[3] Granger got the job a year after writing to Cathie Black, then president of Hearst Magazines, with a plan to revive the flailing men's periodical.
During his tenure, Esquire was a finalist for 72 National Magazine Awards, the industry's highest honors, and won 17.
Many of the journalists Granger had established relationships with during his time at GQ followed him to Esquire and he was able to quickly build a troupe of award-winning, gritty staff writers that included Tom Chiarella, Scott Raab, Mike Sager, Chris Jones, Charlie Pierce, John H. Richardson, Cal Fussman, Lisa Taddeo, and Tom Junod.
Granger's Esquire career was punctuated by heights of innovation atypical to the print media industry.
[7] In December of 2012, Esquire partnered with Netpage to launch a proprietary phone application that allowed readers to share print content via e-mail or text and across all social networks.