He’s still under 40 but even a cursory look at his LinkedIn profile makes you wonder: How could someone achieve so much at such a young age? But age is just a number for strategy consultant Sidharth Balakrishna who made a qualitative difference in each company he worked for since 2004, after he completed his MBA from IIM Calcutta. The list includes global corporate giants like Hindustan Lever, Shell, Accenture, KPMG and Vedanta. Currently working as Group Strategy Head and Executive Director for Dr Subhash Chandra’s Zee media conglomerate, Sidharth is also a full-time Board Director, Siti Networks & Voice Snap. Corporate Citizen enlights you with this corporate big wig who, besides authoring five books, is an Economic Times columnist and international guest speaker at some of the best management institutions across the world
Besides parents who obviously play an important role in everyone’s lives, I was deeply influenced by my teachers even at my Montessori school where they taught us everything including how to fold your clothes, cut vegetables etc. Many years later, my father wrote to my principal for giving me a very good grounding. I was born and brought up in Delhi, went to Don Bosco, for my schooling. I used to play sports for Delhi. So, I’d been balancing sports and academics right from the beginning and luckily doing well in both. But reading about personalities also influenced me a lot. I read the entire literature on Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi at a very early age. Gandhiji’s autobiography impressed me a lot because, unlike others, he was very critical about himself. I spent more time in reading and sports than with my friends.
It’s true that whatever I’ve achieved today is all because of my alma maters where I learnt the most important lessons of my life. People say they’re very tough places but it wasn’t so for me. All three years of SRCC, I was not only among the top 20 in the university but also led the Delhi University table tennis team. At IIM Calcutta also, I found it fairly easy to cope with the pressure. What helped me was my reading speed. You do get a lot to study there but since I read much faster than most others, I had no problems. First year, where most people struggle, is common to all but in the second year, you have electives and you have to specialize. I specialized in Marketing and Strategy. I passed out in 2004. Mind you, IIM Calcutta is known for its engineering focus and I wasn’t an engineer, yet I did pretty well there. There were about 20 students in our batch who really inspired me to move to the next level. Besides top-class faculty, it’s the environment at the IIMs and the peers that you have that really helps you. One of my batch mates who later became MD of top American venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital, was really brilliant. He led the investments into Ola, Zomato, Micromax, Grofers and all that. He was ranked No. 1 in IIM Calcutta and there were few others including one Sardarji from IIT Delhi who, people believed, would surely get the Nobel Prize one day. When you speak to him, you realize he’s somebody special. Actually, every IIM has some such students who help raise the bar and push everyone. Plus the experience of the professors and overall discipline also plays a big role. If a student gets such disciplined learning for 4-5 years between graduation and post-graduation, it really makes his career. But if doesn’t happen, bachche bigad jaate hain. More so if you send them to second-rate colleges with poor discipline.
"Besides top-class faculty, it’s the environment at the IIMs and the peers that you have that really helps you. Actually, every IIM has some such students who help raise the bar and push everyone. Plus the experience of the professors and overall discipline also plays a big role. If a student gets such disciplined learning for 4-5 years between graduation and post-graduation, it really makes his career"
In the first year, you get to see all the courses and then you understand where your capabilities and interests are. So, I realized Marketing & Strategy were something I liked and that remained with me. In fact, one of my books is also on marketing.
In March 2004, I joined Levers. I started by selling soaps first in Mumbai and then Vellore but I got an offer on campus from British Gas (BG) which is now part of Shell. By October, I switched over to British Gas in Delhi. I was working in its commercial and strategy unit. We were looking for new countries to enter into, which businesses to acquire in India. We were bringing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) into India. We were looking for new terminals in Gujarat and at mergers and acquisitions and buying a gas-based power plant. I was also involved with policy and regulations. I worked on some natural gas regulations for India and Dr Hasmukh Shah Adhia, now in Finance, who was Energy Secretary at that time, was impressed with my work. I had submitted some white papers to the Ministry of Petroleum. I was then in Accenture from 2007 to 2009 when it was relatively new to India. We were doing a project for a large steel client who wanted to enter into India and for some telecom companies I launched in India. We also worked for a retail giant who wanted to set up retail stores in India. I was helping companies wanting to enter India. At KPMG also I had a similar role. I also did advisory work for Indian companies wanting to bid forward projects or power projects and so on. I was in Vedanta from 2010 to 2017 and there, I worked first as project manager to set up a natural gas pipeline for which I won the National Award. It involved setting up of a 700-km long natural gas pipeline from the oilfield in Rajasthan to the refineries on the Gujarat Coast. Incidentally, Rajasthan is the biggest onshore oil field in India. It was the only heated gas pipeline project which got completed ever in India on time and within budget. The refineries belonged to Reliance and Essar.
For seven years I was with Vedanta and it’s now 16 months with the Zee Group. While I’ve been in strategy, I’ve led many different kinds of projects, some in renewable energy, steel, retail, telecom, etc.
