An explorer, writer, engineer, innovator, and public speaker, Garret is passionate about discovering new worlds of all kinds and making an impact by bringing people and ideas together to explore, serve, create, and inspire. He is currently the Project Engineer for the Next Generation Event Horizon Telescope — a virtual, Earth-sized array made up of radio telescopes all over the world that are linked together to observe supermassive black holes.

Previously, Garret spent more than a decade at NASA as a Crew Survival Engineer and Systems Engineer getting people, experiments, and critical systems back and forth between Earth and space. In 2015, he left the agency to pursue writing and systems leadership in the energy industry. As the lead of a product development organization within a startup-like innovation center, Garret worked to help solve some of the most challenging problems facing our planet’s growing energy needs.

Whether it’s keeping astronauts alive in space, developing systems to unlock the deepest mysteries of the universe, traveling to new countries, taking on new challenges, or pioneering new models of systems-thinking-driven innovation, he believes in living with purpose, challenging complacency, and connecting with the bigger picture.

Explore.

Exploring is about the curiosity and the courage to challenge what’s known, to discover new places, to step outside what’s comfortable. It could take the form of a physical destination through travel on Earth or in space or a different journey altogether—of thought, experience, perspective, or belief.

I think ‘explore’ might be my favorite word. That and ‘ineffable,’ which, as a writer, presents a challenge.

(I also love ‘gumption’ and ‘syzygy’ for different reasons.)

All you need to be an explorer is a decision to take that first step.

Photo: Olkhon Island in Lake Baikal, Russia

Serve.

A coworker in my team once introduced himself in a meeting, saying, “I work for Garret.” As his supervisor, I took this as an indication I needed to re-emphasize my servant leader philosophy: it wasn’t he who worked for me, but the other way around. As leaders, we often fail to make that distinction, assuming hierarchical organizations are designed to lift up the self-achieving “leader” at the expense of the team. I believe strong leadership is selfless, and a true leader serves the team to remove barriers, enable people to grow, and inspire others to achieve more than what they thought was possible.

Beyond service to a team, service to a mission means dedicating yourself wholeheartedly to something that’s bigger than yourself. I have served and continue to serve many of these missions.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have served my country as a civil servant, committing myself to NASA’s mission of exploration and discovery. In 2007, following a study abroad semester in Moscow and a 13,000-mile overland trip to Singapore, I dedicated my early career to seeing the Space Shuttle Program through its final phase, helping launch, execute, and land the final 15 flights of that amazing exploration system.

When I first left the aerospace industry, I wanted to broaden my impact to serve another mission: transforming the world’s energy systems through technology and innovation, ultimately to provide more and cleaner solutions for the planet’s growing energy needs. If we’re going to continue to grow as a civilization, both on Earth and in space, we need clean, reliable energy.

Recently, I followed my passion back to space exploration, joining a team that produced the first ever image of a black hole in April 2019. Black holes are the most mysterious and alluring objects in the universe — and unlocking what they have to tell us may just answer some of the most fundamental questions about our nature, reality, and future.

Some of my other missions include helping people find their own, unique purpose, pushing the boundaries of innovation through the study and creation of complex systems, and learning how to sing and play “Let Her Cry” on the guitar well enough that my sons don’t say, “Make Him Stop.”

Photo: Diving in Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory with Astronaut Rex Walheim

Create.

We learn to create as kids. We draw, we glue shapes, we sprinkle some glitter, we add some popsicle sticks and WALA! A snowman to hang on the fridge. The act of creation is part of what’s unique about being human.

It’s also a critical part of the world of technology and innovation. We don’t get humans on the moon or the iPhone 27 without someone or some team having an idea and then creating it. But creation alone isn’t enough. Innovation is about creating something new that brings value. A lot of people confuse “being innovative” with “being creative”. We can’t be innovative without being creative, but we can be creative without being innovative. Innovation requires execution, a strong link to a real problem or opportunity, and, ultimately, the full delivery of something new that provides value to someone.

I was recently asked by a businesswoman following a presentation I gave on innovation models to a group of Brazilian startup leaders, what was the one word that was most important to innovation?

My answer: Courage.

It takes courage to create. Whether we’re talking about a snowman picture or a lunar lander, it all starts with courage to put something out there. You’ll have critics. You’ll probably be wrong more often than you’re right (and if you’re doing it right, you’ll be wrong a lot so that you can get it right).

Photo: My groom’s cake, a surprise from my wife on our wedding day. CDR: The Boss, PLT: Da Coach.

Credit: PhotographyRI

Inspire.

Inspiration is humility: amazing people have come before you and have done extraordinary things.

I’m inspired by so many people who have had the courage to step out of comfort zones and stand up for something they believe in. I’m also inspired by the wonder of the universe, the vast unknowns waiting for humanity to discover, the resiliency of the human spirit, the ability of people to come together to overcome challenges and build highly complex, impossible machines, and the perfection achieved in the Double Cheeseburger at Monk’s Bar and Grill in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.

As a public speaker, I often talk to students about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and encourage them to pursue interests in technical fields, driven by curiosity and wonder. The key isn’t being good at math, I’ll tell them, but deciding to be open to new ideas and letting those ideas light a spark of inspiration that can grow into a larger flame, if we let it. The message isn’t so different when I talk to technology leaders about how to tackle new problems in their organizations. Open mind, let awe and wonder in, willingness to follow the curiosity that emerges.

Below are some images of things that inspire me.

Photo: Garret speaking at Paul Cuffee charter school in Providence, RI