How To Boss It Like… Clare Johnston, founder of The Up Group

There are a handful of business leaders and industry figures in Britain who are changing the world. Ian Fordham, Lindsay Pattison and George Burgess seem to get an incredible amount done, in an impossibly short space of time.

This morning we’re talking to Clare Johnston, CEO and founder of  The Up Group, who is undoubtedly a productivity guru.

After working in consulting and recruitment Johnston channeled her desire to harness her pitching skills to help businesses worldwide create their perfect teams.

Johnston founded headhunting firm The Up Group in 2007, which is today used by tech giants like Airbnb, Google, Facebook and Just Eat to find executives to fill their top positions.

A busy woman, with big ideas, The Memo asked Johnston how she gets it all done…

What time do you get up, and what part of your morning routine sets you up for the day?

My three children (aged one, three and five) usually wake me up at 5.30/6am, which is the perfect alarm clock. It means I get to spend quality time with them before turning my attention to the work day ahead.

I check my emails, and scan Twitter and respective news sites for any relevant stories before either heading into our offices in Millbank Tower or taking a breakfast meeting.

So lovely to meet the newest member of @theupgroup family today – welcome Evie, and congrats Clare! pic.twitter.com/tzfszrfVtk

— The Up Group (@TheUpGroup) August 20, 2014

I’ll aim to get into the office for 8am, pick up a cappuccino and a bite to eat (I’m not fussy, just something to keep me going!) whilst also making calls.

I feel very lucky as I work in a fascinating and hugely dynamic space.

In my role as an adviser on growth and digital transformation I love speaking to senior executives on their next career move, and helping businesses find the perfect candidate for the next stage of their journey.

What apps or methods do you use to be more productive?

As a growing, people-centric business, it is crucial for us to have tools that allow us to keep track of our talent network and work collaboratively as a team across multiple assignments.

We chose Invenias, a cloud-based platform [for executive headhunting] that works seamlessly inside Outlook, and includes a mobile app to keep us connected wherever we are.

The LinkedIn app is obviously also key tool for any recruiter, and the app helps me to keep up to date with my 8,000+ connections!  We are just implementing Slack and probably Trello also which will really aid our workflow and communication.

What smartphone do you have ?

I have a 64gb iPhone 6S, in Space Grey, with a smart battery case to make sure there’s enough charge to last me through the day.

Luckily, the case also doubles as handy protection from my children’s robot wars.

How many people, outside of family, do you meet in a day?

In addition to seeing our amazing team of 25 people every day, I usually meet around 10 people face to face each day, and speak with a further 15 on the phone or over Skype.

The Up Group’s clients range from high-growth, VC-backed start-ups to traditional corporates undergoing transformational digital change, meaning we’re fortunate enough to regularly meet with some of the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, senior executives and investors.

We pride ourselves in taking the time to understand the businesses that we work with to be able to advise them on organisational strategy and help them build outstanding leadership teams.

We also host regular events, including roundtables around relevant industry topics, through to CEO dinners in London, Stockholm and Berlin and our annual Digital Masters Awards that celebrate Europe’s top digital talent.

The Awards take place in June (you can see the 2016 finalists here) and will bring together over 800 people from the European digital ecosystem – so I’ll be meeting considerably more people on that day!

When do you work until? Are you still sending emails in the night? Or do you have a wind down routine?

I try to get home in time to put my children to bed and spend time with my (very understanding!) husband. Once or twice a week I see business contacts or friends for dinner.

I’m definitely guilty of working fairly late as I’m a night owl – our clients are operating at a thousand miles an hour, and are spread all over the world which means we have to very accessible!

The weekends are for the family and I try to switch off and relax, whilst on Sunday evenings I take time to organise for the next busy week ahead.

The Up Group will host The Digital Masters Awards, taking place on 21 June, during London Tech Week, and will celebrate the talented executives behind Europe’s top digital companies. Find out more about the awards here.

Come back next Thursday for our next #BossItLike interview, and get in touch if you know a business leader who’s also a productivity guru for us to talk to.