One question we media-owners and professionals keep asking ourselves are: “Do we practise what we preach?” Raghav Bahl and the Network 18 group certainly seem to do so. The ‘Young Turks’ show of CNBC-TV18 always brings young leaders to the fore, and so does Network18, which owns CNBC. Bahl recently announced that B Saikumar, the Group COO, would in due course take over the Group CEO’s mantle from the entrepreneurial Haresh Chawla. If one were to give it a headline, it would read: “Young conglomerate brings young leader to lead, practises what it preaches.”
I met B Saikumar almost 10 years back, when the current CEO of Zee News Ltd Barun Das (then an Associate Publisher at Business Today) introduced me to him. Sai was then running the sales and marketing for CNBC-TV18 and working closely with Chawla and Bahl.
In those days, Business Today used to collaborate with CNBC on events. When Sai showed up at an event (yes, he did occasionally show up for events and even organise his own, unlike now), I expected to meet a conservative South Indian, instead he turned out to be a young, bubbly person full of enthusiasm. When I jokingly told Sai that he wasn’t the person I was expecting to meet, he replied that he was more of a Punjabi and Mumbaikar, as his wife is a Punjabi and he had spent years working in Mumbai. He said he had all the ‘bad habits that Punjabis have’. Being a Punjabi, this was touchy ground, but I did not dwell much on it.
A year later, Sai visited me at exchange4media’s Connaught Place office, and we struck a rapport that continues till today. Sai is a rare combination of a big picture person, task-driven individual and a relationship perfectionist, balancing all three with ease.
Recently, when Chawla decided to move on from Network18, there was a lot of speculation about his successor. I instinctively knew it was going to be Sai, because Bahl would need a person whom he already trusted, as any newcomer would take a year or two to build a working relationship and an entrepreneurial jugalbandi. I also knew that Sai, being the Group COO, was familiar with all business heads and CEOs, and would find acceptability from business teams and editorial colleagues. He would signal fresh ideas while bringing in continuity. Bahl took the right call, and Sai is the best person to work with him to build on Network18 ‘s momentum and lead it to the next level of growth. In fact, Sai’s Punjabi traits might help!
Three months ago, a certain news group was looking for a broadcast CEO and said that they would approach Sai. I told the CEO of the news group that Sai was like a promoter and wedded to Network18. Of course, when Sai was approached, he politely declined.
Sai has a multi-dimensional personality. The seven traits that hold him in good stead are: 1. He is accessible to all CEOs who report to him and people from the industry 2. Takes very fast decisions to move forward on projects, assignments and people 3. Good at managing and motivating senior team members like Dilip Venkatraman, CEO of CNN-IBN , Sanjay Dua, CEO of Network 18 Media, Ajay Chacko, CEO of AETN , Anil Uniyal, CEO of CNBC-TV18, Lakshmi Narsimhan of Web18 , Sandeep Khosla of Infomedia!8 , Gurmeet Singh of Forbes18, Satish Menon of Sports18, etc. 4. He maintains a low profile, which lets him concentrate on work 5. Always understated 6. A tactical super-achiever and strategist at heart 7. Respects editorial colleagues and editorial values.
With all these qualities, Sai is a formidable player. He has been instrumental in the AETN deal, in Forbes’ entry into India and almost all group web properties. Today, he runs Network18 because he will deliver, because he has earned it and his best is yet to come. Like Sai, younger leaders need to run media companies that are big and innovating; age really doesn’t matter.
Sai has also been elevated to the board of Viacom18 as well as Home Shop18. I am sure both Raj Nayak, the dynamic and affable CEO of Colors and Sandeep Malhotra of Home Shop18 will see value in Sai working with them as part of the board and leveraging the Group’s strengths to attain market dominance.
Whenever I meet Sai and confront him with Network18’s debt issues, he dismisses it politely, saying it’s manageable. Even when they were a Rs 100 crore company, there was debt of Rs 50 crore, he points out, and now that they are at Rs 2,600 crore, Rs 1,300 crore debt is manageable.
Sai has always kept the Network18 group’s interests ahead of his personal ambition, and grown in the process. I can cite example after example - be it bringing senior professionals as CEOs to manage independent businesses, keeping ego and insecurities aside or setting up JVs with credible foreign entities. I have introduced Sai to some of these people, and seen him building on these relationships like a master entrepreneur. Even in the face of advertiser backlash because of editorial uprightness, Sai has engaged respectfully with advertisers without giving too much away.
As Oscar Wilde said, “The true kingdom for each one of us, and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more.” We all salute Sai, one of the few ‘working CEOs’, and when I meet him next, I will say, “You have come a long way, Baby.”
Feedback: abatra@exchange4media.com
