Category: DAS KA DUM

Presenting Week 4, Day 2 of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. And do come back on Thursday for another round of questions and answers.

 Please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar, to visit the archives of Q&As.

Q. It’s Gandhi Jayanti tomorrow. Any Gandhi-ism (or thought/statement) that you think is most appropriate for the Indian media as it attempts to sail through these VUCA times?

A. To my mind, Mahatma Gandhi represents certain values that would always be relevant. In fact in a VUCA world, its relevance would be more beneficial, if practised in their true spirits. Fundamentally, he espoused goodness for all and by all. He also postulated truth and non-violence as  non-negotiable foundation of everything. These principles are sector-agnostic and quintessentially pertinent. My conviction has succinctly been  expressed in  Albert Einstein’s golden words on the Mahatma:   “Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth”.

After a break for Gandhi Jayanti, Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das is back. Enrich yourself, and enjoy!

 Please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar, to visit the archives of Q&As.

Q. Everyone says print is dead or is dying. What is your forecast for the Indian print media?

A. Your question has the germ of the answer: death is the beginning of life. No one dies. It’s only the form that migrates. I strongly feel that News on Paper won’t ever die. In fact no business dies. It’s the morbid attachment to form/formats and business model that stymies possible transmigration to a contemporary/ evolved/ market-friendly (read user-friendliness) state. Those who believe in survival of the fittest (as a business for sure) would never get afflicted by extinction. One needs to migrate from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

In the prevalent interconnected and interactive, anytime, anywhere world , where consumer activism is dominant,  a passive medium with active audience (that a print medium is) needs to transport itself to a different mindset to complement other formats of delivery. In an ecosystem economy, a platform-based fluid existence would be a good route to thriving existence.

It’s the festive season, and we couldn’t help asking this question to ‘Wizard of Words’ Dr Bhaskar Das as part of our Das ka Dum series of Q&As. Provocative questions, Thoughtprovoking responses.  If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar…

Q. You are almost always colourfully and stylishly dressed. Now what if a 22-year-old in your organisation does the same: wear green trousers or a yellow jacket to work or even worse: a client meeting?

A. I presume your wonderment about the colour skew in my outfit has no pejorative insinuation to lack of sartorial finesse (either by age cohort or by occasion inappropriateness). At a meta level, colours do contribute to change in one’s dopamine flow. So long as it’s not garish and asymmetrical with the combo and the personality, it needn’t be out of place. These days, in the start-up ecosystem, the freedom expressed through outfit/ dress is more evolved amongst the Generation Z  or others who defied demographic gravity.

The larger confusion that you might be harbouring is the conflation between form and content. Both are different but can be complementary. It needn’t be an either-or. But lack of content can’t be camouflaged by the garb of colour.

There is of course corporate protocol which needs to be adhered by all age groups for disciplinary requirements. It differs by organisation. There are practices of weekend dressing or outfits on festive occasions. ‘Judgmentality’ on the same is superfluous. Every organisation  is justified in its approach. Incidentally, I have also followed the same protocol during my career. May be I engendered in you some confusion where my colourful personality (an expression full of modesty and not narcissism) got seamlessly mixed with my outfits.

Presenting the Q&A with Dr Bhaskar Das on the last day of Dassera Week 2019. Enjoy and Enrich yourself

 If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar..

Pssst: Do come back on Monday, October 14 for a cracker of a Q&A. And not one, but two of them. A Double Dhamaka of sorts!

Q. We’ve asked you for your views on the owners of media companies you’ve worked with. Who among the professional managers you’ve worked would you say you’ve learnt a lot from?

A. If one’s mind is open and perpetually curious and incorrigibly paranoid about obsolescence, every individual becomes a source of learning. So naming specific individuals may be challenging as so many individuals have contributed to whatever I am today.

I have also learnt from global sources by attending conferences and through constant upgradation through pedagogic immersion ( ncluding my PhDs).

My kindergarten, school, college and university was BCCL and all my bosses and colleagues had  been great teachers. Then ZMCL (Zee) had been a source  great learning about various media formats through bosses, peers and colleagues. And later my stints in DB Corp, and now Republic Media Network have kept the search for pebbles  continuing on the shores of knowledge.

The Q&A today is treading on delicate matters. But questions like these must be asked, and hence ought to be answered. Which we’ve done. Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das is as no-holds-barred as it can get. There are no holy cows, whatsoever. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. There is a sentiment that many Indian newspapers are very unprofessionally run or rather not very professionally run. You’ve spent a lifetime in the business. What’s your view??

A. You want me to be objective is a subjective matter. The moot point is what is a professional approach or unprofessional approach. HBS or all business schools can write tomes on the subject. Besides, what is professional to one person need not be professional to another person. Do you dump unorthodox players in cricket because they are grammatically not impeccable?

In the ultimate analysis, what works, what delivers. Market is the best arbiter and not text books. Even in the most sanitised professional environment, some whistleblower can crop up. Corporate world are replete with examples of so-called unprofessionalism. Leading  newspaper organisations have been surviving for years not just by happenstance. So far as my personal experience is concerned, I have always worked in a professional environment. I also believe that “I am the cause of everything i experience”. Consequently, when I remain professional, the world resembles the same.

On the last day of the week, we ask Dr Bhaskar Das for advice that many professionals must be seeking as they turn professionals. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar..

Q. Am sure there are several people who come to you saying they want to turn entrepreneurs. What’s your advice to media professionals turning entrepreneurs?

A. In today’s context, it’s a very logical question where individuals want to make a difference and express their freedom outside the boundary of a monolithic structure and protocol. I usually don’t believe in giving advice as I might be needing it more.

But I can share what would I have told to myself if the entrepreneurial urge came to me. Here it is: be conscious of the fact that three things viz consumer value, Business model and Ecosystem would keep you on your toes and they have to be based on robust data platform. A collaborative mindset and navigating a platform-based approach for business will be critical. Finally, it’s always good to start early (not necessarily true of course) and don’t forget to inculcate the agility to pivot in case there are signs of too much headwind for the relevant business.  And it’s not a bad idea if emotion and ego are left behind at home before doing business.

An all-new question answered by Dr Bhaskar Das in the Das ka Dum series. Read on…

 If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

We all know of a variety of super-achievements in your professional life. But would you like to talk to us of a low and as you look back, how would  you have handled the issue differently?

I have no high or low in life. I developed a stoic approach to everything. I knew that moving fro on peak to another has to pass through a valley, unless one is a superman or spiderman. When one makes peace with the flow of life, any feeling of regret is an anathema to the core belief.