There is never a dull moment for our Chief Operating Officer, Stewart Williams. If he’s not in the office, he is in back-to-back with meetings in the City or working closely with VIPR’s CEO on the day-to-day operations of the business. While doing all this he is very much active in VIPR’s CSR initiatives and getting involved at almost any opportunity. Most recently he decided to grow a moustache for Movember raising plenty of cash for the men’s health charity. In this blog, we take a look at what Stewart gets up to on a typical day at VIPR.
6.00am
I wake up by the sound of my alarm – the same time each morning (even weekends these days!). The first thing I do after donning appropriate attire is monitor the water in our back garden. We’ve recently had flooding so it has become a daily chore to check the situation. Luckily today it seems to be under control.
6.15am
Wide awake from the cold air, I am back in the warmth, open up my laptop and go through emails for a good hour. I have some urgent emails from our Chairman to deal with as a priority. My cat appears and interrupts me for her daily brush – I let her wait patiently so I can finish my work.
7.15am
Next, I get planning for the day and go through my schedule. I do this while consuming a hearty bowl of Weetabix (only 2 – I am only human after all!).
8.30am
I’m at the train station and get on the next train to Cannon Street. It’s packed as usual, so I find myself perched in the corner by the doors. Luckily it is just a 20-minute journey, but I amuse myself none-the-less by plugging in my earphones and listen to Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show. I restrain myself from moving along to the music in public.
8:50am
Off the train I head to meet Paul, our CEO, at the Double Tree Hilton Hotel (our mobile office!) near the Tower of London.
09.15am
It doesn’t take long to get there, which is good as I’m always carrying a heavy rucksack around with me with my mobile office equipment. I sit down with Paul who already has his laptop open and a coffee in hand to discuss our meetings for the day.
10.15am
We arrive at our first meeting at our client’s office in The Gherkin to run through a demo. They have just been acquired by another one of our accounts, so we sit down to go through logistics for consolidating the two. As both were using our products, it is a pretty straightforward process. After our client has been reassured of this, we head out for lunch.
12.00
Our lunch today is a working lunch with a consultant who is dealing with a big proposal for us. We meet him at a local curry house. I have a curry at least twice a week, so I’m pretty clued up on the dishes. I choose Chicken Dansak which always goes down a treat.
1.30pm
Following a successful lunch meeting, Paul and I head to another client’s office opposite the Lloyd’s of London building. This meeting is with a managing agent for an implementation update on our workflow product – Intarga. We are building a new set of bespoke workflows for them, so we go through progress so far to make sure they are happy with the results, as well as taking on board further changes we will need to take into consideration.
3.00pm
Once the meeting is over we pop into a nearby coffee shop. Tomorrow we have a big finance and budget meeting for the next year, so we talk though this to ensure we are happily prepared.
5.00pm
I’m back on the busy train heading for home.
5.40pm
Once through the door, I get back to work and go through the build-up of emails I’ve not had a chance to look at. One email is from our marketing team, who have a great idea for a white paper which we need to plan for. I respond to request a meeting to discuss the theme.
7.30pm
I’m in the kitchen rustling up dinner. I love to cook and consider myself to be the head chef of the household. On tonight’s menu is an aubergine and mozzarella rigatoni.
9.15pm
Time to put my feet up and relax in front of the TV. My wife and I have a backlog of programmes we are working our way through and tonight is Killing Eve. Our cat joins us on the sofa and nestles herself in-between us.
10.30pm
I hit the sack hoping to get a good night’s sleep before another day of meetings.
