Pritesh Patil

Cohort 21, Master of Communication in Digital Media (MCDM)
Go-to-Market Manager at Goodreads, Amazon
LinkedIn: Pritesh Patil on LinkedIn

To start, if I approached you at a picnic and asked what you were up and enjoying these days, how would you answer?

Work occupies a good chunk of my day, but as a voracious reader and writer, being at Goodreads means the line between work and passion is blurred. Outside of that, I spend two or more hours everyday in writing sprints with my friends (some of whom are published authors already – go check out The Spice Gate by Prashanth Srivatsa if you like adventure fantasy books). Some of my time goes into working on another passion project with friends in three different continents: a boardgame called Kaosfall: The Odyssey. The website is kaosfall.com (work-in-progress) if you’re interested in greek mythology and tabletop games. Outside of that, I’m either playing soccer 3-4 times every week, working out, or planning my next camping or travelling excursion, with the occasional motorcycle ride thrown in. Oh, and I spend a good chunk of time meeting friends for walks or talking with those in other timezones, including my family.

The theme of this newsletter is “A Day in the Life,” so we’re asking both faculty and alumni to step us through a day in their life—any day of the week you choose—starting with their morning and taking us through the sweep of the day. (Think of it as similar to the NYT “Routine” column.)

How do you start your day? What are your routines, especially ones that might fall under the big tent of communication, digital media, communities and networks?

After a coffee to wake me up, I am usually rushing to work. Sometimes, I travel with a friend–also a Comm Lead alum—and we chat about the company or the day ahead. Other times I talk to my mom on the drive. Good music on the way helps me get in the zone for the day, and I usually grab another coffee before heading in. 

If I’m taking the bus, I reply to Slack messages, emails and clear or flag my inbox and prepare a list of action items for the day. Work is a combination of official meetings and cross-functional collaboration, as well as unofficial chats with colleagues for quick feedback to iterate on products, as well as brainstorm ideas. I meet friends for lunch at noon, and after a quick bite and coffee, we’re back to the pavilion to continue with our day.

What does the middle of the day include? Are you at home? Out and about? How do you get around? What is the tempo like and what do you enjoy about your routine?

Never a dull moment, and there’s always something to do. I take that as a plus, with the state of everything right now. Sometimes it can be meetings, other times it can be heads down work to get things done. I’m working on multiple initiatives, so there’s some context switching that needs to happen, but I like to say, ‘I thrive in chaos.’ At the end of the day, I try to make sure most of the items on the list are checked off, and if not, they are on the agenda for the next day. There’s also an element of leading without power, when you have to influence leadership to see your way, which involves getting a lot of customer feedback in front of my manager, and either directly or indirectly pushing them to take it forward.

How about the latter part of the day? Out on the town? At home? What are some aspects of your day-to-day that alumni from Comm Lead might find interesting?

I usually head to the gym directly from work, or go to the soccer field. After 90-minutes of a good workout, I head back to freshen up, get a protein shake and start writing. It’s fun and collaborative, since my friend and I do 30-minute sprints on a video call. Otherwise it can be a solitary activity. This is followed by reading and grabbing some dinner, and finally, watching something or gaming before I call it a night. 

Finally, we always ask: what’s a favorite piece of content—anything goes!—you’ve been hooked on lately you think Comm Lead alumni might enjoy? 

I’m writing a supernatural comedy, so I’m watching ‘Ghost Stories by Hoeezay’ as white noise, to keep me in the zone. It’s funny and has an element of a fireside chat with friends. It was started during Covid, and it’s a feel-good show. I’m also hooked onto ‘City of the Sun’, a multi-faceted indie band from New York, or ‘People by WTF,’ an entrepreneurship podcast by Nikhil Kamath for its deep, well-thought out nature. It’s one of the three podcasts I regularly consume.

And books! More and more science-fiction and fantasy books. I’m on 11/50 for my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal for the year. I’m currently reading ‘No Life Forsaken’ by Steven Erikson.