Prasanth Kumar has been with GroupM for 13 long years, during which he has held several key roles including that of the head of GroupM’s trading arm, before he was named the CEO for GroupM’s and India’s largest media services company — Mindshare. In conversation with BW Businessworld’s Noor Fathima Warsia, he speaks about the agency’s biggest strengths and what motivates him.
Excerpts:
Can working for the largest agency in the country also be limiting in some way? I have been with GroupM for over 13 years, and two years of that as Mindshare chief. In all the roles here, leading one of our agency brands was perhaps the only thing I had not done, and I am enjoying every part of this chapter. The agency has been, and will be, a leader. That brings significant responsibilities. If you nurture that responsibility in shaping talent, and creating solutions for clients, you will have good outcomes, and that will set the tone right for the future.
What would you identify as the agency’s greatest strength? I have worked with some of my colleagues for a long time now, and my role first was to be able to play up to our strengths, which I believe is our strong leadership team. It’s a leader’s dream to have a strong leadership team, and we are blessed that we have one. This year was also very important for me from a diversity standpoint. In some form, my dream is about what is actually created. Success is what the company can do when you are not there. But the source of inspiration in improvisation comes from our young leadership team.
You have identified talent as a challenge too...And it is. From an industry standpoint, there are two aspects of this challenge — one, the pool of industry talent, and the other concern comes from the ecosystem. Much has changed in the latter. Newer kinds of companies have surfaced, startups are in the mix and competition can come from anywhere. We are no longer just a media industry. It is an industry that will provide solutions, and media is a derivative in that. A broader aspect of that challenge is that the ecosystem should join hands in inspiring and sometimes provoking the industry to create something new. It needs more attention, detailing and encouragement from every part and every stakeholder of the business.
From a talent perspective, I firmly believe that there will be more inflow of talent in the current ecosystem since there is need on both sides. The community will seek diverse talent and a diverse pool of talent will need this community. Talent attracts talent. Therefore, the ownership and the ability to inspire are both very critical. When these two come together, magic happens.
What motivates you? Various things. But the most important one is young talent. The journey of growing and becoming a leader comes from selfresponsibility and selfinitiatives. Monotony can be controlled by individuals. When you are willing to evolve, reinvent and play the same shot differently, the opportunities are endless. It is only apt for us as an organisation to give opportunities to young people with this kind of attitude. Progress is not one stage — it is everywhere and it brings a positive ecosystem because if you look at solution as the key priority, you will have fun.
