How professionals work. Mikhail Sokolov, CEO of OneTwoTrip
The column “How Professionals Work” continues to acquaint readers of Megamind with the working habits of various specialists in the IT market. Mikhail Sokolov is the CEO of OneTwoTrip Travel Angecy LLP, or simply OneTwoTrip .
Mikhail joined the company in August 2013 as a managing director, but very soon, in September 2014, he began to act as an operational director responsible for business processes and development.
Actually, before changing the vector in a tourist startup, Mikhail worked for 7 years in investment banks in Moscow and London, including Deutsche Bank and Barclays, having passed his career from analyst to director, managed to participate in more than 20 successful transactions, from IPO to M&A .
Michael did not give up investment and after completing a banking career, he is a fairly active angelic investor (early stages), providing financial and expert support to young companies. Michael focuses on finding projects for investments in retail, e-commerce and, directly, information technology (in which the last word is more important than the first).
Mikhail is a graduate of the MEO GUU named after Ordzhonikidze (with honors) and New York Columbia Business School. In his free time, Mikhail travels and goes in for sports: tennis, swimming and windsurfing.
Current location:
Moscow
Current employment:
CEO of OneTwoTrip
One word that best describes how you work:
Intensively
How many hours a day do you work?
On weekdays 14-18 hours. Colleagues and partners are in different time zones, therefore, after the morning analysis of mail and messages and the main part of the working day in the office from 10:00 to 22:00, as a rule, an “extension” begins, but from home. On Saturday, I try not to work and do digital detox. I can’t say that I succeeded greatly in this, but I certainly work less on the weekend. Often we meet with colleagues on Sunday at the office for half a day - to work on strategic tasks in a calm and quiet environment.
Current mobile device:
There are two of them: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Current computer:
Macbook Pro 13 "
Without which applications, programs, utilities can you live?
OneTwoTrip - it is very convenient to have all hotel reservations and tickets in dates in one place, rather than looking for them in different places. I travel a lot, so for me it is relevant.
Messengers, including Telegram, mail, of course, Slack, taxi services, geo services and maps, various media and business intelligence applications. Without everything else I’ll live somehow.
What kind of life hack helps you save time?
Turn off notifications and pushes from all devices or at least remove the sound. Social network applications away on 2/3 of the screen.
Do not confirm meetings and calls until you understand their meaning - there is no clear agenda or you have a suspicion that people have not prepared or will not say anything new. Replace appointments with a 5-minute telephone conversation to make sure that we are talking about something new and there will be no repetition.
And planning is very important: goals for a month, goals for a week, goals for a day.
Which to-do manager do you use?
Google Calendar and your personal notes.
What do you listen to when you work?
I don’t work to music and there’s no pole. Another specialization.
What are you reading now?
“How to fly a Horse” - Kevin Ashton
Which book of the last read was the most memorable?
“Thinking, Fast and Slow” Daniel Kahneman (“Think slowly ... Decide fast”, Daniel Kahneman)
Do you use electronic readers or prefer paper books?
I prefer paper ones, even on trips I find a place for them.
How much time do you sleep?
5-8 hours, on weekends there are 9 and 11. On weekdays, sometimes I sleep in the office during the day for 30 minutes, or even an hour if the period is super-intense.
Are you an owl or an early bird?
I can’t attribute myself to an explicit type.
How do you have breakfast?
Differently. I rarely drink coffee in principle, and I don’t practice it at all in the afternoon or in the evening.
I love water, tea, kefir, cheesecakes, cereals, granola, berries.
But actually, as you have to, sometimes it's just something on the go.
How do you spend time on the way to / from work?
Music, sometimes calls. It happens that I go in silence to think something over, but only in fine weather. In the dark and mud, as we have in winter, it is better not to think about anything.
What advice have you ever been given you can pass on to others?
If someone pissed you off, strained or pissed off, do not answer immediately, but write your answer and re-read it in an hour or two, and only then send it. And we must remember that we greatly exaggerate the significance of events occurring at work, as a rule, after a short time, many of these significant events are no longer considered by anyone.