I’ ve been trying to work on being more grateful - aka, practicing gratitude. Along with executive presence, this is one of those things that you’re never trained on - you have to drill, drill, drill it until it becomes a part of your very being. This week presents a great opportunity for that…

We’ve had a big week! A TON of community members posted their W’s this week, announcing that they were able to renew their Microsoft MVP designations.

This comes after an announcement early on 7/1 - aka F5 day - that the MVP site would be down until 7/5 for maintenance. Once 7/5 hit, though, I was grinning ear to ear to see that a lot of community members - many of which I consider friends - had renewed their MVP awards!

This site could never have existed without the EUC community - the various MVPs, CTPs, vExperts, etc. that I’ve worked alongside, specifically. One of our executives (who I believe held all three of the above at one point) saw potential in a kid from the onboarding team (yours truly) and threw him into deep water with some of the baddest EUC wizards on the planet. My reward for keeping projects on track was getting to ask questions and learning the nuances of what makes an entire EUC stack not only work, but SING.

I remember asking them, how do you mark your name? Their answers could be summed up in one word - community. They put their time into community work, and it paid back. They didn’t expect anything, but that’s the way the world works - it’s only when you give without an expectation of receiving that you get what you’re looking for.

It took me a long time to learn that lesson myself. Once I started to put that into practice, I noticed a big swing in my career. I wasn’t just competent in my own role; I became a SME for the way things worked and more importantly, the way customers wanted them to work. I created internal and external documents, I held town halls, I interacted with the community on social media… and it all added up.

I got the confidence to apply for the vaunted NVIDIA NGCA program and was elated to be able to make it into the 2020 class! I say that not to brag, but to say that you too can create content and apply for these programs. The EUC community inspired me and reintroduced a concept that I already knew, but needed to see in a different way: if you want something, go out and get after it. Everybody’s just a kid from somewhere - so, go! Create!

So in summary, thank you to past mentors. Thank you to colleagues who encouraged me to create things, both internal and external. Thank you to community members, some of whom encouraged me to make this very site.

I’m intentionally saving the best note for last… yet another CONGRATULATIONS to the recipients of this year’s MVP renewals. You rock, and you deserve it. Until next year, keep creating!