Balancing the Grind with Luke Hills, Head of Growth at Adludio

Luke Hills is the Head of Growth at Adludio, a global advertising scale-up defining the next generation of mobile brand solutions.

1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?

I started my career as a graduate working at Mindshare a global media agency in London where I learned the craft of media buying. I moved internally after 3 years to start the investment team at GroupM new agency at the time Maxus.

As recession loomed in London I decided to exercise my Australian passport and head home where I joined Mindshare and spent 7 years at the agency eventually starting FAST as Head of Programmatic working on some great clients including NAB.

I decided to move back to London with my wife to do adult things like buy a house and have a family. I’m now at Adludio as Head of Growth where I’ve been for the last two and half years. Adludio is a creative ad tech company building a platform that uses AI and ML techniques to produce, distribute and optimise creative lead campaigns specifically for a mobile audience.

My role sits between commercial and product teams to help build a platform strategy. I spend most time building partnerships with other technologies that can integrate Aldudio into their own technology stack for brands and agencies around the globe.

2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

I have a one-year-old son so my day starts quite early at the moment. Post nursery drop-off and dog walk with my wife my working day normally starts with a coffee and a quick check on Slack for any burning priorities, particularly from our US team who are scaling at the moment.

I normally check in with our CEO on any priorities before having a look at our delivery on our newest self-serve product offering which has been growing over the last two years. I may head into either one of our two workspaces in London for a change of scenery.

We are a WFH company but as the city has opened up we recognised people may still want some time and space in either a shared workspace or a quiet office – also good to meet my colleagues face to face these days. My day normally ends with catching up with our sales team and then heading to pick my son up from nursery.

3) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?

As a new Dad my priorities have massively changed in the last year so balance means spending time with him as much as it is working. Adludio has provided me with that balance which is great.

As any parent will know your children can throw you more curve balls than any email you receive so being able to have the flexibility to be a parent as well as an employee is so important. Flexibility and understanding from your employer is really what you need to strike that balance and it’s great I have that now.

4) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?

The London pre-9 am and post-5 pm commute has completely stopped which for me has been great. More time to ease yourself into the day and time with the family. I’m doing my best to really cut my phone usage out and not look at any work communication after 6pm at night.

The habit of checking Slack is similar to social media so I’ve been making a conscious effort to leave my phone in another room from the one I’m in.

5) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?

I’m really into my food and travel and a huge fan of the late Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential is one of my all-time favourite books to read. I also follow Action Bronson who’s done some amazing things in his life and is a real inspiration for me.

He has some great interviews on Joe Rogan for anyone who’s wanting to double down on their passions. John Favreau who has a good series out on Netflix at the moment – not a book or podcast but if you love food then you have to watch it.

6) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?

Anthony Bourdain without a doubt. 

7) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

It’s a cliche but ‘you only live once’ and we have probably gone through some of the hardest times in recent years which has put a magnifying glass on what’s really important to us. Life’s for living and although work can afford so many things it can never replace time spent with family, friends and your passions.

Before you go…

If you’d like to sponsor or advertise with Balance the Grind, let’s talk here