INSIDER MAGAZINE: A day in the life of WesTrac chief executive Jarvas Croome

My alarm is usually set for 6.30am most days. I have a very light breakfast, normally a piece of fruit. Fortunately for me, my wife does the 5.30am drop-off for my daughter’s swimming activity. I usually do the 7am drop-off for my son’s cross-country, drama and music activities. I get a coffee on the way to work to help me survive the 45-minute drive. The drive to work also gives me a chance to catch up on a few phone calls, especially with people on the east coast who have already started their day. I’m in the office around 7.30am or 8am. The first half an hour or so is spent working out what the day has in store and dealing with any emails that came through overnight. What happens next changes daily — I could be out with customers, in board and Caterpillar meetings, or spending time with my leadership team. I quite like the “go, go, go” pace. I’m the type of person that likes to get into it immediately. I always block out time to keep on top of things, like emails or reading documents. Most days, I try and keep noon to 1pm free for lunch. I usually shoot down to the cafe on-site or down the road to get a sandwich. It gets me out and gives me a mental break. If I brought my lunch, I’d probably sit at my desk the whole day. I often work a bit later on Fridays so I don’t have to send emails to my team over the weekend. Otherwise, they feel like they have to work the whole weekend. My diary is all digital and my executive assistant owns the calendar. My work and personal schedules are in one place and that’s the only way to do it. You can’t keep track of five calendars. From 4pm onwards, it’s about playing catch-ups — I go through board reports that need to be written and edited, return phone calls or finalise things that came up during the day that haven’t been addressed. I try get out of the office just before 6pm and home by 6.30pm for dinner. I like to listen to Foo Fighters or Bruce Springsteen in the car. As soon as I get home, I go say “hi” to everyone. I try not to walk through the door on the phone and I take the opportunity on the drive home to switch from “boss” to “dad” mode. Like most households these days, there’s only a couple of days a week when we get to do dinner together. With sports and activities, dinner is often in two phases. When it’s my turn to cook, my go-to dish is spaghetti bolognese. I like to play Xbox if I get a chance after dinner. Otherwise I might have a couple of emails to do or a late teleconference with the US. I’m not a massive TV watcher. The kids tend to control what we’re watching. We like to slow our house down by about 9pm and I’m usually in bed by 10.30pm.

INSIDER MAGAZINE: A day in the life of WesTrac chief executive Jarvas Croome

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