A day in the life of PropertyGuru’s chief business officer

Lewis Ng, chief business officer at PropertyGuru Group / Photo credit: PropertyGuru

Day in the Life is a series where industry personalities, leaders, and luminaries recount what they do on a typical day. Read more from the series here.

I’m Lewis Ng, the chief business officer at PropertyGuru Group, and I manage the company’s sales and business growth function. I work with a team of over 200 gurus across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.

When leading a large and diverse organization, success often boils down to people: how you attract great talent, keep them motivated, set direction, and then get out of the way and empower them to do a much better job than you otherwise would have done.

So, much of my day is about people.

Morning: Getting into the right frame of mind

In the morning, I usually tune into my favorite radio station as I drive to work to catch up on some world news, tunes, and whatever the flavor of the day is.

Before stepping into the office, I usually take a walk to the coffee shop to get my fix for the morning. I’ll also look through the day’s calendar and start visualizing what I want to achieve.

This ensures I have a mini goal and that I can accomplish what I have in store for the exciting day ahead.

9:30 am to 12 pm: Aligning with teams

This time is generally about meeting groups of people in my organization and across functions to get up to speed, stay connected, make any necessary decisions, and give inputs and direction. In other words, this is when I align with teams—whether it be my direct reports across the region or with the executive team.

Once a week, I will also have a “breakfast huddle” with my team just to get together in a more casual setting and to talk about anything. I get a lot out of these meetings as I learn about where good restaurants are, the best insurance plans, recommendations for anniversary presents, and anything else you can think of.

As busy as everyone is, I find it so important just to get the team together for some down time, have a laugh, and know how everyone spends the weekend.

12 pm to 1 pm: Catching up on emails

Lunch time for most, email time for me!

Personally, lunch time is the best time to catch up on emails, as I can arm myself with coffee and, occasionally, a salad that magically appears on my desk (I have a super assistant).

This is also a time for me to reflect on the people in and across my function. I think of those who have made a positive impact on me or the business so I can appreciate them.

1 pm to 4 pm: Meetings

4 pm to 6:30 pm: Anything goes

After hours