7.30 AM

I gingerly roll out of bed to the sound of my alarm and walk straight into the shower. My morning routine has been made far easier by preparing all my work items the night before, allowing me time to enjoy my Weet-Bix before driving to work. 

8.15 AM

Once at work, I must decide where I want to sit for the day. At GSK, we practice a hotdesking system, meaning that people sit at different desks each day to improve collaboration between colleagues. Being one of the earlier people in the office, I’m usually able to find a seat near the window. 

Once I find my desk, I grab my lunch and head to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. In the kitchen, I bump into a fellow colleague where we discuss the overnight cricket scores and plans for the weekend. 

8.30 AM

After being adequately caffeinated, I open my laptop to check the daily sales numbers and start going through my emails. If anything needs action, then I’ll add it to my to-do-list (which was prepared last night) and then re-prioritise which items need to be addressed first based on their importance. 

9.30 AM

I walk into a meeting room and plug my laptop into the projector to facilitate our Brand Team meeting. Operating under a Matrix Structure, GSK creates cross-functional teams for the completion of projects, meaning that stakeholders across various functions (such as finance, communications and medical) all play critical roles in the success of my brand. In these meetings, we discuss what we have been working on, the weeks wins, any risks that need to be flagged and align on where we should be focusing our efforts for the week. 

10.30 AM 

After our meeting, I grab a snack and have an opportunity to continue working on the key projects on my to-do-list. I walk over to a colleague to ask for their guidance on a particular issue and more often than not they are able to offer a solution to my problem. 

12.00 PM

I go back to the kitchen, grab my lunch from the fridge and heat it up in one of the many available microwaves. One of the great things about GSK is the number of friendly staff available to sit and talk to at lunch. After having a nice chat, I then make eye contact with a friend across the room who is pointing at the table tennis table. After a hard fought 3 set match and a satisfying win, I then return to my desk feeling re-energised and ready to continue working. 

1.30 PM

I grab my laptop and walk into a meeting room to look at my brand's current performance. This meeting is undertaken with the Finance team where we look at various metrics such as market share shift, sales, and market research. We also look at internal measures to ensure that the sales team is tracking well in the lead measures which should then result in positive sales performance. To close the meeting, we insert our commentary into a PowerPoint Presentation and send it to the Executive Team, to whom we will share our performance with them at a later date.

2.30 PM

After returning to my desk with another coffee, I receive a Skype message on my laptop from a colleague in India asking if I am available for a quick chat. I do a lot of work with our Indian team who help support us in various marketing channels. We discuss a job which I recently briefed them on. After the call, I feel confident that they are clear on what to deliver. 

4.00 PM

Every week at 4:00, we have a WebEx meeting scheduled with our National Sales Team. The objective of these calls is to update the sales team on performance, any upcoming head office activities and for the sales team to share what’s happening with their customers. This is a really great way to see what’s working with our customers, what could be improved and to collect rich insights about current market conditions. I take the minutes of the meeting and circulate it with everyone via email once the meeting finishes.

5.15 PM 

I quickly go back into the kitchen and eat some tuna and rice before going to cricket training. At GSK, there are changeroom and showering facilities. I get changed and jump back into the car to head to training. 

8.00 PM

Once cricket training is finished, I get home and once again start thinking with my stomach. I have some leftovers from last night in the fridge, heat them up and eat dinner with my housemate. 

8.30 PM

Before I go to sleep, I take my work notebook out of my bag and do a quick summary of the day. Was I able to complete all of the items on my to-do-list? How did I perform today? What could I improve? After this, I start writing my to-do-list for tomorrow to help my brain turn off from work.

9.00 PM

I start my personal laptop and look at what I could potentially watch on Netflix. By the time I make a choice on what I want to watch, it's nearly bedtime! I then turn my light off to get ready for sleep, being fully aware that I’ll probably browse Facebook for the next hour.