This is the story of a boy from an obscure, remote town in India who reaches the highest rung of a glitzy media corporate house.
Mr Dhruba Mukherjee
CEO, ABP Pvt Ltd
When the author of the book DD Purkayastha (DDP) was a student of eighth standard, he failed in mathematics. Most of us, in a similar situation would have developed an aversion to the subject. But he doubled up on mathematics. He ensured that he studied so hard and topped his school in the board exam in mathematics two years down the line. In management jargon, we call it resilience to bounce back.
Tenacity and Perseverance
He scored top grade in his Board exams and decided to pursue his academic dream in one of the best colleges in Calcutta. Armed with his grades, he comes to Calcutta for admission. And, Lo and behold! he finds that the admission season is over. The principal tells him that they cannot admit him, in spite of his good grades, because the admission season is over and classes have started. Most of us do in that situation would regret our bad luck and move on to find the next best college or opportunity that comes our way but not DDP. He sits day in and day out, outside the principal’s office till one day the principal gives in and admits him. He became one of the toppers of his batch in that college. In management jargon, we call it perseverance to chase your dream. The author personifies that.
Every Adversity is an Opportunity
DDP becomes a science topper and enrols for Applied Physics. He gets a call from one of the IITs and he was all set to pursue Electronics and Communication. But destiny hands him a bad dream. The main breadwinner of his family passes away and the responsibility falls upon him to take up a job and start earning to support his family. The only job that comes his way is the job of an accountant. Most of us would have blamed our fate and carried on with life with frustration but not DDP. He works during the daytime and in parallel, enrols in the cost accountancy course. He clears the exam to become a cost and management accountant, so that he can do justice to his job. This is converting an adversity into an opportunity.
Building Consensus
DDP falls in love with a beautiful woman. He proposes to marry her. But there is a problem. The parents won’t accept her because she’s not from the same caste and community. The girl won’t marry him, unless there is parental acceptance. He works with all stakeholders, gets their consent, and eventually marries the beautiful woman who still stays and stands by him today in his life. In management, we call it negotiation and building consensus. That’s what he did.
Fireside Chat with LV Navaneeth, CEO, The Hindu:
Navaneeth:At the age of 15 in 1962, you managed to get admission in St. Xavier’s, though you got there late. What made a 15-year-old DDP think that perseverance would pay off?
Purkayastha (DDP): I was just 14-and-a-half. I reached Calcutta and my dream was to study Physics in either Presidency College or St Xaviers’ College. I heard so much about these two colleges from my father. But as I was staying in a distant and obscure town of Assam, I didn’t know the timing and I arrived in Calcutta quite late. In my higher secondary exam, I scored very good marks. I stood first in Physics. When I went to Presidency, they said, “Sorry, you are late. We can offer you Honours in Chemistry.” I wanted to study Physics. So, I refused Presidency College and went to Xavier’s.
I still remember the Vice-Principal, a Jesuit Father who was six-and-a-half feet tall, thin and with a stiff upper lip. When I approached him, he said, “Sorry, you have come one month late, my boy. I can’t admit you here.” I protested, “Sir, but I have got good marks.” He said, “But I can’t help it.”
I found a stool outside his room. For 10 days, I used to come and sit on that stool. Whenever, the father came out, I would ask him, “Are you taking me, Father?” “I’m sorry,” was the answer. My perseverance then was extreme. I kept on coming, every day. I stayed in my uncle’s place and I didn’t know Calcutta at all. My mother’s younger sister used to live in Calcutta. Every morning my duty was to have an early lunch there, go to the college, sit on the stool for the whole day till the college timings were over.
Finally, after ten days, the father broke his stance. He told me, “My boy. It’s already one and a half months. You won’t be able to keep pace with the other students. If I admit you, you will fail in the class.” I saw that as an opportunity and challenged him, “If I’m not in the top 10 in my class, I will leave my studies and go back to Assam.” He had no answer to that. I got admission and in the first semester exam that was held after one and a half months, I came second in a class of 40 students. The Jesuit father wrote a letter to my father in which he appreciated my obstinacy and perseverance. I completed the three-year course in Physics with first class Honours. Hardly 10 students got first class from the University of Calcutta.
Navaneeth: Can you share a couple of eccentric geniuses you came across during your time at ABP?
DDP: CP Kuruvilla was one of them. A Keralite, he was one of the best news editors of India. He didn’t believe in anything until it passed through his microscope. He was a very capable gentleman. But after eight o’clock in the evening, he would be drunk. He couldn’t give up drinking. In those days, we used to have friendly cricket matches between editorial and the business side employees. A lot of drinking would happen. In one of the matches, MJ Akbar was given out leg before wicket. Both MJ Akbar and the umpire were half-drunk. Akbar refused to leave the crease and argued with the umpire, “How dare you declare me out?” The umpire stood his ground and said, “Umpire is the king.” Finally, we all intervened and cajoled MJ. Finally he came out of the ground angrily.
