By HENNA ACHHPAL and SALONI DUTTA
(With inputs from SIMRAN SABHERWAL)
For an industry that survives on fresh ideas, it is no surprise that advertising is constantly brimming with young talent. In a reversal of roles, this new generation — the millennial — now plays the part of mentor to its bosses. As IMPACT’s Top 30 Under 30 list celebrates the leaders of tomorrow, today’s industry leaders tell us what they have learnt from their young colleagues and how organizations tap the potential of reverse mentoring
The young are expected to learn from their elders — parents, teachers, and bosses. After all, experience is the best teacher and who better than someone who’s been there and done that to impart life lessons? Be it through a formal protocol or informal dialogue, it’s common for seniors in an organization to mentor new entrants. But it is adland with an ‘anything goes’ attitude that we are talking about, and sure enough, the roles have reversed. Ad guru Piyush Pandey of Ogilvy & Mather confesses that he would have retired 20 years ago if it weren’t for the young in his agency. The brain behind Amul’s iconic ads, Rahul DaCunha, calls advertising an ‘industry where you cannot age’. Other industry leaders too confess to learning from unsuspecting juniors in their organizations.
Involving the young: What are organizations doing?
Young achievers are reaching new heights backed by only a few years of experience, proving that experience is no longer the sole route to the top. Agencies are turning into a melting pot for generations with both senior and junior executives learning from one another. As the lines between seniors and juniors blur, a two-way exchange of ideas is becoming the norm. In an earlier conversation with IMPACT, Nitin Paranjpe, Global President, Home Care Division, Unilever, said, “One of the things that I plan to do this year is to have reverse mentoring, where I will have a 25-yearold trainee from the company be my formal mentor and guide me as far as the digital space is concerned. I will subject myself to projects, reports and reviews just as is done with trainees.”
Savita Mathai, Senior VPHR, FCBUlka, says, “We recruit youngsters in large numbers and invest systematically for their growth into future leaders.” The agency has a comprehensive entry level programme called Star One, in which all the classes are conducted by seniors in the company. “From Day One, trainees interact with leaders in the company, sharing their views and ideas. Starting in this way enables them to work closely with the seniors on an ongoing basis,” says Mathai.
At BBH India, the efforts are more subtle. Says Subhash Kamath, CEO & Managing Partner, BBH India, “We’ve intentionally created a flat structure with just two or three levels between the top management and juniormost person.” Going beyond the people structure, BBH has focused on the office design as well. Kamath explains, “We have very few cabins and no cubicles. The team directors and juniors sit at the same table. Most work-related decisions are taken in group sessions on the brand.”
Informal lunches with senior management are a common occurrence in organizations. While FCBUlka has ‘Lunch with Punch’, Viacom 18 has ‘VatsUp Lunches’. “The lunch interactions happen between Sudhanshu Vats and 10 employees, offering him a window into their minds and giving them a chance to know their leader up close. The selection of members is random, although equal representation across units is ensured,” says Abhinav Chopra, EVP – HR, Viacom18.
Among one of the hallmark initiatives in the industry is GroupM’s YCO or Youth Executive Committee, appointed to take part in decision making and actually running the agency. Highlighting the changes that have come about following the introduction of YCO, Gaurav Hirey, Chief Talent Officer, GroupM-South Asia says, “Srini (CVL Srinivas) spent a day with one of the younger media planners to learn media planning all over again. For him, just sitting there and getting that experience was phenomenal. Ideas that come from the YCO are new and refreshing. It’s never the same solution for the same old problem.”
Commenting on the initiative, Srinivas says, “It helps us harness the knowledge, energy and enthusiasm at the junior levels and give them a platform to add value to our network. We received valuable insights regarding digital transformation, talent retention and internal and external communication programmes.
Based on these, we made several changes to the way we used to operate. YCO has definitely played a big role in helping GroupM stay young, hungry and to embrace change.” While an official reverse mentoring programme may be absent at DDB Mudra, juniors often turn into teachers says Rita Verma, Senior VPOrganization Development, DDB Mudra Group.
She explains, “Juniors are regularly encouraged to take sessions for everyone in the organization including unit heads. This gives a different exposure to everyone and seniors have the opportunity to learn newer ideas.”
Similarly, Michelle Suradkar, HR Director, Lowe Lintas & Partners says, “Our young managers almost always bring a fresh perspective to a discussion. We have had cases where ideas with high potential were presented to a larger group of stakeholders for evaluation and implementation. Such projects have ranged from changes to the ways of working to updates in policies or existing practices.”
Meanwhile, Leo Burnett believes in a ‘bottoms up’ approach. “We have identified five key organizational priorities and set up five councils with clearly outlined objectives to be achieved at the end of 12 months. The youngsters are our rising stars and they are the ones who are actually contributing the ideas and implementing them. The senior management is only playing a mentoring role,” says Surbhi Gupta, Head - People & Culture, Leo Burnett India.
