When Lieutenant Commander Adam Gunter joined the Navy, it wasn’t part of a grand plan to get his foot in the door at The Home Depot.
As a fellow in the Training With Industry (TWI) program, Adam is doing just that. TWI places military officers in Fortune 500 companies to learn best practices in the industry. Adam is spending one year working in Supply Chain at The Home Depot.
The best part?
“Virtually all of my projects relate directly back to the Navy,” Adam explains. “Beyond the technical supply chain, the softer skills I'm learning are directly relatable to the Navy and the Supply Corps.”
Beyond the business-related connections in the two industries, Adam relates his success in the program to the values-based principals that both the Navy and The Home Depot share.
“When I think about the key values I learned in the Navy – mainly honor, courage and commitment – those mean a lot to me, and I think those have allowed me to have the success in The Home Depot that I've had during my tour here,” Adam says. “Home Depot largely prizes its values as well. [The] Values Wheel includes things like taking care of the community, taking care of the customer, doing the right thing. Those tie directly back to what I've learned in the Navy.”
Adam also highly values the opportunity to share his Navy experiences with his peers at Home Depot – a company that has shown its commitment to the armed services time and time again.
“Not a day goes by that I don't get a chance to tell somebody my story about being in the Navy and what the Navy has done for me,” he reflects. “It's helping to bridge that gap between the civilians and the military. That's something that I find is pretty important.”
