Shane Hanby has held various leadership positions spanning multiple industries, his last 6 working years have been spent submerged in a fast paced and constantly changing media and adtech environment.
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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?
My first job out of high school was with Fairfax in an entry level accounts receivable role. After 2yrs at Fairfax and a few promotions I realised that being chained to a desk all day wasn’t for me.
A close school friend referred me for a BDM role at Salmat Targeted media, I applied for the role and was successful and this would be where I first cut my teeth in both sales and media for a little over 3-years.
By this time digital media had really started to evolve so I moved on from Salmat to Telstra’s media arm Sensis a fast paced rollercoaster I would ride for the next 3+ years. I would then embark on a 4.5yr media hiatus working in a variety of roles focused on sales & mid-level leadership.
Having maintained a passion for media another close friend I had worked with at Salmat 9 years prior convinced me to return to Salmat in the role of Group Agency Manager. Salmat’s offering had dramatically changed by then including a range of digital services, SMS, competitions and call centres whilst maintaining it’s legacy catalogue business.
This really reignited my passion for media and digital in particular. I was then head hunted to a role at GumGum an AI company that specialises in computer vision, this being my introduction to a startup environment.
My next challenge was at dataxu a DSP with a speciality in Advanced TV where I was employed in the role of Country Manager ANZ. Another start-up that I thoroughly enjoyed being apart of which unpredictably came to an end when dataxu was acquired by ROKU in early 2020.
What am I doing now? Taking time out with my lovely wife and 7-month old son.
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2) What does a day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
The day to day in my last two roles were quite similar which all relied on my ability to motivate and empower a team of highly skilled individuals to achieve predefined commercial goals.
This included overseeing marketing strategy, driving a sales team, coaching and identifying operational efficiencies whilst reporting the finer details into the US based HQ.
As long as there are clearly outlined expectations and everyone takes on accountability to get the job done to the best of their ability flexible working and trust in the workplace should only have a positive outcome.
3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?
Both GumGum and dataxu were extremely flexible with regards to remote working, something I will always be extremely grateful for as my wife was pregnant with our son whilst I was at GumGum and Lennox was born whilst I had only been employed by dataxu for 4-months.
This allowed me to support my wife to the best of my ability pre and post birth and then spend the next 3-weeks at home with my new family of 3. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “If You Can’t Trust Your Employees to Work Flexibly, Why Hire Them in the First Place?”.
As long as there are clearly outlined expectations and everyone takes on accountability to get the job done to the best of their ability flexible working and trust in the workplace should only have a positive outcome.
4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?
Work-life balance for me is all about the right mix of passion and energy devoted to worklife, your extended family, social networks and health.
This is something I’m truly yet to master as my wife is constantly reminding me to put the phone down and be present in the moment, stop replying to emails whilst on family holidays etc, it’s a constant work in process.
5) What do you think are some of the best habits or routines that you’ve developed over the years to help you achieve success in your life?
Routine is key. Media has a huge social element attached to it which is lots of fun but you can really burn yourself out spending countless weekends in recovery mode on the couch.
I commit to getting a workout in first thing in the morning, locking in family dinners well in advance and planning social catchups with friends around activities like golf, hikes, touch football etc.
6) Are there any books that have helped you improve over the years?
1. Mindhacking – Sir John Hargrave
2. Loosing my Virginity – Richard Branson’s autobiography
3. The Fatherhood – Luke Benedictus, Andrew McUtchen, Jeremy Macvean
Don’t be too hard on yourself, no one is perfect, life is a constant learning experience, learn from your mistakes, build routines around things that are important outside of work.
7) What is the number one thing you do to make sure you get the most out of your day?
Learn something and remain positive.
8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?
Chris Hemsworth – His work schedule is crazy yet he’s been known to work in his children’s school canteen all whilst maintaining the physique of a world class athlete. The guys a freak.
9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?
Don’t be too hard on yourself, no one is perfect, life is a constant learning experience, learn from your mistakes, build routines around things that are important outside of work.
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