This as-told-to essay is based on an interview with Bruno Bianchini, the 40-year-old former Head of Global Partnerships for the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey for Google, who is based in the Netherlands. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Growing up in the Italian countryside, sustainability was simply part of everyday life. At 18, I left my small village near Milan to study at Bocconi University in Milan.
In 2005, I started my degree in accounting, corporate finance, and law. Then I did a master’s in business administration. When I was about to graduate, a friend at the university said a group of professors had opened a boutique consulting firm. I interviewed for the role and landed it.
That path led me first to consulting and then to Google, where I spent more than 13 years before leaving to pursue work in sustainability.
I started work as a business analyst at the consulting firm in January 2011
At 25, I was working on three projects — a hotel, a food company, and a company that made pressure gauges. My experience was very much about seeing problems through an analytical lens.
In 2012, I was invited to a friend’s birthday dinner, where I was seated opposite a guy working at Google. Although Google was already a huge company, I had little sense of its scale. I thought of it mainly as a search engine.
We stayed in touch, and they eventually asked if I’d be interested in an interview
I remember wearing a jacket and tie, and I thought, I can’t show up at Google like this; they’re never going to hire me. I roughed up my hair, removed my jacket and my tie, and went to the interview.
I had three interviews at Google on the same day. One interviewer asked me about role-related knowledge, the next about more general knowledge, and the third was Googleyness — whether I was a culture fit. I remember thinking in the interview that I wanted to work with these people.
About a week later, I had a fourth interview. The process moved quickly because it was for a temp job. In July 2012, I joined Google.
The Google office in Milan was colorful and playful
I remember there was a game area. In consulting, I’d start work at 8:30 a.m. and leave at 10:30 p.m. every day. At Google, people were coming and going whenever they wanted. The culture was a huge change for me. It was fantastic.
A year later, I applied for a full-time role working with DoubleClick for Publishers, now part of Google Ad Manager. I did lots of prep for the interview, and I got the job.
In 2016, my boss asked me to give a presentation at the Google office in Dubai
After the presentation, a guy who became my new boss asked if I’d consider moving to Dubai because they were expanding the team. Two months later, they opened the role; I applied, got the job, and moved to Dubai.
That same year, I got to see the San Francisco campus for the first time. When I saw the scale of the buildings, the number of meeting rooms, micro kitchens, and the bicycles employees rode around campus, I was mesmerized. Working for one of the most innovative companies on the planet, I felt like I was always at the forefront of tech innovation. I definitely got a kick out of that.
By 2024, I had become the Head of Global Partnerships for the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey at Google
As I was managing a large region, there was a lot of travel.
On office days, I generally worked 9-to-5, depending on projects and deadlines. I might have calls with people in the US, but travel was more hectic. From the moment I arrived, I was having breakfast with colleagues, attending an event, or meeting with clients.
Throughout my time at Google, my value system changed
I’d been thinking about sustainability for some time. When I was in Milan, I met someone from LA who told me they were vegan. They told me about the damage the dairy and meat industries are causing to the planet. I started reading more, and I went down the rabbit hole. I remember feeling that I wanted to be part of the movement for the solution.
While still at Google, I looked into which universities offered degrees in sustainability and came across a program at Harvard.
In December 2025, I resigned from Google
I pursued my master’s degree in sustainable studies at Harvard online while working at Google. The last part of my studies involved a thesis. I took a sabbatical from Google and traveled to Cambodia to work on an ambitious project that plans to reforest 100,000 hectares of flooded forest. I worked on the feasibility study.
Google was kind enough to say, “Go pursue your dreams, and if something doesn’t work, you’re welcome to come back.” Eventually, I decided it was time. After four months in Cambodia, I felt the umbilical cord was stretched enough. When I returned from my sabbatical, I handed in my notice.
I feel now that I have a big purpose in my heart, confidence in the abilities Harvard gave me, and, at the same time, I feel financially secure. I could leave a high-paying role where I was making more than $300,000 in annual total compensation for the unknown.
I’m now working as an independent consultant for this project in Cambodia.
Leaving Google was not an easy choice
Google nurtured me in so many ways, but as I was learning more about sustainability, my value system was changing. I was encouraging people to sell more stuff, and on my dark days, I remember thinking that staying at home on the couch was better for the environment.
I want to capitalize on my background in business and finance. I’m currently working on publishing a research paper about the project in Cambodia. I’m doing this long-distance while we’re securing funds for the pilot. This month, I moved to the Netherlands, as it is one of the best places for green finance.
