A Day In The LifE... …we all learn something Saj Jetha Managing Director, The Smarty Train
focuses my mind and makes me feel less guilty about eating the treats that are usually dotted around The Smarty Train offices. I like to read in the mornings too, and to me there’s no such thing as reading too many books at once. However, I’m yet to master reading on the treadmill. While at Harvard, it struck me how many people manage to read books while running, but when I tried it I always suffered mild motion sickness!
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After the gym, I establish my three priority areas for the day, and I memorise these to ensure I can remember them when the floodgates of the day open.
My day largely consists of working across our practices to ensure we are helping our clients unlock talent, and that we are meeting our organisational strategy. But, true to the cliché, there’s no such thing as a ‘normal’ day for me. Some of the things I’ve been doing this week, together with the team, are:
(1) Designing a graduate gamification event that uses our methods for high impact training in the areas of communication, presenting, impact, networking and
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y day generally kicks off at the gym, where a morning workout
new - about absolutely anything. This week we learned how to become master balloon artists.
influencing. The constraints of the training venue have definitely led us to think differently about delivery.
(2) Kicking off new projects, including an early talent strategy review for a global engineering firm; creating an Employer Value Proposition (EVP) for a media client; considering a new development model and induction for a bank; and Return On Investment modelling for a financial services client. I love to be involved in the initiations of projects to make sure that the architecture and outcomes are spot on.
(3) Talking to a client who’s completely new to the world of early talent and what ‘basics’ they need to have in place for the first year.
(4) Delivering a strategy session for a banking client, to help them think about their 2015/16 strategy with reduced budgets.
(5) Onboarding and orientating a new director who has recently joined our Leadership Team.
(6) Co-authoring an article on how our industry can work better with data (check it out on page 12). As an Economist by training, I do love a bit of data!
I’ve recently introduced slots of ‘processing time’ into my day. These are allotted slots (usually two hours or so) where I can simply process things in quick succession. These daily ‘sprints’ allow me to stay agile, and to do all my answering, considering, reviewing, responding, decision- making and signing-off in a short space of time.
Viewing the world from my desk all day would never allow for my ideas to stay fresh, so I believe it’s important to put myself in new and often unusual places; be it around our office in Borough Market or further afield.
One of the highlights of my week is our Smarty Knowledge Share. These are simple 45 minute sessions, which can be run by any team member (interns included), where we all learn something new - about absolutely anything. This week we learned how to become master balloon artists. There’s always a learning edge to our Knowledge Shares, and this session showed us that
poor preparation and early stage mistakes can have a huge impact on intended outcomes. In my case, my balloon dog looked more like a balloon hedgehog because I didn’t stretch the balloon out enough!
My day tends to end with ‘proper food’ (I normally only have soup for lunch) and a really good conversation. I never miss a chance to enjoy sharing ideas with clients, bright business minds, social entrepreneurs, policy specialists, digital leaders, academics and of course, friends. These fascinating chats usually happen over falafel and baklava (that’s ‘proper food’ to me) in the wonderful Turkish restaurant nearby. Before I know it, we’ve been talking about early talent for hours and it’s time to head home.
I wrap up my day with some great music. Currently Mumford & Sons and London Grammar are keeping me company while I make sure I’ve answered every email, and reflect on the day. Then it’s time for some well-earned rest and to think about what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully, some more of today. n
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