Welcome to The 6 a.m. CFO, where finance chiefs share how they jump-start their days and engage with the tasks that are in front of them.
Today, the City of Quincy, Massachusetts’ CFO Eric Mason shares his morning routine with his wife, his coffee making responsibilities in the office, the impact of his family on his professional development and more.
Be sure to check out the entire 6 a.m. CFO series, and if you’d like to be featured in a future post, please email us here.
City of Quincy, Massachusetts
![Eric Mason](/imgproxy/HBmBxSKriLYLwzbLJwgdDGJCk2_6AJ-DMkCynVd6Guo/g:ce/rs:fit:400:400/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL1Y2R2lHSmhKXzQwMHg0MDAuanBn.webp)
Quincy is the largest suburb in the greater Boston area with a population of just over 100,000. Known as the "City of Presidents", Quincy is the birthplace of two U.S. presidents — John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams.
- Founded: 1792
- 2,400+ employees
- Collected $264.3 million in residential, commercial, industrial and personal property taxes in 2022.
- Mason recently launched the world’s first blockchain municipal bond and was was part of the decision to award Quincy’s mayor a 79% pay raise this year.
MORNING ROUTINE
Weekday wake-up time: I usually have my alarm set for 6:30 a.m., but I can’t remember the last time I was woken up by my alarm; I’m usually awake at 6 a.m..
Morning beverage choice: Milk. A guy with my body type needs every ounce of calcium I can get into my system.
Any non-work-related morning activities? I’m a practicing Catholic, so even on hectic mornings, I try to find a moment for a quick prayer. I feel we, myself included, only talk to God when we want something to happen ... or want something not to happen. I like to take a second just for a quick “Thank you” for another day.
My wife and I usually play The New York Times’ Wordle and Connections in the morning. I also read any news I can; I have a compulsive need to stay up to date on world events and markets.
Workday start time: We start at 8:30 a.m. I’m usually in 15 minutes before.
How I usually spend the first hour of my day: I’m usually the first person at the coffee machine, so I get that heated up.
I have a co-worker who I’ve worked with since I was 21. We’re close and she is usually in around the same time as me; I usually make us coffee before the workday starts. We talk about life, how her kids and grandkids are, what our plans are for the week/weekend. I’m really lucky to have co-workers who I’ve worked with since I was in my early 20’s. Many of them were at my wedding and shared life events with my wife and me.
I rarely make it into my individual office in the first hour; I try to touch base with everyone on my team before the inevitable meetings rush takes off. Sometimes it’s small talk, sometimes it's a directional question, and sometimes it’s just an update on a project.
Time I send out my first email: Usually, around 6:30 a.m. I hate having emails hanging over me, especially if they’re from a constituent. I’ve received emails at 5 a.m. from constituents and responded before 6 a.m. with a detailed email.
I received an email from a police sergeant a couple of weeks ago, who also runs a good portion of the police department budget, at around 6:20 a.m. about their budget and asking me to call her when I’m in the office. I called her around 10 minutes after the email while I was making breakfast. We had a great conversation about repurposing a surplus in the police budget for capital equipment. I don’t like having outstanding requests, even in email, hanging over my head.
Best advice for writing an effective email: Be direct, be clear, and be succinct. The biggest mistake I see in emails is the overly verbose stanzas that relay no information. I understand wanting to use formalities, but other than that, deliver the information and request immediately at the top of the email. Provide details below.
First dashboard I review: TylerTechnologies MUNIS; it is our ERP and houses everything from payroll to ledger management to accounts payable.
How I structure my morning meetings: I tend to save morning meetings for internal operations, and I prioritize topics that can be actionable in the second half of the day.
Mid-morning snack of choice: I actually don’t snack. I have Type 1 diabetes, so I need to eat a breakfast with fats and complex carbs which rarely leads to me feeling I need a snack before lunch.
What was a recent morning that didn’t go as planned, and how did you adjust? Is every morning an option?
I would say rarely does a morning go to plan; that’s half the fun of the job. I have an exceptionally strong team that can keep the ship on course while I handle a fire drill. That strong foundation my team supports me on really generates the ability to plan for the unplanned.
INSPIRATION, PERSONALITY, AND LEADERSHIP
Favorite quote or mantra: My absolute favorite quote is by William Butler Yeats:
“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.”
I also love: “I didn’t come this far to only come this far.”
Favorite leadership lesson: I’ll grab another quote from my favorite 20th-century President, Dwight Eisenhower:
“The essence of leadership is to get others to do something because they think you want it done and because they know it is worthwhile doing — that is what we are talking about.”
I often say to my office, if you have a question to ask ... ask it. It doesn’t have to be just a procedural question. I want you to understand why you’re doing something, not just how to do it. I should be able to explain every decision I make.
I want people to follow me not because of my title or degrees; I want them to follow me because they believe I am leading them in the right direction.
I also strongly encourage dissenting thoughts. I want people to disagree with me, to the point that when I presented the official Financial Policies to the City Council I specifically referenced “Black Box Thinking” as a part of the City’s Financial Policies. I don’t care how low or high your title is — a good idea is a good idea.
I’m happy to sift through 100 bad ideas to get one good idea. I tell new interns and even the students in class, “I want you to challenge anything I say that you don’t agree with ... it is a flaw on my part if I can’t explain my rationale.”
The end product is a win-win for me, I either have a convincing argument, or I know the flaw in my position which I can then address which will set me up for a better result.