Let’s say we’re entering into an African country. So, based on previous data, we look at the potential growth rate of the market, then try to find a local partner. We do a lot of assessment as to who would that partner be to set up a joint venture or even a 50-50 partnership and also look at the political landscape. We look at whether this is the right country from a growth perspective. Doing just one project in a country is not beneficial. That is a mistake the Indian government sometimes makes. They give you a lot of concessions, but only for one project. No company wants to come for just one project. China is much better in this respect.
I’ve been doing lots of interesting things at Essel. I’ve been working extensively on Artificial Intelligence, Digital Media, Augmented Reality—how to bring these technologies into the news room of Zee TV and make it far more digitized. For instance, we are bringing technology where, if the factual content is high, your reporter doesn’t need to write a story because the computer will do this job. This is called Robot Journalism and this gives the reporter time to focus on opinions, analysis and predictions, because people today do not want just facts. They also want analysis. Say if the PM has given a speech, then the story can be written by a computer. The same is true for a cricket match. People don’t want just an update. They also want to know why India won or lost and that can only be done by a reporter. In video content also, we’re trying to bring in technology. Even the first script evaluation for a movie is now being done by a computer. It tells you how strong is the script and its characters. Then you can give feedback to the scriptwriter telling him, ‘very weak from page 8 to 18’. You can use these tools as an aid to your work. Similarly, on data analysis, if you want to know what your target audience is watching and at what time, you can. Actually, the entire model of Netflix in this respect is very useful because their algorithm is top class. It promotes people to watch more because you get exactly what you want and we’re also trying to customize stories as per the viewer’s choice on our home page.
Besides this, I’m revamping Zee’s education business. We want to expand a lot as a group into education, especially the business of media art and creative art. We have a company called Zee Learn, which aims at teaching students New Journalism skills, Film Making and all that. Also, I’m trying to work out new models to generate revenue from advertisements. I work closely with the Chairman, Dr Subhash Chandra, more on group level strategy covering these things.
"If the factual content is high, your reporter doesn’t need to write a story because the computer will do this job. This is called Robot Journalism and this gives the reporter time to focus on opinions, analysis and predictions, because people today do not want just facts. They also want analysis"
It’s difficult to give a solution but these are the areas which have long gestation periods which means you’re setting up a power plant or water treatment unit which takes three to four years to set up and the government has a major role in it. We have to move away from giving project-based exemptions to making the entire environment conducive to set up these projects which are there for the long term. For example, earlier the private sector went into it, but now the highways authority is making roads. People go into such things with lot of euphoria and then they find that returns are very poor. Another issue is bank rates are very high in India. You get industrial loans at five-six per cent abroad whereas in India you pay 12-13 per cent for loans, so you don’t get the money back, which is why the steel sector, for example, is a big contributor to the NPA problem of banks. There should be more systematic ways for the redressal of these issues, which plague the economy as a whole. Secondly, there is always a problem with project management. It is also related to not having world-class contractors to execute them. There are lots of things which delay projects. If there are excessive rains, all projects are delayed. Contractors themselves are financially not very solvent and you’re ultimately getting it executed through contractors. Why Delhi Metro was able to complete its project on time was because Metro Man E Sreedharan had this philosophy clearly laid out: ‘Pay your contractors on time’. Things like that are very important. The same was true for the Rajasthan pipeline project which I executed.
In India, except for L&T, there is hardly any world-class contracting agency because most of our other contractors go bankrupt. Those are the challenges we have to meet and they require more focused thought. The government also needs to move away from just talking big and try to find out solutions to these issues sincerely.
I used to read a lot. So, somewhere this thought developed that I will not just read but also write which others read. So, I first wrote a work of fiction which found no publisher. Then I started writing academic books, which are published by Pearson, the world’s largest publisher. I’ve written books based on case studies about projects that I’ve worked on or companies that I have had direct contact with. While in consulting, I had the benefit of interviewing people from the top management. Therefore, the books are able to give a unique perspective or something new which people don’t know about. Two books are on case studies and one book is about preparation for the CAT exam. One book is on analytical reasoning and the other book on building your reading comprehension and vocabulary. Besides the books, I’ve written several articles on energy as I’m a regular columnist for the Economic Times.
On helping students develop their thinking and developing their analytical and strategic thinking skills. I talk about subjects, which are not taught in colleges. How to think and solve problems? How to get new perspectives on giving solutions. I also teach them how to ask for the right data and how to look at it.
"Energy, renewables, steel, water, oil and gas... These are areas which have long gestation periods. So, we have to move away from giving some project-based exemptions to making the entire environment conducive to set up these projects which are there for the long term"
Management education is still better, but the engineering institutes are definitely out of touch with ground realities and the same is true even for University curriculum. For example, our PM keeps talking about how India needs to be a leader in artificial intelligence but nowhere it is being taught. If at all, it is taught in IITs, where it is about the programming language for AI, which is Python, but they do not teach how to use it. On the other hand, China has become a world leader in artificial intelligence. A lot of big Chinese companies are there in this field. These are the areas where the jobs are coming and there is a deficit of trained people over there.
