Adam Tucker is the CEO at Dragonfly Enviro Capital, an entrepreneurial investment company, investing in new, early stage and established business ventures that are inspired by holistic human wellbeing and a sustainable planet.
Let’s start with your background! Can you share with us your career journey and what you’re currently up to?
Currently I am the CEO of Dragonfly Enviro Capital. I was initially educated as an engineer many years ago, and worked my way into project development in the resources sector working on multi-billion dollar developments/ projects/ deals.
I founded and sold my share of DTA several years back, as well founded and exited Surfari Fiji as a fun business, have developed real estate, founded Ananda Investment Group and am on the board, am a shareholder and CEO of Dragonfly.
We’d love to know what a typical day is like for you. Could you describe a recent workday?
Typically it begins around 6am with exercise, then by about 7am it is some breakfast and getting up to speed with emails and the financial news. Around 7:30am I am into work completely and tend to get into the office with the team around 9-9:30am.
I then usually work a couple of hours after dinner and turn the computer off around 8:30pm, subject to what we have going on. My day involves dealing with our shareholders and investors, raising capital, working to originate new investment opportunities, structuring investments and carrying out due diligence to complete transactions, and speaking regularly with portfolio companies to help them along their success journey, along with executing our corporate strategy.
Can you define work-life balance for yourself and share with us your approach in maintaining it?
It all tends to roll into one for me, which I am happy with. In running a business it is not as easy as just turning things off, but I tend to find plenty of time for downtime and relaxation. We have a strong team who are diligent and take ownership of their work, so given their capability, it allows me to have a life outside of just working. I love travel, and given the modern error of communications tools available to us, this allows flexibility to enjoy life, whilst being available to the business.
Change is constant, and it’s essential for growth. Have you made any lifestyle changes in the past year to improve your work-life balance?
Changes and tweaks are probably happening all of the time, and are never super noticeable. I’ve been running my own enterprises for over 14 years so I’m sure I’ve made big changes but don’t tend to notice them as it seems normalised. Health is one of the most important aspects to me, as without it then I can’t perform, so a big focus is always health along with work.
A big focus with any business I run nowadays is how to employ a strong team of the right people and personality types who take ownership of their work and are strong communicators so that they can own their work and require minimal input from me. This creates freedom to look at the business from a distance where possible and flexibility for lifestyle.
We’re always on the lookout for new resources! Can you recommend any books, podcasts, or newsletters that have helped you in your journey towards balance?
My favourite read recently was the book Ikigai, which I’m not sure will help, but it adds a nice perspective.
Before we wrap up, do you have any final words of wisdom or insights on work, life, or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Everyone is on their own journey, as am I, so I feel it is far beyond my realm to give people recommendations on how they can live their life, as I am still working it out and I’m sure it will take a lifetime. Work life balance has ‘seasons’ in my view, sometimes there’s ups and sometimes there’s downs, sometimes four seasons in one day. But like seasons everything passes with time. But without the excitement and freedom to create, what else would we be doing?
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