Reverse mentoring: A promising Concept?
While senior management may be learning from juniors through daily interaction, opinions vary on whether reverse mentoring should be made the norm in agencies. Suradkar of Lowe Lintas & Partners says, “An organization with transparency and an open-door policy will already have this as a part of their culture. It happens informally and does not need to be mandated. However, with the growing expectations of democracy in organizations, any initiatives to increase the channels of communication and a formal sharing of ideas will only help the company.”
Kamath thinks making it an official process will take the joy out of it. Instead, it should be seeded into the culture of the organization, he says. “One must focus on creating an environment where ideas can flow freely, without any invisible walls of hierarchy. Most importantly, the top person has to walk the talk. The bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle. As a leader, you have to make yourself easily accessible, create more opportunities to interact with the youngsters. Work with them, not above them. Sometimes, you get to know people much better outside of work,” he observes.
Adding to Kamath’s point on culture, Mathai says, “Mentoring by definition is a two-way process. Organizations first need to have a mentoring culture of which reverse mentoring would be a natural outcome.” Lulla, incidentally, has made it a point to work in organizations that have an average age below 30. He advises, “Put young people in charge of committees, internal awards, quality and processes. They will create stellar new ideas and generate initiatives which save money and/or make money.”
Sam Balsara, Chairman & MD, Madison World considers reverse mentoring to be more of a fad. He says, “I am not sure it can be institutionalized. There are some companies which have a young phantom board, but these are fads; they come and go. I am not aware of any company that has had a phantom young board going for 10 years. We instituted a young board in our PR unit some years ago but it fizzled out in some time.” On the other hand, Rahul Kansal, Executive President, BCCL thinks it’s a terrific idea.
“By observing young people, you also learn a lot about changing consumer values,” he states.
LIVING THE JOB
Having spent more than 25 years in the industry, Subhash Kamath, CEO & Managing Partner, BBH compares the young of today to when he was starting out and narrates an incident he will never forget Advertising is a young person’s business in many ways. Over the years, I’ve learnt how important enthusiasm and passion are for the creative business. Young people are inherently more positive and optimistic, which has a huge impact on the team.
I’ve also learnt that values have changed. Youngsters today look at things very differently from when I was at that age. You have to understand that very well if you’re heading an organization or building a team. You can’t assume that what worked for you will work for them.
Their motivations and expectations from their jobs are different. My generation was taught to cling on to a job because that was precious and economically important. Today’s youngsters are far more adventurous. They don’t mind exploring newer paths. They have a greater ability to take risks.
Some years ago, I was taking the exit interview of a young, bright girl on my team. She had been doing well and had just been promoted with an excellent increment. Astonishingly, she decided to quit. When I asked her why, she said that the job was consuming her completely and she had no time for life after work. I began to explain that everybody goes through that grind at a young age, and even I used to put in frequent late nights when I started off. To which she put me in my place by saying: “But what makes you think I want to lead the life that you did?” I was stunned. That is when I realized how much things have changed. It was an enormous lesson, one I’ll never forget.
LESSONS FROM GEN-Y
"If I didn’t have youngsters in my agency, I would have retired 20 years back. They inspire you every day. Reverse mentoring is a day-to-day job. Every time a youngster comes up with an idea and surprises the hell out of you, you must thank him because he taught you something new.”
PIYUSH PANDEY
Executive Director & National Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather India
“I’ve learnt to be young from the young. Advertising is a business where you cannot age. The moment you start thinking like an old person, it will show in the ads.”
RAHUL DaCUNHA
MD and Creative Head, daCunha Communications
“The best way to stay relevant is by staying intelligently naïve. Being young is being able to trade your inexperience for imagination, curiosity and possibilities that may never enter the much busy and diversely ‘experienced’ mind. The ability to question and seek answers is the biggest lesson one can learn from young colleagues. Very recently, a young colleague inspired me to sign up for my second PhD by asking, ‘Why should one be enough?’”
BHASKAR DAS
CEO, Zee News Cluster
“I’ve learnt patience, creative thinking and maturity from the youngsters. They are driven by a great amount of passion. They know how to manage their work without ego, as they are fresh and willing to learn. I may have learnt the traditional hard skills and tricks of the trade from my seniors, but I’ve picked up the softer skills from the young people I have worked with in my 30 years of advertising.”
MADHUKAR SABNAVIS
Vice Chairman & Country Head - Discovery & Planning, Ogilvy & Mather
“Learning from juniors is a daily part of the job. Simply put, it’s they who keep me young with their thinking, innovations and freshness. I may have spent a number of years in advertising, but I try and not let that get in the way of thinking. They keep my thinking fresh.”
