ServiceNow: Service, Now.

On the origins of Hungry & Humble

I feel OK admitting that before I started working at ServiceNow I had no idea what ServiceNow was. What I would add is that before working at ServiceNow I didn’t actually know the full meaning of the word service, either.

I rolled into ServiceNow after a five-year stint in the guitar business. I had taken this career detour as a reaction to 10 years working at companies I didn’t love. And, while I got to meet John Mayer, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Wonder, and many more stars, I also nearly bankrupt my family. Clearly, a straight job was in order. I reached out to my network.  Musician pal Mark O’Donnell told me he worked at “a software company.” He wouldn’t tell me anything else, but I kept poking him.

Turns out this company Mark was working for was hiring like a banshee. Leaning on my writing experience, and looking for something completely opposite in temperament to the guitar business, I applied for a job as a tech writer. During that process I learned the company was looking actually for a manager for a tech writing team. I submitted my résumé. Mark wrote me a stellar referral that to this day still makes me blush.

After a few interviews in a few weeks I came to my first day of employment. It wasn’t until that first day when I drove up to the building and really saw the name of the company that I put together a couple of key concepts. The name was service-now.com. As I read that I focused on that word: service. 

The word “service” here meant service management, the IT concept. But I read it a different way. It’s always been part of my core beliefs that you should be “in service” to other people. Meaning, willing to help and support others for the common good. And so that’s how I read it: this company was in service, and it was doing it right now.

With that attitude, I went through the front door and began work. I was met by my hiring boss, Gadi Yedwab. At that time there was no training, no manual, no handbook, no on-boarding documents or anything of the kind. Gadi walked me to a table in an office with three other people. On the table was a box. In that box was my laptop.

Gadi said he had to go to a meeting. “Let me know if you need anything," he said. As the valve of the fire hose began to open, I came to realize my situation. Taking pity on me was Steve Wood, an experienced tech writer who I would be nominally managing. Seeing my panic, Steve came over to my table and literally put his arm around me and said, "Don’t worry, we’re gonna get you going." That was my first lesson in ServiceNow service.

My second lesson in ServiceNow service came about a week later. My hiring manager, Gadi, was running a small orientation session for a few of us. I don’t remember any of the content of that session but what I do remember are the first words that Gadi spoke to us. “Welcome to ServiceNow, I hope this is the highlight of your career and I will do anything in my power to help you be successful.” I have repeated this line dozens of times to people at ServiceNow; to new hires, to people I have just met, to people I just started working with. To me it’s a meaningful statement that drives to the core of what it means to work at ServiceNow: we are all in this together, this isn’t easy, let’s help each other. ServiceNow service.

My third example of ServiceNow service is something a lot of people find hard to believe.

Back in the early days, when almost the whole company worked in one spot, people would regularly stop at your desk to ask what you were working on and see if you needed help. One day, I was trying to figure out our first release of Field Service Management. I was struggling with the developer's notes, and I think I let out a groan. Somebody heard that groan and asked from behind me, “What’s the problem?” I turned, and as I was saying “I can’t figure this out” I realized that the person who asked me that question was actually the guy who founded the company, Fred Luddy.

Already at that time a larger-than-life persona, Fred regularly was in the office for meetings and could often be found in his office, coding. It wasn’t unusual for him to be engaged with other developers, feverishly working on our latest release. What Fred would do was come up next to you and go down on one knee next to your chair so that his face was on the same level as your face, and you were both looking at the same laptop together at the same height.

That day, Fred certainly did help me with what I was working on. He explained it in a kind manner; he didn't bluster, he didn't demean, he didn't make me feel crappy for not knowing the answer. I think he even took some responsibility for some of it not being as intuitive as it should be.

ServiceNow Service started at home, but it extended out to our growing customer base. From the very beginning there was an attitude of customer-first, with one hundred percent integrity at all times. Ship the best product possible. Only sell what the customer needs. Problems were to be fixed immediately and take precedence over any other work. The company mantra, “Hungry and Humble” came from this. 

“Our culture was that we were going to be humble, that we were to absolutely have integrity,” Fred explained when we talked to him about the company’s early days. “We were going to be confident but never arrogant. And we were going to always listen to the customer.” 

The first time I heard the phrase was from David Schneider, our leader of sales from 2011 to 2021. He used it to describe the personal philosophy of the good ServiceNow employee. The “hungry” part was to reflect the fact that, yes, we're in it to win, we're here to beat the competition and create a successful company. The “humble” part is taking care of the customer first, not being arrogant, working with complete integrity. The rest will follow.

Hungry and humble. ServiceNow: service, now.