Today is my last day at Samsung after about two years, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to best summarize the experience.
Result: It’s pretty much impossible.
Indeed, to work at Samsung is to experience every possible emotion – often at the same moment.
I have cherished the opportunity to learn from some of the smartest people in the business, to impact the lives of literally millions of consumers every month and help the sixth largest company in the world to adopt social media and community customer experiences as a core support channels.
I am extremely proud of my work and all of the things we accomplished. But more so, I am proud of ability to work, survive and thrive in one of the most difficult but entrepreneurial environments in the world. And I have relished the chance to learn how to manage all kinds of relationships, products and projects – big and small, internal and external, American and International. It’s like going to Grad School for global business, and I feel like I have earned an MBA cum laude.
I have learned a ton about me as a person – in persistence and stress management, in being gracious in the face of impossible challenges and the unenviable task of trying to not let the environment change the core of who I want to be – kind, empathetic, honest, transparent, giving and always putting others first.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my digital care team who created an island of safety, growth and comradery, and fought a lot of wars with me – many of which didn’t always make sense at the time. Shout out to Michael, Josh, Andrew, Aaron, Mine, Ipsita, Chris, Teddi, Sandya, Scott, Nancy and to countless others whose path I have crossed in the last two years. Your individual skills and ability to build amazing things have been and will be an ongoing inspiration.
Also, a special thank you to my wife and fuzzy family for the love and support involved in making a choice like this. It takes a village to take on career growth opportunities and her belief in me is very special indeed and I am a very lucky guy.
But, I am a builder, and enjoy the challenge of new things and I am very excited about what’s next – something I will be able to share more details about soon. Going from the 6th largest brand in the world to employee #6 will present a whole new set of challenges that I am very much looking forward to taking on.
Thank you all for joining me for the ride, for the last two years, and also the last 40.