Former ABP CEO & MD Dipankar Das Purkayastha On Wednesday (April 24) launched his maiden book, 'Headline: Memoir of a Media CEO’, in New Delhi. The book narrates the personal journey as well as professional journey of Purkayastha, who came from a small town and went on to become the top executive of a prominent media house.
The book was launched at the India International Centre. The event started with ABP Network CEO Avinash Pandey introducing Purkayastha, followed by a fireside chat hosted by veteran journalist Dr Anurag Batra with whom Purkayastha shared insights from his life and his 42-year stint with ABP.
Speaking during the Q&A session, Avinash Pandey shared his experience of working with Purkayastha and said the latter 'walks the talk' and works with empathy.
"In my last 20 years with ABP, I have gone to him many times for advice. He always shares his expertise and feedback very candidly. He is someone who walks the talk with empathy." Pandey said.
DD Purkayastha, fondly called "DDP" by his colleagues, has served as the ABP CEO & MD for 14 years and is one of the most respected CEOs in the Indian media landscape. Purkayastha continues to serve as Non-Executive Director at ABP post his 42-year-long tenure with the media giant.
From his first address with foreign media to the time when his company stood beside him like a rock during his mother's cancer treatment, Purkayastha reminisced about the time he spent with ABP.
Family And Support
The former CEO talked about the "immense support" he got from his family and how he always maintained a careful barrier between his personal and professional life. He talked about how his wife says that he is a totally different man when he steps outside the car.
"My professional and personal life is totally different."
He also shared how his company supported him when his mother was undergoing cancer treatment.
First To Bring In Work From Home Policy Even Before Covid-19
Purkayastha also spoke about how he was the first one in the media industry to pitch the idea of complete work from home even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world in 2020. He spoke about how he persisted with the idea despite facing stiff opposition from across the departments.
In his book, he describes at great lengths how the transition to WFH was a "cakewalk" and how successfully they treaded through the pandemic.
Breaking Even Despite Covid-19
He wrote in the book that how the industry was facing a huge challenge because people were not buying newspapers. "That was the toughest challenge I faced ever and succeeded," Purkayastha said. "I was supposed to retire in April 2020. I told Sarkars, 'I can't leave ABP in such a condition'."
He said most offices of ABP were closed off and the company saved a lot of money by switching to work from home. He cited how the smooth work from home policy helped because it was already implemented before the pandemic struck. "Only TV journalists who could not work from home were allowed in the office. Anyone who wished to come to office had to take permission from the Human Resource department. In case anyone contracted Covid-19 at home, we made sure the company took care of it."
He said he had to take many tough decisions and stop several editions, but by March 2021 he could promise that "we will break-even this year!".
His memoir talks about on how he ushered the company towards breaking even despite huge challenges facing the newspaper industry. "We worked with WHO and undertook huge promotions and campaigns to spread awareness that Newspapers don't spread coronavirus."
Speaking on the success of Telegraph, DDP said it came as a surprise to the media industry. "The young generation loved it and it gave a tough time to newspaper behemoths in the industry."
The book also talks about the success story of Telegraph and how it entered markets that were hugely dominated by big newspaper giants.