![Eric Mason and wife](/imgproxy/-eiUqCJonpqW3v8-equMikj-G20iNSKN2S-8s2d4CQg/g:ce/rs:fit:720:960/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL01hc29uX2FuZF93aWZlX3RlZF90YWxrLmpwZw==.webp)
Something important to know about me that you wouldn’t know from my business bio: I have near-perfect echoic memory recall. I can recall conversations, lectures, and pretty much any auditory stimuli with great detail; including things like tone, inflection, and volume. It was first noted when I had testing before starting speech therapy as a grade schooler. I will say, it saved me a lot of money in college because I stopped buying textbooks and just attended the lectures. It’s obviously not flawless, like in a movie, but it has been a useful tool nonetheless.
Favorite number/why: 17
When I was growing up, my Dad never let my brother and I use the calculator on the cash register to make change; he wanted us to learn to do arithmetic in our heads. Whenever there was a situation where I struggled to calculate the change, the answer had 17 in it, or was a factor of 17, or so forth.
17 has been the solution to a lot of problems!
Most noteworthy items in my workspace: The painting over my conference table is an oil painting of a beautiful mountain scene with a cabin near a lake. People always ask me about it; it’s a painting that hung over my grandparent's couch for decades. When they passed away it was stowed away and I stumbled upon it and wanted it to live on in my office.
I have my undergrad and grad diplomas from West Virginia University (WVU) hung up in my office (that’s not interesting), but hanging above them is a lantern that was used in a coal mine in West Virginia (fairly close to where my grandfather grew up) and was given to Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis by the coal workers of West Virginia when he received their endorsement in the 1988 election. The lantern was given to me by a dear friend who worked on the campaign. Connections between Massachusetts and West Virginia are very meaningful to me.
![Eric Mason's cat](/imgproxy/jlrAZyYqHRD4zJqWjW9hn0VXYbvJurO-Y0mxYib2154/g:ce/rs:fit:960:960/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL01hc29uX2NhdF9oYXJwZXIuanBn.webp)
Do you have a pet, and are they with you right now? Yes, Harper, our tortoiseshell cat; if I’m sitting down there’s a good chance she’s trying to sit on my lap.
Favorite app on my phone that is not related to business: YouTube, I am constantly listening to any long-form educational product I can get my hands on.
The year, make, and model of your first car: 2000 Buick LeSabre. I miss that car so much.
Most influential/famous person you’ve ever met: I would say it’s a tie between Quincy’s own (yes he was born in Boston, but he was raised in Quincy!) General Joseph Dunford and Nobel Laureate Dr. Richard Roberts. Meeting a four-star general, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, in terms of “influence,” he is hard to top. General Dunford is nothing short of Presidential in the way he talks and carries himself.
![Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, Jr.](https://d12v9rtnomnebu.cloudfront.net/diveimages/dunford.png)
I met Dr. Richard Roberts when he spoke at a program we coordinate with a non-profit that brings Nobel laureates to high schools. I got to talk to him for a few minutes before the program started, I was probably around 23 at the time. I went over to him and said “thank you,” as I took out my insulin pen and said, “I wouldn’t have this if it wasn’t for your work.”
It was an unreal moment when he took the pen from me, removed the cap, and looked at the vial with a huge smile on his face. He won his Nobel Prize in physiology for gene splitting. It was amazing to get an opportunity to thank the man who is directly responsible for the medicine that keeps me alive.
Most inspirational person/people in your life: I draw a lot of inspiration from my family.
There are really three people who I draw my inspiration from.
- My Mom was a stay-at-home mom who did everything to nurture my brother [and me]. I was far from an easy kid growing up. She encouraged us to pursue anything we found interesting and enthusiastically supported any new hobby we wanted to explore. She taught me that someone being excited about something is reason enough to be excited with them. I carry that a lot in my personal and professional life. If you’re amped up about something, I’m going to be amped up right alongside you.
I’ve noticed, not a lot of people have someone in their life to share excitement with. A nice side effect of this habit she taught me is people will seek you out to share major live events and goals with you; I love sharing in their excitement. - My Dad was a mechanic who ran his own business; he worked every single day. Growing up, I saw him sweep the floors, clean the bathrooms, and would never ask anyone who worked for him to do something he wouldn’t do. I take a lot of my management style from how he treated the people who worked for him.
Mason working at his father’s gas station as a kid.Permission granted by Eric Mason
In fact, the only time he would get angry at work would be when a customer got out of line towards someone working for him. That bleeds a lot into my management philosophy, today; if you’re trying to learn then I’m trying to teach, and I am very protective of people on my team. - My wife grew up in West Virginia working on her grandparent’s farm in the summers. She was an excellent student and athlete in high school (neither of those descriptions could apply to me) who went to WVU on a nearly full scholarship to study exercise physiology. She just pushes through everything.
Mason and his wife in the mayor’s office.Permission granted by Eric Mason
Eventually that “jobless new grad boyfriend” became her “newly hired” fiance.
About two months before our wedding she was diagnosed with cancer. She had to have surgery a month before her wedding. She goes through the surgery, ends up being the most beautiful bride ever, goes on our honeymoon, and comes back to immediately start immuno-therapy to prevent the cancer from returning.
Despite all the side effects, she never complained, she never asked for special treatment, she just kept going. Seven cancer-free years later, she still hasn’t complained.
I don’t know how anyone could live with a person like that and not be inspired. The only mistake she ever made was agreeing to go out on a date with the tall uncoordinated guy in her volleyball class.