It’s a great week for winners, and for expanding one’s stable of talent.

I’m going to resist from making any more Cheltenham puns, even though I am a closet National Hunt fan. Funnily enough, that comes from having to hide from marauding bosses at a previous agency, who didn’t like you having lunchbreaks longer than your little finger. The easiest place to hide was the bookies. I still have some of those nice blue pens.

I digress, although it is kind of relevant. You’ve got to surround yourself, and your clients, with positive people who completely fit your business. This week, Jo Clark joined us as our latest account manager and we’re absolutely thrilled to have her on the team.

We eased her in gently with a giant pitch on her second day and an overnight trip to see our most northerly client, Carelink, on her third day. Lord knows what she’ll be up to tomorrow, hopefully getting used to the more normal rhythm of client service, or perhaps scaling Ben Nevis with three healthcare journalists strapped to her back, just for the angle differentiation. She’s feisty.

Something I took to heart a few years ago was that one should employ people who scare you. Jo definitely falls into that category, her experience and attitude are fantastic, we love her refusal to just believe what we say, instead, she asks questions, and was adding the extra layer of knowledge from the first hour she spent with us.

Jo’s arrival at Mantis is part of our sneakily burgeoning expansion, as our client numbers grow, so do we. More Mantis people (Mantees? Manatees? Mantissers?) on board, and onto the next hurdle.