I knew I needed a purpose. I found it difficult to find fulfillment. Like most everyone else, what I need is to be inspired by whom I work with and what I am doing. So, I needed to work within a close community where I felt safe. I have always been inspired by my father and brothers who are veterans and selfless in nature. They’re the last to ask for help, but the first to offer it. The military provided me with a similar feeling.
I stumbled into Mission Critical by accident. I had no idea what it was. What I did know was people in this industry worked hard, had fun and seemed genuinely happy. In an industry that values execution over experience, my ability to remain agile and execute was my only advantage. As I grew throughout the industry, I started looking for: what’s next. I enjoyed where I was yet never felt that I was doing what I was meant to be doing. It is easy to mistake performance for passion. I was good at what I did, but that didn’t make me happy.
I worked myself up to the top, engineering a position that gave me more than I felt I deserved. Imagine my disenchantment to finally achieve everything I had worked toward for many years only to discover that I still was unhappy. One day, the light bulb went on: I would build a selfless team of outliers, or whom I now affectionately refer to as my “island of misfit toys.” I collected dependable, reliable people who cared about each other and put the success of others first.
When stepping back to analyze what we accomplished, I realized that for my entire career I hadn’t needed the title, a bigger salary or even more stock. I had been searching for a community–a family. I needed to go to work each day inspired by those who worked beside me. I needed to know that any threats we faced was faced together and came from outside of the business, not within. When I was inspired and felt safe, I found greater fulfillment in my life.
I knew that I would never find a company that valued culture over profits as much as I would, so my wife encouraged me to step away from the comfort and safety of corporate America to build my own–OVERWATCH.
Giving myself a small salary, I started recruiting people needing what I needed– though some hadn’t realized it yet. I discovered that many of those who thought like I do also come from a military background. Naturally, finding ways to help other veterans discover what I discovered became a part of my mission. Focusing on codifying what I loved most about the military, I began adopting those things into our company culture.
Our primary mission at OVERWATCH is to help our customers unleash the emerging technologies that improve the lives of everyone around the world. We believe that the way to complete this mission is by leveraging the untapped resource of talent found in our veteran community. Our industry isn’t lacking in genius nor intelligence; however, its lacking leadership and courage. At OVERWATCH, that’s what we strive to provide.
