Yesterday I spent 30 minutes with Rishad Tobaccowala and as always he had 2-3 very interesting things to say. One thing that really made me think is Rishad’s focus on frontline (it was refreshing as most people are just talking about topline or bottomline). He said: “I want to talk with the youngest people in organization. I want to focus on them and give them a platform to raise questions and express their ideas.”
I thought it was interesting because most senior leaders want to meet other senior leaders or mid-management staff when they visit a particular country or city or office. And that is true for both internal as well as external talent. And even if people talk to them… its more about just speaking at them rather than providing them a platform to interact & express freely. We’re in people business but as an industry (advertising) we don’t really invest time in frontline staff.
Rishad will be coming out to India & China over next couple of months and I’m looking forward to learning more about his approach & start practicing it in the near future.
