NICK HUGHES IN MELBOURNE

Hailing from Northern England, Nick Hughes made the move to Melbourne when his wife was offered a job she couldn’t turn down. Now the brand manager for DENHAM jean maker in Australia, Hughes has come a long way from his sneaker boy days, finding the right balance between his love for denim and his Nike Air Max. We caught up last week at the DENHAM shop in Sydney.

VIDEO INTERVIEW

OLIVER HAY IN MELBOURNE

In collaboration with Australian label Country Road, I’m proud to share with you a new set of portraits profiling three Australian men-on-the-rise, talking morning routines, workweek style and the career lessons they’ve learned.

Last but not least, Oliver Hay has quickly ascended the property world to become a senior executive in investments. Working with clients locally and internationally, he consults, advises and transacts on multi-million dollar properties. 

What’s your morning routine?
I’m always up at 6. I’ll try to either get to the gym or do some form of exercise, followed by a big breakfast. Then, it’s coffee at a city café to plan the day and scan the papers.

What’s the best advice you’ve received from a mentor?
“Healthy body, healthy mind.” – Dad

How do you dress for the workweek?
I’m in a suit most days. It’s crucial to have a clean look and be presentable. I like the simple things: a tailored suit, a fitted (crisp) white shirt and a navy tie. I’ve always liked the saying, “The better you dress, the worse you can behave.”

What have been the biggest takeaways from your career so far? The lessons you’d pass on?
The harder you work, the luckier you get. There aren’t many other shortcuts I’ve found.

What do you see as the biggest challenge ahead of you?
The world we’re living in is fast-paced and quick to develop. The challenge for me? To keep up with it all and keep reinventing myself.

Get the look: Prince of Wales jacket, pants, french cuff shirt, tie and pocket square. 

SANDRO DEMAIO IN MELBOURNE 

In collaboration with Australian label Country Road, I’m proud to share with you a new set of portraits profiling three Australian men-on-the-rise, talking morning routines, workweek style and the career lessons they’ve learned.

Second up, a rising global health advocate, Dr Sandro Demaio recently completed a post-doctoral fellowship with the Harvard Medical School. This year, he founded festival21: a community festival that will focus on universal issues of health and consumption.

What’s your morning routine?
I start the day with a shower and an espresso. I use a few Aesop products. I’ll scan the headlines on Twitter, the medical journals, BBC World News and the Guardian. Surprisingly, I don’t eat breakfast. I never feel hungry in the morning. Instead, I have a big lunch – typical European day.

You’re regularly between Melbourne, Boston, Oslo and Copenhagen, and you’re moving to Geneva shortly to work with the UN. What are the travel tricks you’ve learned from flying regularly?
Have a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Pack some moisturiser and a change of clothes for a long-haul flight so you can get refreshed. Use the lounge. And always, always get to the airport a little early and have a moment beforehand.

How do you dress for work?
Classic Scandinavian informal. I almost never wear a tie. It’s slim cut wool suits and tees with twill jackets. I only wear natural fibres – I hate synthetics. I like to buy quality clothes that last, particularly leather products and suits. I don’t pretend that I’m older than I am – I celebrate the fact that I’m 30. When I go into a meeting, I want my clothes to reflect my personality: yes it’s professional, but at the same time, I want to feel comfortable.

What are the big misconceptions most people have about the way the world eats?
What and how we eat contributes enormously to the challenges we face as a society. Over 30% of greenhouse gases come from what and how we eat: from production all the way through to consumption. That’s more than all land, air and sea transport combined. Our food consumption is single biggest driver of climate change. It’s the leading risk factor of disease. Food is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet that we have for facing our major global challenges.

What’s the best advice you’ve received from a mentor?
Always remember why you do what you do.

Get the look: Stripe t-shirt, cotton khaki jacket, pants and leather sneaker.

ALEX CORNISH IN MELBOURNE

In collaboration with Australian label Country Road, I’m proud to share with you a new set of portraits profiling three Australian men-on-the-rise, talking morning routines, workweek style and the career lessons they’ve learned. 

First up, a former Deloitte consultant and investment analyst for a James Packer-backed share fund, Alex Cornish set out on his own venture, creating HouseSpotting, an online real estate community. (Think Yelp or Tripadvisor for the housing market.)

What’s your morning routine?
The one thing you lose with a startup is your routine. I’ve carried on from my corporate career: I’m up at the same time every day. I get up at 6, run outside, freeze, read the paper and jump on Google Analytics. Then I give myself a to-do list for the day.

How do you dress, now that you work for yourself?
When I was at Ellerston (Capital, a share fund), I was routine: a blue suit, a charcoal suit, six shirts and one navy blue tie. I was super routine. I knew it looked good. I didn’t have to think. Now, I do the same on a different scale. I tried the whole “start-up” t-shirt and jeans thing. It didn’t feel right. Just putting on a collared shirt makes me feel better. Now it’s about a great coat, smart jeans and dress shoes.

How hard was it to leave your full-time career behind and take on your own venture, in HouseSpotting?
I had a pool of savings I knew would last 12 months or so. I’d just gotten married. Transitioning away from a steady salary is hard. There have been times when I’ve woken up thinking, “What the hell have I done?” But here’s the way I think about risk: there’s only a few windows of opportunity in your life where you can go right up the risk curve and take things on.

What’s the biggest misconception about real estate?
That agents are the gatekeepers of all property knowledge. The core premise behind HouseSpotting is that people underestimate just how much they know about real estate. Everyone who has left home has rented somewhere or bought their own place – that requires serious research. We all have a pool of real estate knowledge – and HouseSpotting is about sharing that.

What’s the best advice you’ve received from a mentor?
The other week, Dad said, “I didn’t fail, I found 10,000 ways that didn’t work.” You’ve got to view those little failures as crossing things off the list –  keep moving forward.

Get the look: Navy cotton twill jacket, slim shirt, star print pocket square, khaki pants, socks, navy shoes and his own sunglasses.