Navaneeth: You have lot of love for Calcutta.
DDP: True. Calcutta in the 60s was the most happening city in India. Every industry except pharma and textiles, was headquartered in Calcutta. It was one of the country’s most sought after centers for education and health care. Later, I wanted to give back to the city.
I’m a basically a finance and IT person. I worked in the IT sector in the 60s and 70s. I was working for DCM Data Products, which was the mother of IT in India. India started with DCM and HCL. I thought of doing something in the IT space. The year was 2002 and it was the height of CPM rule. I wanted to organise an IT conference in Calcutta. People called me mad. I was adamant that I had to do it. I believed that it was the only way by which we could bring in business to Calcutta. There were no IT companies operating in Calcutta then. Finally, Kiran Karnik, then President of NASSCOM agreed. We had the first Expo conference in Calcutta. ABP partnered with NASSCOM and it was a big success. Everything was pre-planned. It is now more than 22 years. Infocom (Business, Leadership and Technology event) is an ABP initiative and it is a big name now. It was the catalyst for the growth of IT in Bengal. There is an area in Salt Lake City in Calcutta, which is fully devoted to IT. There are now about 30,000 people working there and all the big IT companies are out there.
I used to take the CPM government minister with me to many IT companies. Such was my relation with him. He would request the companies to set up in West Bengal. Once I met the Cognizant Head in Bangalore and invited him to Bengal. He complained that ten years ago, they had been allotted a land in Calcutta but they could not get physical possession of the land even after a decade. I called the minister from there over phone and explained the issue. After two minutes, he called me back and confirmed that possession of the land would happen within a week and that they could mobilise their team to Calcutta. This approach brought in the belief in IT companies. I’m very happy that I gave something to the IT industry in Calcutta, which may not be as big as in Bangalore or Hyderabad, but IT is a growing industry in Calcutta.
Navaneeth: Last year, our CTO had gone to speak in Infocom and he said it’s an outstanding event. That has inspired us to put together a technology event on our own, which we do this year. Are you still fully involved in Infocom?
DDP: No, I’m not involved. Mr Dhruba is handling it. It is still being run the same way. In every conference, we allocate one person to take care of every speaker, right from receiving them at the airport, escorting to the event and then leaving them back at the airport. That is the kind of personalised attention given to each speaker. Almost 1000 delegates attend from all over the country. There are nearly 100 speakers and it is spread over three days. All big names have addressed, including Dr Abdul Kalam.
Navaneeth: You started in IT, transitioned to finance, became the CFO and also the CTO of the company. In 2007, you moved to the leadership role as a CEO and in 2018, you became the MD and CEO. How did you transform yourself as a leader while getting into each of these roles? What are some of the challenges you faced in the initial days of each single journey in your career at the ABP?
DDP: People say that leaders are born. I don’t believe in that, because my life doesn’t say so. I’ve made myself what I am. Something interesting happened and I don’t remember the year. I was the Head of finance and IT.I was sitting in the corner room. I was deputed to a program arranged by the London School of Business and the venue was ISB, Hyderabad. It was a seven-day program. LSB people flew in from London. It was called 360-degree feedback program. All the attendees had to take a 360-degree feedback from their bosses, subordinates and peers. Based on that, the whole program was planned.
On the penultimate day, each person’s envelope was opened and we were told clearly what people felt about us. There was a gentleman from Kirloskar. He was the Head of Production there. He thought he was very popular and a people friendly person. When the report came, the feedback was just the opposite. People in the factories said: ‘Yes, he is a loving boss. He knows our family. He comes and spends hours with us, has his coffee with us. But the problem is that he doesn’t convey our problems and pains to the higher management. Everything ends with him and he has got limited power, beyond which he can’t do anything. He never goes up.’
This was a huge shock to him. I was hardly a 30- or 35-year-old boy. The gentleman was almost touching 60s. He sat down and started crying. “Oh my god! My whole life, I believed in what I am and thought people liked me. But people don’t really like me,” he lamented.
The next day, my assessment came. It said: “DDP is very strong in finance and IT. He has every number on his fingertips. He is a problem solver. We have never had any problem in finance. But problem with him is that people are scared of him. They don’t dare to go to his room. Whatever you explain to him, he will give a reverse argument and you have to follow whatever he says. He doesn’t mix with people and people don’t like him.”
That was a revelation for me. When I came back from the program, I was determined to change myself. Change can’t happen overnight. Gradually, I started moving around, talking to people. Slowly, I corrected myself. Today, I don’t think anybody will say that DDP is not a people’s man; I am the most connected CEO in India and globally. Everybody in the industry knows me by first name.
That’s how I changed myself. With that kind of a background, I couldn’t have become a CEO. I realised what they said about me was right. It opened up my horizon. This change is very much required to become a CEO. Merely as a backroom finance guy, you can’t run a company.
