The Fearless Founder @70

What is the secret to Adfactors’ success? How has the firm delivered high double-digit growth on a sustained basis? What is it like to work with and for India’s largest PR firm? Where does he (Madan Bahal or ‘MB’ as he is called by many) get his energy and drive from?

As the fearless founder celebrates his 70th birthday, and his well-wishers celebrate him, I reflect on my journey at Adfactors PR over the last five years and try to decode seven leadership lessons I've learned by watching him in action. Together, they seem to be the threads that hold the fabric of our firm together, making him (and us) the fearless firm that he keeps pushing us to be.

1. Future gazing – his ability to see what’s coming around the next bend in the road is uncanny. He reads relentlessly and can connect dots that others have not even seen. As a result, we are often ahead of the curve when it comes to best practice and next practice.
2. Fail Fast – there is nothing that he is so attached to that he will not change (other than growth), he curates new ideas and business, within the world of Adfactors (and sometimes outside), relentlessly. He has patience, sees failures as fine if there is learning that gets digested, and we use it to pivot.
3. Fuel what is working – hard work and leading from the front are his hallmark traits. He finds business units and people who can work at his pace and provides them with the resources needed to fuel their dreams.
4. Find a person’s strength and unleash it – he pushes people to become the best version of themselves. There is no space to hide; he can see through you, and he can also hold you when you need help. He will hold you accountable to your promises. He focuses on finding what a person is good at and getting them to do more of that.
5. Family support – every new person who joins is welcomed into the “Adfactors family,” and like any good family, we have our fair share of squabbles, fights, and favourites. But when the chips are down, he and the firm stand firm with each other. Like a family does when its important, differences are put aside, and people come together.
6. Foundation built on process – the invisible backbone that helps us deliver consistent quality to our 600-plus client base has been put together brick by brick. From a daily 8.45 am huddle of the NBD anonymous group, to the Decathlon and Power of One (driving quality and alignment), and the weekly meeting where the firm's performance is discussed in full transparency.
7. Fast forward – keep going, keep growing, and do it with speed, because it is our duty and privilege to be trusted by so many with their reputation and critical issues’ needs. Go where others don’t dare to and have the courage to be fearless in the face of uncertainty, certain in the knowledge that the firm will always have your back.

“Welcome to the Adfactors family…” In Jan 2021, I heard these words for the first time and many times since, as new team members join week after week. I want to take a moment to share what that means by offering a heartfelt thank you to Madan and my Adfactors family for allowing me the space, support, and flexibility to be with my family as my father battled pancreatic cancer last year. Unfortunately, we lost Dad in Dec of 2025, but because of the culture of this firm, I got the gift of a year by his side. I know many others have received the support of this family in their time of need. This is what makes us special. To be able to deliver on the numbers and keep growing without losing this character of caring for its people, is what makes Adfactors truly unique.

Nelson Mandela said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” As the world, and by extension the PR world, is buffeted by winds of change, Madan has declared it a ‘code red’ situation. One that demands all hands on deck to navigate a way through the storm.

When challenges abound, so too does opportunity, is how he views the ‘code-red’ situation. One thing is certain: given the culture he and his co-founder, Rajesh Chaturvedi, have created, all hands will join together, and we will keep moving the needle, optimistic about the future of PR.

As Madan often says, growth is a signal of our continued relevance as a firm and as an Industry.

Time to move forward, fearlessly, with a hat tip to the captain of the ship, who has the helm of the Indian PR industry. In his words “Go for it…”