“The Creativity That Emanates from Asia Is Deep and Emotional”
Renowned for his ability to transform businesses, Dheeraj Sinha has spent his first year as FCB Group CEO for India and South Asia pulling together talent, business and peak creativity in preparation for his mission: to make FCB the best creative company in the world.
The past year has seen the creation of brand new roles across the organisation, the launch of FCB NOW for new-age solutions, and most recently, the founding of FCB India’s Creative Council whose focus is developing ground breaking work that resonates with audiences.
Injecting the business with top talent and partnering with influential industry leaders and brands, Dheeraj has truly made his mark. In this interview with LBB’s Sunna Coleman, Dheeraj shares his leadership philosophy, his passion for people and where his ambition comes from.
LBB> Congratulations on your first year as Group CEO for India and South Asia! In a nutshell, what three words would you use to describe this time?
Dheeraj> Challenging, rewarding and great.
Moving to a new organisation is a big shift. You need to get to grips with the culture, the talent, the clients, all at the same time. But when you look at what we've managed to do in just one year, it’s hugely rewarding. I have a lot of gratitude for all that we have managed to achieve and I’m looking forward to the new year. I feel a sense of readiness to take on the world in a bigger way.
LBB> You have a proven track record of transforming businesses. What strategies have you implemented over the past year and what results are you most proud of achieving?
Dheeraj> My belief is that every day is day one. So no matter what track record anybody has, any new assignment is a new assignment. You have to undo all your learnings and you have to start from the ground. So that's what I have done at FCB.
One of the first big things we did was ensure that we have the right talent in the right place. We've promoted a fair number of people from within – talent that I could see would do even better when given a larger canvas, a larger stage. Then we brought in some great talent from various other places to fill any creative, strategy and business gaps. We also created some new roles like chief creative officer at FCB Kinnect and digital creative partner at FCB Group. I would go as far as to say that we have the best talent that any agency in the country has at this point in time.
Secondly, we’ve placed a lot of importance on work. We created the Indian Creative Council. We launched a platform called FCB Now so that we can be more new-age in our work.
And thirdly, we focused on culture, taking the best of what FCB has always been about while also focusing our energy on the future. How can we be more new-age? How can we be less hierarchical? How can we be the place where people come to do the best work of their lifetime? How do we make sure that we empower the young?
Those are the three big buckets of strategy.
Above: FCB Group India Creative Council
LBB> You also place great importance on humanity. Do you have any concerns on how technology is influencing the landscape?
Dheeraj> I'm a big believer in a social capitalist model of brand building. In Asian markets you have millions of people who don’t have access to things like pure drinking water and sanitation. There are gaps on literacy, there are gaps on empowerment, gaps on access, gaps on healthcare access. These are developing markets, and I feel that capitalism has a role to play in socialism. And it doesn't have to be charity. It can be aligned to your line of business growth. A feminine hygiene brand, for example, could help girls stay in school. I feel that the largest role of technology and data in all this is to solve the problems of the billions. Technology can help democratise.
LBB> Looking specifically at South Asia as a region, how would you describe its perspective on creativity? What qualities define the work and talent here?
Dheeraj> I think it’s a very hardworking region in terms of the sheer volume of work that it produces. The flip side of that is that we need to ensure we also focus on mental health and well being as an industry. In these markets, people can just run dry. But I think it’s also because the problems we are solving are huge and fascinating. Imagine solving the problem of financial literacy. Imagine solving the problem of education or water access. And therefore, the creativity that emanates from Asia is deep and emotional. At the same time, you see a lot of quirky, funny work which is very, very refreshing.
LBB> In a previous interview, you shared how FCB is looking for content that is local in nature, authentic, grassroots, and fresh. How do you strive to create such work that resonates with different demographics?
Dheeraj> First of all you need diversity of talent – hiring people with different mindsets and different skills. When you throw a mix of talent into a room together, you come out with things which are interesting and appealing to a range of people.
Secondly, we are proactively building lots of partnerships which help us stay connected to different markets and we also have people on the ground. We have a data centre of excellence to continuously map social media in terms of what's going on in real time – how are consumers reacting to trends, patterns, the work that we are putting out?
LBB> You must need to be quite agile as a company in order to keep up with the pace of change. How does FCB facilitate flexibility?
Dheeraj> In fact, that's been one of the largest cornerstones of the strategy this year. We’re moving to structures that are not hierarchical to empower the young. I'm a big believer of giving a voice to the young because they are the ones who are powering the consumer economy, right? We've run programs such as OnePlus where you take clients' problems and come up with non conventional solutions. You do not think of yet another TV campaign. You think of a data idea, you think of a platform idea, you think of a content idea. And that sense of proactivity is what builds agility. The focus is on building a muscle in the organisation that thinks like that all the time rather than waits for a problem to arise.
LBB> You have held many leadership roles throughout your impressive career. What attributes do you believe make for a good leader?
Dheeraj> My mantra is that leaders open up the sky for people to fly. A good leader is someone who understands the potential of the people even more than the people understand themselves. And therefore, as a leader, I sometimes push people to do more, to do better, because I know they have more inside them.
It’s also important to build success for your people – give them space to grow. I don't think people are scared of hard work if they're seeing success, whether that’s remuneration or career growth or something else. And it’s the leader's job to harness the organisation for success while giving people a long rope so that they can explore and learn in a safe space. If you don’t have that, you won’t have innovation.
LBB> Where does your drive and ambition come from?
Dheeraj> In any situation, I'm always evaluating, I can be very self critical. I never question what the organisation is doing for me. I always question what I am doing for the organisation. My question is always, am I doing enough? Are we doing enough with the opportunity that we have on the table?
LBB> Does that translate to your personal life?
Dheeraj> I'm switched on to business most of the time! I’m interacting with brands and their products all the time in daily life, so naturally, I will think about them a lot. In the creative business, it's like a wave, right? There’s times when you really need to engage in your work, and it may mean long hours but then there’s the dip when you have time to replenish yourself.
For me, one energy feeds the other. In my personal life, I still feel growth is important. I am always learning new things. I've written two books about the Indian market and I'd love to write a third. For me, it's important to keep growing mentally, to keep challenging yourself and to keep challenging your mind.
LBB> When you have time to replenish, how do you like to unwind?
Dheeraj> In nature. I love beaches. I love music. I don't sing or play – I'm completely handicapped as far as talent is concerned, but I'm a huge music buff. And I love to write – it’s like purging, it clarifies my mind a lot.
LBB> Finally, what are you most looking forward to over the next year?
Dheeraj> We have a great stack of talent now and we have fantastic clients. This year has seen incredible growth for us. Very seldom do you get all of that coming together in an amazing way, and we've managed to have that. So now we have a great base to go bigger next year. Our ambition is to become the best creative company in the world. That's what excites us. I'm so looking forward to next year.
