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A week in the life... Rory Mason

Rory Mason is the CEO of Leeds-based digital marketing agency 21 Degrees Digital. Here the dad of four, self-confessed AI obsessive and neurodiversity advocate takes us through a typically busy working week.

Monday: What gets you motivated for the start of the working week? 

I do a lot of preparation on a Sunday night and over the weekend – just making sure I’m all ready for the week ahead.

I’ve got four kids and I look after them every other weekend so my fortnights go in frantic 12-day cycles! But I like to come in as early as I can on a Monday – say 8am – and I don’t have anything booked until 10am. I have a couple of hours to plan, sink my teeth into the priorities and make sure I’m ready to go.

Mondays are usually a planning day for everyone at 21 Degrees Digital: we’ve got sales meetings, account management meetings and time to catch up on KPIs.

If everything’s on track come close of play Monday, we’re on course to have a good week.

But it’s a big if – agency life can be chaotic with best laid plans often going out of the window. And you know what? I don’t mind that!

Tuesday: The diary is full of meetings and commitments – how do you balance such responsibilities with productivity?

Different weeks bring up different things.

For instance, the first week of the month is reporting week so that Tuesday will be all about producing those reports at the same time as delivering our usual service.

To remain productive you often need to make decisions on the hoof and that’s what we’re good at.

We expect the unexpected.

We recognise no two days, or weeks, are the same and it may be that we need to jump in and rescue an account or capitalise on an opportunity for a client.

It’s about recognising where the priorities lie.

The beginning of the week is also when I like to burn the midnight oil creating AI systems!

When it gets to 9pm on a Monday or Tuesday I’ll whip out the laptop and spend three or four hours building agents, learning new skills and testing the latest AI tools.

Wednesday: Halfway there – how do you stay focused and re-energise yourself for the days to come? 

Usually I’ve got a real buzz come the middle of the week.

We have a big executive board meeting every Wednesday and it’s a time when me and my fellow directors, Zac and Kyle, alongside the other board members, put the world to rights!

We iron out any potential problems, identify opportunities and celebrate success.

By Wednesday I have a good idea of how the rest of my week’s going to work out and it’s invariably busy.

I have ADHD so I tend to get really bored when I when I realise that I’m putting myself into some sort of routine.

I love it when no two weeks are the same – agency life just works perfectly for me!

What does keep me focused – and it’s the thing I love most of all about Wednesdays – is meeting every single member of staff for a weekly one-to-one.

I want to know what makes our people tick, if they’re having any problems and how we can help.

I don’t ever want any of my colleagues to feel like a number on a spreadsheet.

Thursday: The weekend draws closer – how do you remain on top of your to-do list as the end of the week gets nearer?

Thursday’s a really good day for getting loads of different stuff done.

It could be a day for pitches, a day for planning or a day for improving a specific aspect of the company.

My business partner leads on sales, but I try to book in at least one pitch a week and that’s on a Thursday.

There’s nothing better than following up on a Friday, getting the deal done and going into the weekend on a high.

Thursday is generally the ‘get shit done’ day!

Friday: The last day – how do you approach Fridays, and how do you unwind over the weekend?

We have a meeting at 3pm every Friday when everyone’s encouraged to celebrate their wins.

When that meeting’s over I leave and the rest of the team play some sort of game or do some kind of team building activity to finish the week off.

There was a team building exercise where we gave them two hours to do an Apprentice-style challenge, developing an energy drink.

They had to everything using AI and the two pitches they came up with were fantastic.

I run two other companies – and sit on the board of Social Enterprise Yorkshire and Humber (SEYH) – so work often rolls over into the weekend.

I’d like to say that I’m organised enough to use any free time for jobs around the house but the truth is I’ll probably just go out and have a drink with friends.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Rushworth .