1st FMCC - Human Capital Forum has Industry stalwarts address crucial people issues

Nurturing talent in media, advertising, journalism and communication Industry -

New Delhi, 02 March, 2007: The 1st FMCC – Human Capital Forum, organized by Futuristix Media Communications Center (FMCC), in New Delhi today, had leading names from media, advertising, journalism and communication and HR address crucial people issues that the Industry is faced with.

Opening the Forum, which has been conceived as an attempt to find answers and common ground for talent issues in media, advertising, journalism and communication Industry, Mr. AP Parigi, MD and CEO, Entertainment Network India said “So what is your connect with this generation that has more dreams than memories? We should be thinking about connect and transparency. That’s where leadership starts. When people quit they quit their bosses not their organizations”, he further added.

Setting the tone for the panel discussion on Managing the Younger Workforce, which he was moderating, Rajeev Karwal, an Industry leader, said “I think there is no dearth of talent, only lack of enlightened organizations who need to hire by track records and attitudes rather than seemingly bright CVs and superficial communication or presentation skills". Mr. B Sai Kumar, CEO, TV 18 Media added an interesting perspective “We give ten year plans to our investors but demand results in the first quarter from our talent. And for all the emphasis on training, he added “If training is that important, why do we host training over weekends and holidays, why not a Monday?”

Further adding to the discussion, Mr. Lancelot Cutinha, VP – HR, Big FM 92.7, said “Today’s generation knows more than the elders and we should be open to some reverse mentoring” and
Mr. C V L Srinivas, Media expert and ex-CEO, Maxus- Asia-Pacific quizzed “Why do our CEOs not go and teach at the institutions?

CAPITAL DEBATE, the master forum, on HR is not a business partner? proved to be a spectacular debate with heavy-weight speakers speaking for and against the motion. Ramesh Jude Thomas, Principal Executive Officer, Equitor Management Consulting, moderating the session, highlighted an interesting paradox “Isn’t it ironical that an economy which has built its global reputation on manpower arbitrage and a whole stock market transition based on its people story, is now bleating about a shortage of talent?”.

Geetanjali Pandit, Director – HR, India Today Group said, “There is a need to make HR measurable” while Rashmi Deshpande, VP – HR, Group M, spoke of including HR in the business decisions. She elaborated “HR can front-end interaction with the client and add value. If you have to learn Salsa, practice your moves but also include your teachers in the process”.

Speaking during the discussion Talent and its paucity: Real or self-inflicted? Ms. Prema Sagar, Principal and Founder, Genesis Burson-Marsteller said “Talent too will face challenges. Those who possess a positive attitude, invest in their skill and knowledge and are prepared to stay in jobs for longer tenures will have successful careers. The rest will succeed in getting jobs”.
Arvind Wable, ED & CEO, FCB Ulka Group, added to the conversation “To save themselves the effort, the industry is stealing people instead of training.” Speaking in the same panel, Chintamani Rao, CEO, India TV, shed light on the other perspective, “Organizations should ask themselves why people should choose them over others in this competitive environment”.

Ms. Meenakshi Madhvani, moderating the session on Salaries: the gold rush: is it for real? quizzed the panelists by asking them if there was a more compelling reason that we could offer people to join or stay “What happened to the idea of a well defined organizational culture? Has it become outdated in today’s times?” she asked.

The last session of the day was Evaluation of Editorial Performance.
Shefalee Vasudev, Editor Marie Claire, said, “Same competencies do not work year after year, so we should read our readers, before they read us.”

It may have been the end of a busy day but the discussion had just been seeded and participants and panelists were seen exchanging notes, hoping to go back and act upon some of the learnings.

Looking satisfied both with the participation and quality of the discussions, Mr.Sajal Mukherjee, Founder – FMCC, said “We are delighted that we have been able to bring to the fore the most important aspect of our Industry – our people, their issues and drivers. The arguments, we hope, will compel to acknowledge that really going forward business strategy really is people strategies.”

“The Forum is the first step towards many such initiatives that FMCC aims to announce, hopefully soon.” added Mr. Mukherjee.

Timesjobs.com and Nai Dunia were the associate sponsors for the event. The event was supported by Deccan Chronicle, Brand Sum and Sahara Samay. Exchange4media.com was the online media partner for the event.

About our sponsors
Nai Dunia - the first Hindi paper on the internet (www.naidunia.com). Timesjobs -one of the leading search engines for online jobs (www.timesjobs.com ). Sahara Samay - provides world, regional, and topical news (www.saharasamay.com). BrandSum- India’s largest print ad archive (www.brandsum.com) and Deccan Chronicle (www.deccan.com)

For further information, contact:
Loveleena
Consultant-Academic & Corporate Affairs
FMCC, Plot No 8, Balaji Estate, Kalkaji, New Delhi-110018
+ 9 98 992 20625

Namita
Scenario Communication Partners
+ 91 98 107 10036

About FMCC

Futuristix Media Communication Center (FMCC) is India’s premier advertising, media and communication Institute located in New Delhi. FMCC has been set up to galvanize thought leaders, researchers and academicians in the area of media, advertising and communication together and emerge as the center for path breaking research in our industry (www.fmccindia.com)

Namita Arora / Bidisha Dey
Scenario Communication Partners
www.blogworks.in
namita.arora@blogworks.in /bidisha.dey@blogworks.in

This release was published on openPR.