RAJ NAIR
Chief Creative Officer, Madison BMB
“If I didn’t learn from my juniors, I would have been outdated many years ago. I take every opportunity to teach at universities because teaching is an excuse to learn. Today, the junior copywriter has as much knowledge as you because he has done his research. Earlier, you needed 10-15 years of experience before you could head an agency. Today, you don’t need that much because of the amount of exposure available for young professionals to see every case study across the world. They’re far more informed than the previous generation.”
KV SRIDHAR
Chief Creative Officer, SapientNitro, India
“They are not weighed down by tradition so they think differently, which can be an advantage sometimes. Their impulse may lead to erroneous judgement, but as long as they can recognize the difference, they will always be the smarter generation. They spot new content trends faster and prefer less tedious ways of working. They are outspoken and outlandish in asking for a higher price at a sales pitch. Bargaining for a discount is yet another amazing talent. These are some of the things I cherish about working with younger people.”
SUNIL LULLA
Chairman & Managing Director, Grey Group India
“While the youngsters come to learn at work, an organization like ours learns equally from them. They come with a lot of confidence and a strong understanding of new media. People from my generation are internet adopters, but they were born into the digital world. They have no baggage and aren’t weighed down by ‘No’ but are charged up by ‘Yes’. They aren’t held back by hierarchy. They energize the organization and challenge your beliefs, pushing you to run faster.”
ADITYA SWAMY
EVP & Business Head, MTV India
“The power equation in organizations has changed. If knowledge is equal to power, then most of the power rests with the youth. There’s a lot to learn from the attitude they bring to work. They’re open-minded due to which collaboration comes easily to them. They’re a lot more tuned in to what’s happening in the dynamic and digital world of today.”
CVL SRINIVAS
CEO, GroupM South Asia
“They have an inspiring fire in their belly to create something worthwhile. They have a lot of clarity about what they want to do and how they would like to go about it. I find there’s a lot more focus on collective success rather than just personal success. They understand the value of networking and interpersonal connections and how to leverage them. Of course when it comes to technology, they’re adapting to it at the speed of light or perhaps even faster than that!”
SUDHANSHU VATS
Group CEO, Viacom18
THE MILLENNIAL AT WORK
(FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH)
BY MAYANK DAYAL
A cluttered desk. An open Word document. Furiously typing line after line of ideas before they vanish from the realm of thought. A blinking chat window trying to seek attention. Among other icons, an active iTunes. Funky bobble heads line the desk. Just another day at the office for a millennial.
50 Shades of Grey that Matter
When it comes to deciding what works, all 50 shades of grey-matter matter more than the shades of grey on one’s head. That’s what I’ve come to learn in my last two years as a part of the marketing team of Comedy Central at Viacom18. This is a place where creative people are valued over people-pleasers, a place that rewards hard work and expects smart work.
For a company where the average age of employees is closer to 35 than 53, it’s impossible for heads of departments to ignore what the younger lot have to say. Add to the equation the fact that we cater to audiences ranging from five to 50. I might not make the final decision on what has to be done, but I am expected to provide an idea and often, if it’s good enough, I’m also the one who is expected to execute it. The company understands that if I’m smart enough to come up with a rocking idea, I’m probably mature enough to figure out a plan and work with my peers and superiors on making it happen.
The Wolf Pack
We’re a company that nurtures team spirit. Every win is a team win, celebrated with alcohol and cake-smashing. Every loss is a time for getting drunk; then we come back to work pumped up to attack the next project with a vengeance. It’s a work ethic that suits me, a millennial who can’t stand being as good as his last win. I need to keep on working on the next big thing.
What makes things even more exciting is the fact that bosses don’t boss around. They respect space. They give time. They understand that genius doesn’t happen by snapping fingers. They work with me rather than making me work for them. Designations dissolve during crunch time. We’re partners in crime. We’re comrades. I’ve also helped my boss understand how Snapchat works. Now she’s hooked to it, which made it easier for me to get her to sign off on a cool new promotional idea for a show that involved Snapchat!
Death by Cubicle? No way!
It’s a place that understands that 18 is not just an age but a state of being. Where else would you find a tattoo allowance? I actually get to have my awesome new tattoo reimbursed! Having a sucky day at work? Get a colleague to send you a ‘Bad Day at Work’ present and voila, the blues depart!
What may sound gimmicky or immature to a lot of industry ‘veterans’ out there is something that motivates us millennials. We work hard, sometimes pulling late hours and at times sacrificing our weekends. The company shows its gratefulness by creating an environment that makes us feel cared for. We get to visit a shrink in office, we get to participate in a weight-loss challenge in consultation with an in-house nutritionist, we also get to party in office on Fridays during our awesome Friday Chills Parties!
But first, let me take a selfie…
While all this sounds really cool and exciting, the crux of the matter is that I am significant. My existence in the system here makes a positive impact on the company which then reflects in the rewards that I receive. And that alone encourages me to push myself to do my best. Everything else is just a perk.
(The writer is Senior Manager - Marketing at Comedy Central, Viacom18)
Feedback: henna@exchange4media.com
