24 hours With… Prashant Kumar, partner at Entropia
In this 24 hours with, Entropia partner Prashant Kumar 'finds harmony' in between an early start to get his boys off to school, a curry lunch with the CFO and dreams of Donald Trump's psychographic segmentation
6.30am: Alarm goes off. I stop the alarm, and immediately move to check my WhatsApp – that faint little bit of curiosity helps resist the urge to fall back into bed.
7.00am: Finish my protein shake; hug the boys before they head off to school – in the mornings they tend to be particularly affectionate – and hit the gym.
Five minutes of cardio, 10 minutes of stretches and then various acts of self-inflicted pain for the next 45 minutes along with some truly bizarre thoughts going through my mind.
8.30am: A bowl of oats and milk, along with two eggs, and some juice. Then leave for the office in time to reach before 10am.
In the car, check my calendar, plan the day; take in the beautiful and green city; and think about things – clients, happenings, people at work, priorities – in no particular order. Find my harmony.
10.00am: Phone on silent. Meeting with a strategist to review work and discuss what we could do better. Then HR brings three new people through, who joined that day, to say hello.
Catch up with a partner to plan a digital transformation workshop we are running for a bank. Catch up with a principal, to discuss how her role is pivoting and how can I help make it great.
Check the day’s trade news in the mailbox and the WhatsApp stream of conversations on various workplace chat groups. Take missed calls.
1.00pm: Lunch with the CFO. Chicken tikka masala with chips and veggies. Casual conversations on what’s going on in the industry in between how the numbers are shaping up.
2.00pm: Review some prototypes for a property client. Hop on a quick call with a regional client about a planned meeting with his global leader. Brainstorm with a strategist on the intricacies of how a category’s e-commerce roadmap should look.
3.30pm: Pick up coffee from the office pantry. Walk around the two offices, saying hello to people, pulling a few legs, laughing a bit, a pat here, a nudge there. It’s a happy break.
4.00pm: Daydream a bit after reading some great comments from a client about a piece of data work we did. Review the pipeline and resourcing with a partner. Take a missed call. Some hilarious banter happening on one of the office chat groups. Feel happy. Review status on our new offering, Roxy. Stress about a talent not fitting in with a client team.
The Entropia team
6.30pm: Interview with a potential candidate. Smart chap but sounds pretty cynical. I see issues with cultural fit. Got to sleep on it.
8.30pm: Reach home, boys open the door and give me a hearty hug. I am in a different world. They want me to put them to sleep. I insist on having dinner first. Dinner today is Soya nuggets curry, Dhal and chappatis with a bowl of greek yoghurt.
10.00pm: Sit on the balcony, taking in the city lights, thinking about random things. Also checking WhatsApp, Facebook and reading an interesting Economist article on Chinese competitiveness. Clear the mails for the day. Like tons of FB likeables. Love a few. Share a post about the generosity of a common man, with the note: There is so much goodness in the world.
11.00pm: Lie down in bed, pondering the hilarity of Trump as the POTUS for a millionth time. Wonder what could the psychographic segmentation of presidents and prime ministers look like. Perfect amusement to go to sleep on.
Prashant Kumar is a partner at marketing consultancy Entropia and is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
“pull a few legs, laughing a bit, a pat here, a nudge there. It’s a happy break”.
[Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines]
Replythis feature article of 24hrs with so & so…is all the same. Everybody is busy. Everybody hits the gym. Everybody has got back-to-back meetings lined up. Yawn.
It’s actually all made up with the view of making Mr Important Person look busy. Its all too cookie-cutter.
In reality, we don’t work in nice 30 min blocks. there’s massive frantic moments of activity where its a million things happen at once then complete lulls in day where wait. And wait. And wait.
At least the one by the Arcade dude was an interesting read.
ReplyOK ‘Yawn…’, why not email me at dean@mumbrella.asia and we can get you to write the feature about your day of frantic activity punctuated by lulls?
ReplyLol! That’s a good return Dean! Maybe Yawn can share the culture and environment he or she is in.
ReplyHave your say