Navaneeth: Can you rewind and take us to how you fell in love with a girl who became your wife?
DDP: I met a girl called Kamala. She would become my wife and the axis around which the whole family would hold itself together. Kamala was studying to graduate in literature, when I met her. It was love at first sight. I found in her a woman of strong will and confidence. She wrote poems, and often her letters to me were poems. We courted for six years before we decided to get married. Now the difficult part comes. Nothing came easy in my life. My parents didn’t approve of my marrying a girl who was not from our community and geography. We came from Assam. She’s a girl from Calcutta. Kamala didn’t agree to marry without my parents’ blessings. Slowly but persistently, I was able to cajole her into registered marriage. The social wedding could wait. It would be done only after my parents and community approved. In December 1971, we signed up as husband and wife at the marriage register’s office, without anyone’s knowledge. Two of my friends signed as witnesses. One of them was Mr Altamas Kabir, who later became the Chief Justice of India. I don’t know how many people would have had such a privilege, of a Chief Justice signing as a witness for their marriage!
Navaneeth: If your father were around today, what feedback would he have given to you as a son and as a professional?
DDP: As a father, he would have said, “I’m proud of you. You have made me proud.” As a professional, he will say, “Don’t get swayed away by the limelight on you. The moment you do that, will your end begin. Be honest and stick to integrity.” He was an honest man. He had a Master’s in English. I will share an episode. He started his career in the United Bank of India as a branch manager in a place called Jorhat in Assam. A lot of tea gardens were there owned by Marwaris. One day, a Marwari owner came to him and asked him to approve his loan. My father refused because he found it beyond the norms of the bank. The loanee had a lot of connections. He met the chairman of the bank Mr B K Datta. One day, the Chairman flew down to Assam and asked father to approve the loan. Father said, “No Sir. This is beyond the norms of the bank. How can I do that?” “No, but you have to sign it,” insisted Mr Datta. “Then you better sign, Sir. If the Chairman signs, then I’ll sign,” said dad. “I can’t sign,” said the Chairman. “Then I better resign,” said dad and submitted his resignation letter. He would always stick to honesty or integrity. In companies, I find it is strange that in the assessment, there is a category called ‘integrity’ against which employees are graded. When I assumed leadership role, I removed this from the annual appraisal form. I believe that integrity is a given thing. You either have it or not. There is no need to grade it. People with lack of integrity should be weeded out.
Navaneeth: Let me move on to some of the questions from the audience. Looking back on your career, what are you most proud of achieving? What legacy do you hope to leave behind in the media industry?
DDP: I am proud of achieving many things. One of the most difficult years of my life was the post-Covid year. I was supposed to retire in April 2020, but seeing covid happening, I told my boss that I couldn’t leave the company in the cold and that I would extend my stay with them. My team was sitting without any revenue and sales. Nobody was buying newspapers but we had to pay everybody the salary. I took several decisions and implemented them. One was work from home completely. In fact, in September 2019, when people never knew about Covid or WFH, I asked my team why salespeople should come to office. Sales guys should be running in the market. When they come to office, they spend some time, chat and then go away. There’s so much of time, AC and office space that get wasted. I decided that our five offices in Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune and Hyderabad would start working from home. There was a lot of opposition from my colleagues. But finally, people were very much delighted to have implemented this much before Covid. We faced a lot of hiccups. We had IT problems. By the time Covid came, everything was ready. With the press of a button, I could start Work from Home across the organization. We closed all our offices across the country, except our main building in Calcutta. Everybody worked from home. Even today, if you go to our huge Calcutta ABP office, you won’t find more than 50 people working there. If somebody wants to come to office, they will have to take permission. There were two outcomes. One, people were very happy. Two, the efficiency didn’t come down. Everything was getting better. We cut cost ruthlessly, without compromising on quality. Our total cost was reduced by one third. By the time I retired in April 2020, I got the balance sheet to be very slim and trim. The breakeven point came down a lot. I left ABP as a happy CEO. I think this was my biggest challenge and also the biggest success.
Navaneeth: Are there any mentors or influencers who had significant impact on your journey?
DDP: My biggest mentor was my father. He instilled in me the faith in Almighty. When he expired in ‘73, it was really traumatic for me. During my professional days, we had a very strong board and I learnt a lot from them. Dr. Ashok Ganguly, ex-Unilever chairman was our chairman. Gopalakrishnan of Tatas and Bimal Jalan, ex-RBI governor were in our board. They individually mentored me and corrected me if I made a mistake. Even today, I’m learning from young colleagues.
Navaneeth: What is the difference in managing a media business from managing other industries?
DDP: There is no difference between any other industry and media. The business rule is same.
Navaneeth: What advice would you give to aspiring young professional CEOs of tomorrow?
DDP: Three things are very important: vision, determination and resilience. You must set a very high target which is achievable and start believing in that.
