I’m going to cheat a little because there are actually two “first jobs” that taught me valuable leadership lessons that I’ve carried with me in my time at United: The most valuable gift you can offer someone is your time, and what people will remember most about you is how you make them feel.

The summer just before I turned 15, I got my first job at a trucking company in North Texas. I spent 8 to 12 hours a day in and out of an 18-wheeler in the hot summer sun, helping to sort and load old copper cables that were due to be recycled.

It was hard work and an eye-opening experience, to say the least. The truckers swore, and said and did things I didn’t know were possible! But they also were kind, friendly and welcoming. I thought they were some of the coolest people I’d ever met, and I think they got a kick out of having an impressionable kid palling around with them. They made me feel like one of them.

Fast-forward a few years later as I walk through the doors at the Pentagon as a 22-year-old for my first “adult” job. At the Pentagon, I met seasoned leaders who saw my potential, and even though I was young and inexperienced, they were willing to invest their time in me. I was a second lieutenant assigned to the Economic Analysis and Resource Planning department, and even though I was a junior member of the team, I’d find myself part of hours-long conversations about how to tackle some of the most complex geopolitical challenges of the time.

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