Grateful on this Veterans Day
The memory is vivid. I’m with my mom in the drop-off line for in-processing at West Point. All around me: optimistic, service-minded teenagers saying goodbye to their families and friends, about to pledge our lives to each other and the nation.
I was beyond frightened. I didn’t know much about the military. War wasn’t something that was discussed in my family, particularly not by my grandfather who served in WWII. But in high school, a switch flipped for me. I wanted to serve, but in a different way than my original plan of becoming a teacher. Maybe it was better that I didn’t fully understand the ramifications of that decision …
Since that day at West Point, I’ve been through a lot of transitions, adventures and new territory. I could probably write a small book of nothing but names of and thank-yous to people who helped me on my journey. I’ve been repeatedly blessed to share professional and personal moments with many amazing veterans.
This Veterans Day, I want to say a public thank-you to a few people who helped me land at Google. While I [thankfully] didn’t have to endure a summer of hazing to earn a spot here, it wasn’t always obvious to me that I’d make the grade as a Googler. A big part of finding my groove was finding a community inside of Google that made it feel a little more like my company.
I’m casting light on a couple of folks who, over the last six years, have connected me and so many others to the larger community of veterans at Google. So, thank you to Avery Carle and Mike Benedosso, who reached out to me, made me feel like a part of a much bigger team, and who continue to connect veterans inside and outside of Google. They’ve inspired me and thousands of others through their work in the Google Veterans Network and otherwise. They represent the best of the values I experienced in the military (selfless service, bias for action) and ones I see everyday at Google (humility, empathy). Thank you, Avery and Mike!
You can also learn more about how Google employs and supports veterans here.
I’d also love to hear from you, and convert this post into a running list of veterans who had an impact on your life! Throw them in the comments below and I’ll check back to add more to the list.
Senior Director, Strategy and Campaign Management
4 年I appreciate the support Google (specifically OCTO Team) is providing DoD to help enable our national defense. Leaders such as Will Grannis, and Eryka Wetherall have a passion for service members. I learned a lot from the entire team and grateful for the experience. Stay safe and keep serving others.
Security Professional at USG
4 年Awesome share Will. So vivid to me. Thank you brother for your service and your friendship
VP and CTO, Google Cloud
4 年Also, wanted to add a quick thanks to other veterans who were part of my journey to Google: Joe DeMike who helped me understand the company and the opportunities and our "interesting" recruiting processes, Ben R. a great thought partner on so many topics, Ben Boyd who is way more "high speed, low drag" than I'll ever be, Matthew O'Connor who helped me understand the engineering culture at Google so I didn't impale myself too badly in the early days, Corey Hemingway who was part of our CTO team for a year on rotation from the Department of Defense and helped us build important bridges, Ben McNeal who also rotated into our CTO group as a Secretary of Defense Fellow and reaffirmed my faith in Navy folks ;), and Nathan Wolfe who was part of our CTO function for a while before returning to his Air Force roots by putting free space optics on planes while simultaneously convincing me it was actually "Cloud"... sincerest thanks to you and the many others I've had the privilege to work with over the last 6 years Google
Global Head of Information Technology | CIO / CTO | Enterprise Architecture | Business Transformation | Servant Leadership | Neurodiversity Champion
4 年Hi Will, thank you for your service to our country. Google continues to be fortunate to have an amazing servant leader like you!