When she was a student at the University of Colorado, Bhavna Chhabra was invited to be a research assistant on a project — and it ended up changing her life. “I was supposed to go back to India and get married,” says Bhavna. “I wasn’t going to pursue computer science.” But the professor who asked her to participate in the project had shown her an article about Arati Prabhakar, who’d recently been appointed the head of NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). 

“This completely changed my mindset. She was originally from Delhi, India, my hometown, and that spoke to me. I saw myself in her. Twenty-five years later, here I am.” (Fun fact: That professor? His name is Mike Schwartz, and he’s also a Googler.) Bhavna, who’s an engineering director, is always happy to share her story — and here are three important lessons she learned.

The most challenging times can lead to the best things. 

In 2010, Bhavna was diagnosed with cancer. “I had no idea how I would fight this thing while continuing to show up as a mother,” she says. “I had two kids at the time, ages 6 and 8.” Bhavna tackled her frustration with the situation by giving herself the gift of trying new things. “My kids and I decided to learn to ski, climb and backpack,” she says. “We did it all!” Not only did Bhavna beat cancer, but she was promoted at the company where she worked at the time a year after her diagnosis — and her kids say it brought them closer as a family. 

Share your passion. 

In addition to mentoring women at Google who work all over the world, Bhavna also helps guide women in her community. “I use my megaphone in my public role as the overall manager of the Google Boulder office to reach out to women and girls at Colorado universities and high schools, participating in panels, speaking in small groups and classrooms and mentoring,” she says. Bhavna hopes that by sharing her non-traditional journey to Google, other women will consider pursuing STEM careers, too. 

Don’t wait until you’re “ready.” 

Something Bhavna’s learned is that there’s no such thing as the perfect time. “Just dive in when you think you are 80% ready,” she says. “And chances are, you’ll succeed.” Earlier in her career, Bhavna tried to plan things five or even 10 years in the future — but that rigid structure didn’t work. “Over time, I’ve learned to think about roles I want and be open to opportunities that arise that could help me get to that end goal.” 

^{Clockwise, from top left: Kate Johnson, 2004 Olympics; Timothy Goebel, 2002 Olympics; Aleksandra Jarmolińska, 2020-2021 Olympics; Natalie Dell O’Brien, 2012 Olympics; Petri Kokko, 1994 Olympics; Matt Brittin, 1988 Olympics}

Professional athletes are resilience experts. They’re constantly pushing their minds and bodies to new limits, all while staying motivated to reach their goals and tackle new challenges. If you don’t believe me, ask Matt Brittin. Matt is Google’s President of EMEA Business and Operations — as well as a former Olympian. Matt competed in the 1988 Olympics on the U.K. men’s rowing team, and he’s tapped into what got him to that stage in this last year. “We’re in a state of long term uncertainty and building resilience takes knowing yourself well and takes time,” he says. “It’s all about how you manage your energy and approach the unknown.”

As this year’s games come to a close, we asked Matt and several of other former Olympian Googlers to share how their experiences helped them in the workplace. 

Petri Kokko - Country Sales Director of Brands, former Olympic figure skater

“Giving your maximum doesn't help you achieve optimal results, but working optimally will help you achieve your maximum effort,” says Petri, who represented Finland in figure skating at the 1992 and 1994 Olympics. “And often people, especially motivated people, think that the more they work the more they achieve and that's not the case. We’re not trying to achieve our best tomorrow, we’re trying to develop ourselves over the years.” 

Petri falls back on his training to find a healthy work-life balance. He builds variation into his calendar, making sure some days and weeks are lighter, so he doesn’t burn out and can give his best over the long term. As an Olympic athlete, Petri learned the value of rest and recovery to avoid injuries and to deal with stress. At Google, mental health and wellbeing are highly valued, and these resources were expanded over the last year. 

Aleksandra Jarmolińska - Cloud Software Engineer, former Olympic sports shooter

In sports shooting, she explains, you can’t necessarily succeed with athleticism, you need to step back, clear your head and adapt. “This applies to lots of things — programming included,” Aleksandra says. “I cannot count the times I’ve started from scratch on some feature I worked on.”

Timothy Goebel - Marketing Mix Modeling Partner Manager, former Olympic figure skater

“It’s important to adapt instead of just giving up when things are challenging,” says Timothy, who won a bronze medal in figure skating for the U.S. in 2002.  “It’s about finding small wins, like effectively communicating with stakeholders and finding the humanity in each other. At the end of the day, we’re all teammates!” A strong, supportive community is just as important as the training itself, he says. 

Natalie Dell O’Brien - Head of Industry for U.S. Financial Services, former Olympic rower

“We see Olympians as individuals, but you might not realize there’s a village of people they put into their orbit to support them,” says Nataile, who won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the quadruple rowing event for the United States. 

Like Petri, Natalie recalls her Olympic training schedule when tackling business planning, breaking things down into “digestible training blocks” and communicating smaller milestones with her team. But Natalie says her support system was  equally important to her professional athletic career and she continues to build a similar network at Google.  

“Some of the smartest decisions and biggest leaps in performance I made in my rowing career were made possible because I leaned on others for help,” Natalie said. “ And any time I’m up against a challenge at work, I remember that even Olympic athletes have ‘phone a friend’ moments. Vulnerability can lead to better performance.”

Kate Johnson - Marketing Director of Partnerships, Content & Sports Media, former Olympic rower

Kate, an American rower who won silver in 2004, joined Google during the pandemic, and it was challenging to virtually learn the culture and team dynamics. But she relied on the resiliency and prioritizing powers she’d honed as an athlete. 

“In rowing, there’s a tipping point where the harder you try to get out of a performance slump, the worse you perform. It’s a tricky balance,” Kate says. “When I'm in a rut like this, the solution isn’t to try harder. Instead, in these moments, it's more important to go for a hike, or go for a run, clear your mind, whatever…then come back with a different mindset.” 

Kate said she feels grateful to work at a company that prioritizes the overall health of its employees, which became increasingly important when Kate was diagnosed with breast cancer in May of this year. Kate makes use of Google's flexible leave offerings to manage her health, while communicating with her stakeholders to set expectations in a time when she needs to focus on her personal health and wellbeing. As Kate puts it, “remember that our personal worth is not tied to performance.”