Prannoy Roy put institution building above personal stardom: Rahul Kanwal

In his recent interview with exchange4media, NDTV CEO and Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal cited Prannoy Roy, Aroon Purie and Raghav Bahl as examples of media builders who created enduring institutions by allowing other journalists to emerge as influential stars.

Explaining his conscious decision to stay away from anchoring a daily prime-time programme, Kanwal said an Editor-in-Chief must be willing to step back and allow other people and editorial brands to occupy the spotlight.

“You cannot be the team’s coach and captain and still insist on batting yourself,” Kanwal said. According to him, when an Editor-in-Chief anchors a daily show, a significant amount of newsroom energy inevitably becomes concentrated on making that one programme and its anchor successful.

Kanwal pointed to Prannoy Roy’s stewardship of NDTV as an example of leadership without insecurity. The network was co-founded and earlier promoted by Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, and produced some of Indian television journalism’s most recognisable names, including Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt and Arnab Goswami.

“One of Prannoy Roy’s great strengths was that he was comfortable with the stardom of Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt, Arnab Goswami and the other stars of that extraordinary newsroom,” Kanwal said. “He was comfortable with other people becoming more famous than he was.”

Kanwal said the same leadership quality was visible in Aroon Purie, who built the India Today Group while providing space for a “galaxy of talent”, including prominent editorial personalities such as Prabhu Chawla and Shekhar Gupta.

“The same was true of Aroon Purie. India Today had a legion of editorial stars, including Prabhu Chawla and Shekhar Gupta, and he was comfortable with that galaxy of talent,” he said.

Kanwal also named Network18 founder Raghav Bahl among the media entrepreneurs who were secure enough to build organisations around strong talent instead of a single dominant personality.

“If you examine builders such as Raghav Bahl at Network18, Aroon Purie at India Today and Prannoy Roy at NDTV, they were comfortable in their own skin and comfortable with others outshining them,” Kanwal said.

He added that his own leadership philosophy is centred on hiring people who are smarter and more capable than him across different functions.

“You need people who are better than you and who add value to what you are building. That is how an institution of value is created,” he said. “If you are insecure and continually hire people who are less competent than you, you will never build a great organisation.”