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Q. A recent job ad for the EA of a vice chairman of a media conglomerate said the candidate should be in cahoots with English and a passout from a college like St Stephen’s or St Xavier’s? In a country ruled by the likes of Messrs Modi, Ambani and Adani, is this job requirement a fair ask?
A. I loved the advertisement. It has an attitude… not the usual boring recruitment ads. Since I had the opportunity of working with the Giant of a Man at BCCL many moons back, I know that one needs exceptional brilliance (I am not boasting that I brilliant, my being there was more due to a cosmic design and due to the generosity of the owner) and exceptional capability and copability to deliver a variety of outcomes (not outputs). I would hasten to add that the operating contexts are very different now from the one I operated.
All the qualities required for the job would only make the selected candidate more competent (through osmosis also) in the ever-evolving workspace in the new world order. So, it’s very fair for the biggest print media company to ask for such a talent to accentuate its growth agenda with the exceptional intellectual capability of the visionary Leader.
Coming to M-A-A, how do you know they (A-A) don’t own such talents? They are in the comity of the most successful companies in this country, if not in the world. They must be doing a lot of things right and they must have a high market share of exceptional talent in the organisation and in diverse fields in which they operate. M has exceptional leadership capabilities. Hence, one needn’t always publicise to flaunt. After all, a tree is known by its fruits. And if wealth generation is one of the indicators of such a fruit, it implies that they have been on the right track.