The executive team at Pandora Media Inc., the automated music recommendation service, is used to seeing Chief Marketing Officer Simon Wood-Fleming break a sweat at Monday staff meetings. His sweaty brow isn't a result of job pressure. It's a sign that he's just back from a run.
"It's definitely not ideal to be dripping sweat in front of our employees, but I'm not going to miss a workout," he says. The Pandora offices are one block from a trail that circles Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif. It takes Mr. Wood-Fleming almost exactly 45 minutes to change in the office locker room, run around the lake (four miles round trip), shower and get back to his desk. "I am usually sweating for another 15 minutes after my shower," he says.
Mr. Fleming-Wood, 44 years old, notes that he is a runner, not a jogger. His pace ranges from 6½ to 7 minutes a mile. While Mr. Fleming-Wood often encourages his colleagues to run with him, it is rare that they can keep up. "We'd go out for a run and talk business issues and I'd lose my breath trying to answer," says Matt Nichols, Pandora's director of search engine marketing. "If I want to keep up I need to grill him with questions so that he's talking the whole time."
Mr. Fleming-Wood grew up playing hockey and rugby—he still plays in a men's hockey league—and says fitness is critical to his daily life. "It's very rare that I go three days without exercise," he says. He uses his mornings to walk the dog and be with his daughters, ages 11 and 12. On weekends, his girls join him for part of his run. "I slow down the pace for them," he says.
In nice weather, he bikes five miles round trip to work. Three to four days a week he runs around the lake near his office. Some days he calls in his sandwich order pre-run and then swings by the deli post-run to pick it up before returning to the office. Mr. Fleming-Wood says he often does his most creative thinking while circling the lake. "My head just clears. It's time where I can marinate on issues I'm dealing with. The answers sometimes just come to me."
He runs five to seven miles on both Saturday and Sunday with his foxhound, Walter, and his daughters. He also spends about 30 minutes strength training in his garage gym on the weekend. "It's a Rocky-style set up," he says. His chin-up bar is a hockey stick hung from the rafters with two pieces of rope. He uses it to do three sets of 10 pull-ups. He has a mat for crunches.
The Diet
Mr. Fleming-Wood has a cup of coffee while his daughters eat breakfast. He gets oatmeal topped with fruit from a coffee shop near the office. "That is my sustaining meal," he says. "If I don't get fed the rest of the day, I know that oatmeal will keep me going." He tries to eat light and healthy for lunch. Pandora gets fruit delivered to the office so he usually grazes on it throughout the day, while avoiding the free candy. Mr. Fleming-Wood says his wife is determined to use their entire CSA box of locally grown produce each week for family meals. "Right now we're eating a lot of kale and chard," he says. On weekends, Mr. Fleming-Wood will indulge in pancakes or eggs.
Equipment/Cost
Mr. Fleming-Wood spent about $1,800 on his Specialized Sirrus hybrid bike. His Asics sneakers cost around $100. He keeps a pair at home and a pair at the office. Mr. Fleming-Wood turned his garage into a modest home gym with a set of adjustable 5-to-50-pound dumbbells, a chin-up bar, and a weight bench. He says the total cost for his equipment was around $300.
"I encourage folks on my team to bring clothes and run with me. I think people should prioritize and fit in their workout at any point in their day and don't be apologetic about it."
Melissa Waters, a senior brand manager at Pandora says seeing his commitment to exercise inspired her to take Zumba classes at the gym across from the office during her lunch hour. "I've been in meetings where Simon is sweating and I realized it's OK to step out during the day to make time for yourself."
On Motivation
For his 40th birthday, he set a goal of running one mile in five minutes. He trained for six months and was able to finish the mile in four minutes and 59 seconds. "As I get older I don't want to lose my speed so I always try to push my pace."
Edited By Cen Fox Post Team
