Meet the Author

Up next in our Meet the Author series, we’re getting to know Tom Greenwood—author of Sustainable Web Design. He tells us how he starts his day with a dip in a barrel of cold water (brrr!), what keeps him up at night, and his desire to slow down.

ABA: What is your favorite thing about your workspace?

Tom Greenwood: Well that depends on whether you mean our company workspace, or my workspace at home. Our company workspace in London is part of an amazing community of creative people at Somerset House in a truly stunning historic building, and it’s really quite a privilege to be able to spend time there. As for my home workspace, well, it’s home sweet home!

ABA: What’s the first thing you do every morning to start your day on the right foot?

TG: I’ve got a nice routine going most mornings, with a few rounds a Wim Hof breathing, a short-ish yoga session, followed by a dip in the barrel of cold water that we have in the back garden. After that I am both awake and relaxed.

ABA: Is there anyone you're following the work of right now, who you'd recommend others pay attention to?

TG: This might seem unrelated, but I love following the work of Guy Singh-Watson, the founder of Riverford Organic Farms. He is one of the most visionary business leaders I have ever come across and he isn’t shy to say what he really thinks. He’s a good person to watch and learn from about sustainability and the
future of business. His weekly newsletter comes in our veg box, but can also be read online.

ABA: What does the tech industry need more of? Less of?


TG: It needs more awareness of our impact on the environment and our responsibility to reduce it. And it needs less hubris in assuming that tech is inherently good.

ABA: In moments of self-doubt, how do you recharge and rally to keep going?


TG: I talk to my wife Vineeta, who never fails to lift my spirits.

ABA: Is there a fear or professional challenge that keeps you up at night? What is it?

TG: The desire (or need) to slow down.

ABA: What characteristic do you most admire in other driven/creative people?

TG: I hugely admire people who have the guts to truly be their unique selves and write their own story, especially when that means overcoming personal and social barriers.

ABA: What’s the biggest sacrifice you’ve made to do the work you do?


TG: I don’t often feel like I have sacrificed much, not because I haven’t, but because I feel that it was worth it. The biggest sacrifice must therefore be the one that I do often think about, which is the ability for Vineeta and I to take time out together and truly switch off from the business. As husband and wife founders, owners, and managers of a small business, it can be hard to really get away together and just relax.

ABA: Is there a piece of professional or life advice you’ve gotten that has always stuck with you? What is it?

TG: There are many, but I think this one stands out. “Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.”

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Learn more about all our authors—check out the rest of our Meet the Author series!

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