David Hatcher, managing partner of Baringa, uses walking meetings, early starts, and brain-neutral YouTube to avoid burnout while scaling the consultancy globally.
Baringa managing partner David Hatcher relies on a set of daily routines to manage the risk of burnout while the consultancy scales rapidly across four continents.
Hatcher, elected to the role in 2026, joined Baringa in 2012 after stints at EY and Accenture. He said he wanted a smaller, more entrepreneurial environment. The firm, fully owned by its partners, now has offices in 16 cities.
His day starts around 6 a.m. Two or three mornings a week, a personal trainer visits his home. On days he does not exercise, he catches a train into London at 6:50 a.m. On workout days, he takes an 8:30 train. He uses the commute to read the Financial Times and a personalized news feed.
Between the station and the office, he stops for a cappuccino at Pret a Manger. He said he is a creature of habit.
Meetings occupy roughly 80% of his day. Some run 30 minutes; quarterly strategy sessions can take half a day. He tries to have at least one client interaction every day, whether a new prospect or an existing account.
St. James's Park is a key tool. Hatcher often suggests walking meetings there. "By the time I come back around the block, I am guaranteed to have clarity in my head about the three things that would be best to prioritize in the afternoon," he said.
On the train home, he watches what he calls "brain-neutral" YouTube videos, often featuring physicist Brian Cox, to create a boundary between work and home. He said he avoids working on the commute.
He attends about two work dinners a week. When he does not have dinner, he leaves the office between 6:30 and 7 p.m. He said he learned the importance of sleep after experiencing problems that affected his ability to function.
The biggest risk to his leadership, he said, is seeing people put their own interests ahead of those of their teams, colleagues, company, or clients. His ethos: "Look after the people around you, and good things will happen to you."
A major priority for the firm is attracting top talent in the US, Asia, Europe, and Australia as it scales. Baringa does a lot of work in the energy market, so the energy transition and decarbonization remain central topics. AI has also become a big conversation.
Accenture, where Hatcher once worked, carries an Alpha Score of 52, labeled Mixed.
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