Welcome to The 6 a.m. CFO, where finance chiefs share how they jump-start their days and engage with the tasks that are in front of them.
Today, ServiceRocket’s Joy Mbanugo shares how she works with her geographically dispersed accounting team, her birthday party planning talents and working in a chat-first culture.
Be sure to check out the entire 6 a.m. CFO series, and if you’d like to be featured in a future post, please email us here.
![ServiceRocket’s Joy Mbanugo company box pic](/imgproxy/whK2ZU-F0Zti65-q1n56Tih9DxzYr7fjSzUErf4sXsE/g:ce/rs:fill:936:1248:0/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL2pveV90YWJsZS5qcGc.webp)
ServiceRocket
- Cloud-based IT service provider. For more than twenty years, ServiceRocket has been an Atlassian partner for thousands of businesses around the world.
- Founded: 2001
- Size: 300+ employees
MORNING ROUTINE
Weekday wake-up time: I have two boys — 2 years old and 5 months old — is there such a thing as wake-up time? Not really, the baby wakes up between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. hungry and that officially starts my day.
However, I have always been an early riser since high school. I think I have been waking up at 6 a.m. my entire life.
Morning beverage choice: Caramel macchiato with extra caramel and candy from Starbucks. I order it one to three times per week. Otherwise, Peet's Dark Blend. But ask my husband, I really prefer my Starbies in the morning. Venti!
Non-work-related morning activities? The nanny, my husband and I divide and conquer in the morning. She gets the two-year-old ready for daycare and, depending on the morning, I'll start working with the baby. If I don't have any early calls, I walk my son to school to get my steps in. If I have calls, my husband takes the two-year-old and my nanny takes the baby.
Workday start time: I likely start responding to Jira tickets and pings in the middle of the night between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. If I am up feeding the baby, I check in with my team in Asia–Pacific, especially my group controller who sits in the Sydney office. My entire accounting team is spread between Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and The Philippines.
I officially start working at 7 a.m. because my CEO is likely back from the gym and has already started pinging on his priorities for the day.
How I usually spend the first hour of my day: Check email for any fires, the news and LinkedIn. Rechecking my schedule — I am paranoid about missing meetings and I hate being late.
Time I send out my first email: We are a chat-first culture and I rarely send emails. If I do it is probably between 6:30 a.m. and 7 a.m.
Best advice for writing an effective email: The shorter and to the point the better. If it's longer than half a screen on my iPhone that's a memo, a presentation or a conversation.
First dashboard I review: Pipeline and revenue dashboards. Then I dig into the rest of the KPIs my team tracks.
How I structure my morning meetings: I don't start meetings until 9 a.m. Even though I'm up early, I allow for a lot of slack in the morning with the kids. I also get through a lot of administrative work. I have a decent-sized team and a lot of admin from time to time so I try to give myself at least an hour to sort through admin mainly between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Mid-morning snack of choice: Madelines. I really would love to say something healthier — sometimes boiled eggs.
![Petite Madeleines de Commercy](https://d12v9rtnomnebu.cloudfront.net/diveimages/Madeleines_pic.jpg)
What was a recent morning that didn’t go as planned, and how did you adjust? My office is about one to two hours away from my house depending on traffic. One week I needed to work out of the office, and one day my commute was a nightmare. An Uber ride can be pretty pricey so I took public transportation. Let's just say I will not be doing that again. It took me almost two hours to get to the office experimenting with a different route.
INSPIRATION AND LEADERSHIP
Favorite quote or mantra: “Be so good they can't ignore you.” It's a book and a quote.
Favorite leadership lesson: I read a book entitled "Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win," co-authored by Leif Babin and Jocko Willinick. The main premise is that leadership is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails.
The concept of "Extreme Ownership" revolves around the idea that leaders must fully own every aspect of their teams, including all decisions and their outcomes — both positive and negative. I have worked with teams where the leader embodied this and I have worked on other teams where the leader did not. It makes a huge difference in a team's success.
Something important to know about me that you wouldn’t know from my business bio: I could be a professional event planner. I plan the best birthday parties!
Favorite number: Three, which is a holy number. There's a Bible verse: a cord of three strands is not easily broken.
![Joy Mbanugo and husband](/imgproxy/Lz8EbpHCUAiA-zvoStuwhgVz2KZlrXjWbSZZf-Azpt4/g:ce/rs:fill:930:715:0/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL0pveV9hbmQuX2h1c2JhbmQuanBn.webp)
Most noteworthy items in my workspace: A picture with my husband at the top of Banff mountain. He's a big guy and agreed to go into this tiny Gondola to eat at a restaurant with amazing views of Banff. We ended up having a blast although the ride up was exhilarating! I look at it and just laugh because getting on the gondola was no small feat.
Do you have a pet, and are they with you right now? No pets. Although, I want a German Shepherd and maybe we will get one when the boys are older.
Favorite app on my phone that is not related to business: Pinterest — I can go there and pin forever!
The year, make, and model of your first car: A Buick — I hated that car. It was old, clunky and safe. BORING!
My dad bought it for me and, to this day, it's my least favorite car, although I'm grateful he bought it for me.
Most influential/famous person you’ve ever met: General Colin Powell.
![Joy Mbanugo and her parents](/imgproxy/EpfNqJozk0_Sn52827I6NbO9k8czYUgVYycaXuES3e8/g:ce/rs:fill:936:702:0/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL0pveV9hbmRfcGFyZW50cy5qcGc.webp)
Most inspirational person/people in your life: My parents, for a few reasons.
- They both are battling different forms of cancer at different stages and yet they keep chugging along and focus a lot of their time on helping others and the community.
- I also admire them because of their work ethic. They are boomers and the one thing boomers are good at is being consistent at their jobs. I watched my parents work diligently at jobs for 20 to 30 years.
- I also learned a lot about organization and leadership development from them. My mom went back to college when I was around 12 and I remember looking at her handwritten outlines of class notes. I still remember the yellow legal paper and her outline structure. And my dad is a pastor of a church and very involved in the community. From him (and really both parents) I incorporate a passion for people in my leadership style. My parents are the best.