Chris Woodward is CEO at Manchester-based CTI Digital.
Prior to joining CTI Digital in 2023, Woodward held the position of UK Group COO at Oliver, an advertising company that creates in-house marketing teams and ecosystems for brands.
Prior to this, he was the UK Group managing director at Oliver and managing director at Dare, the digital arm within the Oliver network, and has previously worked at agencies including Wunderman, Kitcatt Nohr, Partners Andrews Aldridge, CHI & Partners, Rapier and Saatchi & Saatchi Pro.
Named as one of Campaign’s 40 over 40, he is also a non-executive director for data driven content marketing agency Pinpoint Media.
Here, he shares a recent week in his life…
Monday
Normally the alarm goes off at 6am, so I can be out of the house and in an Uber by 6.25 and then be on the 7.01am train from Watford to Manchester. But not today… Today I have a lie in until 7am and help get our three children up and ready to leave for school at 8.10am. Then a quick shower and some speedy packing before jumping in a car to Heathrow Terminal 2 for a flight to Frankfurt.
When I get through security at Heathrow, I have 90 mins to use. My EA, Rebecca, has filled that time up with a check-in call with Sam, who runs our growth team. Sam is midway through driving change in her team, a role she recently took on, and therefore there are many elements to catch up and align on. Once Sam and I have finished I then do a 20-minute check in with my boss, Simon, our chairman.
The flight itself is a short one, in fact shorter than planned as the captain proudly announces he was able to shave 20 minutes off the flying time as he flew extra fast! Nevertheless, I was able to use the hour in the air to nearly complete a deck that I need for the next day with our senior client in Germany.
On arrival in Frankfurt, I find the rest of our team. They’ve flown in from Manchester and Vienna. Then it’s a quick Uber to our hotel. After checking in, I do work in my room for an hour before meeting the team in reception and taking a walk to a local restaurant for dinner with our clients. It’s great to see them in person, and they are incredibly hospitable and charming. I’m back in my room and lights out by 11pm.
Tuesday
I normally try and jog each morning. But today the schedule doesn’t allow, so I am up at 6am so I can do 90 minutes of work on a combination of the deck for one of the meetings later today and also to stay on top of my inbox. I have a quick breakfast with the team at 8am before checking out and Ubering over to the client’s office for 9am.
We are in solidly back-to-back in meetings with our German client between 9am and 5pm. Personally, I like to be actively involved in our client relationships and deeply understand what we are doing for them and what their opportunities and pain points are so we can be the best possible partner for them. The range of meetings is varied and includes sitting down with two members of the client’s board.
At 5.30pm it’s a quick Uber back to Frankfurt Airport with the team. We debrief at the airport and align on next actions and then go our separate ways to our flights. I make a brief Duty Free pitstop (perfume for my wife and daughter, German football kits for the boys and chocolate, ostensibly for the family). I type up my notes from the trip and circulate them to the team before the plane leaves the German tarmac and then read a book for the one-hour flight.
The last Uber of the day takes me home and I am asleep by 11pm via the dishwasher, washing machine and spending time with our youngest.
Wednesday
A 6am start today and, you’ve guessed it, via an Uber I am on the 7.01am train to our Manchester office. The two-hour journey allows me to action numerous alignments and also preview the board pack and commercial performance of the agency ahead of meeting with our board later that morning.
The train arrives 20 minutes late into Manchester (which is actually unusual as I’ve found Avanti to be pretty reliable). A quick walk to the office where I jump straight into a meeting on one of our clients. Then I’m into the board meeting with our directors, including our private equity backers LDC. Straight after the board we have a strategy session with our board members looking at our financial projections for the rest of the year (we hit our rev numbers in Q1, but we are behind on new business. However, our team has a clear strategy and we can see the performance coming).
The afternoon is a series of one-to-ones with key team members, an hour session with our ELT and also an hour with our SLT. And then back on the train at 5.15pm heading for home (which does involve an Uber).
I get home for 8.30pm and spend some time with my wife and children and get busy with the washing machine, hoover and dishwasher. I pass out asleep by 10.30pm.
Thursday
Today is the best day of the week – I do the school runs on Thursday (if I win the lottery my dream is to be a full-time parent). So, a busy morning making packed lunches, getting everyone dressed and unloading the washing machine and dishwasher from the evening before. School runs are all complete by 9am and then I am straight into back-to-back calls and meetings until 3pm.
The day’s schedule goes out the window as a teacher calls at 3.15pm to say one of our children has run into difficulty at school that day and can I come in. That takes up the next 90 minutes before jumping back on emails at 6pm for an hour and then getting stuck into housework and getting the children (and the two cats and dog we are looking after for a neighbour for the week) into bed.
Friday
(Unusually) again a school run morning and then my wife and I both drive the 12 miles to drop off both our cars for services. Then we are back home for 9.30am. Friday is another back-to-back call and meeting day. The range of meetings is huge and varied – be it dealing with an HR matter, looking at the long-term plan for our offices (we are in the process of changing both our offices as they were both leased pre-Covid and don’t represent what we need going forward), reviewing our HR strategy, speaking to clients, dealing with many impromptu emails and calls – the list goes on and on.
I am also lucky enough to sit as a non-executive director for two other companies, so I attend a virtual board for one of them on Friday – it’s great to see how different businesses operate and perform and the amount of learning that it gives me to transfer between by various roles is very valuable. I am finished by 6.30pm and, normally, I ‘treat’ myself with an end-of-day Friday jog. However, today, I have a moment of weakness and enjoy three Belgian IPAs whilst listening to music and copping out on parenting by ordering McDonald’s.
