant contributing member of the team, and I value that greatly," Chinnock said. " You can have that guy that hides in the basement with the red stapler but that does not happen here because there's nowhere to hide."