In honor of Veterans Day, our Founder Glenn Ullmann reflects on the experiences that shaped him long before his career in wealth management. From his time at the U.S. Air Force Academy to the lessons he learned as a pilot and flight instructor, Glenn’s military service left a lasting imprint on how he approaches leadership, decision-making, and service to others. In this personal reflection, he shares some of the lessons he carried from the cockpit into his wealth management career.
When people ask how my time in the Air Force shaped my career in wealth management, the answer is simple: almost everything I learned about leadership, decision-making, and staying calm under pressure started in the cockpit.
But the lessons really began before I ever flew an airplane.
I grew up just north of New York City in a community where almost nobody went into the military.
Most students went straight to college, and that was the expected path. When I was young, though, I became fascinated by two things: investing and aviation. My parents introduced me to the idea of attending the Air Force Academy, and my grandfather, a World War I veteran, strongly encouraged me to pursue it.
When I arrived at the Academy, I quickly realized how unprepared I was for the experience. I had never really been away from home before, and during my freshman year, I became intensely homesick. I was ready to quit.
Then an upperclassman pulled me aside and asked me a question I’ve never forgotten.
“Do you think you can make it to lunch?”
I said yes.
Then he asked if I could make it to dinner. Then breakfast the next morning.
His advice was simple: stop worrying about getting through four years. Focus on the next step in front of you.
That lesson stayed with me for life. It helped me through difficult personal moments, professional challenges, and periods of uncertainty. Sometimes the best way forward is to stop looking too far ahead and focus on the next right thing.
Flying reinforced that mindset even more.
Pilots are trained around a phrase that every aviator knows: “Aviate, navigate, communicate.”
First, fly the airplane. Second, figure out where you’re going. Third, communicate.
In moments of stress or uncertainty, you cannot panic. You rely on your training, your process, and your ability to stay calm. I experienced that firsthand during pilot training when I lost one of two engines shortly after takeoff while flying solo. Fortunately, my training took over. I flew the airplane, landed safely, and handled the emergency.
That experience taught me something important that still applies in life and business today: panic is never a strategy.
The Air Force also shaped my understanding of leadership. Throughout my service, I worked under leaders I would have followed anywhere because they genuinely cared about the people around them. I also saw examples of leadership that taught me what not to do.
The best leaders led by example.
One commander I’ll never forget participated fully in every difficult training exercise alongside the rest of us. He never asked anyone to do something he wouldn’t do himself. That made an impression on me that lasted far beyond my military career.
I also learned that leadership is not always loud. As a flight instructor, I discovered that sometimes people learn best when you stop talking and let them work through a challenge themselves. Quiet confidence and trust can be more powerful than constant instruction.
Today, at Ullmann Wealth Partners, those lessons still guide the way I work with clients and colleagues. Wealth management is not just about investments or market performance. It’s about understanding people, their values, families, goals, fears, and hopes for the future.
Life rarely goes according to plan. Markets change. Circumstances change. Challenges appear unexpectedly. But the principles that carried me through the Air Force still apply: stay calm, trust the process, focus on what matters most, and keep moving forward.
Most importantly, I’ve learned that success becomes more meaningful when it’s connected to service. At some point in life, the conversation shifts from simply accumulating wealth to asking how we can support our families, strengthen our communities, and help others along the way.
Those may not be lessons listed in a flight manual, but they’re some of the most important ones I carried with me from the cockpit.