Certainly, otherwise their companies would lag behind others. Remember: The world’s most-rated companies including Google, Amazon and Apple are using technology the most and so if you want to survive, you have to learn these new technologies.
What I’m proud of is: I’ve managed a lot of different kind of areas of work. I’ve been able to do what I really want and that has really helped me. For example, I’m the youngest director in the history of my company today. One of the youngest, non-family directors in Zee and that has come because I’m able to perhaps bring to the table a lot more perspectives and understanding of today’s trends and technologies than others.
If you can make your passion your profession, that’s the best thing. But if you’re going for that, you have to work really hard. There is no substitute for hard work if you want to go into creative fields like filmmaking, music, media, photography and things like that. You just cannot take it easy because then you have to make a name for yourself and that requires seven-eight years of sustained effort. But if you don’t want to work hard, you can go for conventional courses like engineering, medicine, law, etc.
They say Jodiyaan to upar se hi ban kar aati hain. But sometimes jodiyaans are also made at a friend’s party. Zee’s Group Strategy Head and Executive Director, Sidharth Balakrishna, and Executive Publisher of Elsevier scientific journals, Surabhi Shukla, also experienced something similar when they met at a common friend’s party.
How did it all happen? How did they overcome the North-South divide? As the couple is all set to celebrate their tenth marriage anniversary along with their cute, nursery-going son, let’s hear how this inspirational couple gathered the courage to break barriers and keep things going strong even today...
Do you remember the 2014 Arjun Kapoor-Alia Bhatt-starrer romantic blockbuster ‘2 States’ is inspired by an autobiographical novel of the same name penned by Chetan Bhagat, it narrates how a couple who wanted to marry faces all kinds of problems primarily because they belonged to different states and family backgrounds. The story of Surabhi and Sidharth also looks similar except that here the IIM-Calcutta boy belonged to Delhi’s Tamilian Brahmin family and the Allahabad University’s Zoology-girl came from a traditional Brahmin family of Allahabad.
“It was in January of 2008 when we met for the first time at a common friend’s party. Sidharth is basically an introvert. I noticed him in the gathering. He was just smiling but not talking much. He also must have noticed me somewhere. At that time, I was in Noida working for leading publishing company Tata McGraw Hill Education as Commissioning Editor for books on Computer Science, Mechanical, Civil and Chemical Engineering with a team of Development Editors. Sidharth was working as consultant for Accenture in Connaught Place. Soon we exchanged phone numbers and started talking and discovering that we had common interests. We both loved books and travel and that got us really talking more about books, places, food and what not! While I had not been out of India even once, Sidharth had already visited some 13 countries by then and had lots of stories to talk about. I would naturally get excited when he would talk about this or that place. So much so that sometimes we would keep talking on the phone for two to three hours without even realizing it,” recalls Surabhi.
Was this ‘talking’ happening only on the phone, or elsewhere too? “Oh yes, it continued much beyond our mobiles as Sidharth would often come to visit me at Noida’s Great India Place (GIP) shopping mall. We used to meet there and talk, which was very exciting, as I started feeling that I wanted to be with him,” she says, adding, “What I liked about Sidharth was, that unlike others, he was very simple, down to earth and had a lot of knowledge about everything. You can talk to him on any topic and have a very meaningful conversation.”
“Another thing, if you talk to people, they generally say yes to go with the flow but Sidharth won’t. If he doesn’t agree, he’ll immediately challenge you and give you a different perspective. I really liked that and so we soon became the best of friends.”
What about Sidharth—did he also feel the same way? Was it really love at first sight? “I can’t say that, but yes, it’s true, I do take time to open up with people but, with her, I was able to communicate and share things pretty quickly.”
When did they realize that they were actually in love and would go for marriage? Recalls Surabhi, “We met in January 2008 and by April-May, we felt, we must take the next step. We got married in October of the same year! Ten years down the road, we also have a son who’s the light of our lives. We’re still in love and it’s growing with each passing year.”
"I enjoy writing and teaching. On Saturdays, I make sure that I go somewhere to teach as a guest lecturer. Earlier I used to play TT but not so much today. As for travel, I recently went to Canada which is full of amazing scenery. The same is true for Eastern Europe. Incidentally, I liked Muscat a lot. It’s a beautiful city—very different from Dubai and other Gulf capitals"
But how did this miracle happen? How did they convince their unwilling parents?
“Oh, it wasn’t as simple as that. There were lots of twists and turns because we weren’t sure how they would react, as our parents were absolutely poles apart. In fact, their very first meeting was a disaster. It didn’t go well,” reveals Surabhi.
“Sidharth comes from a multi-cultural family, his father from Tamil Nadu and mother from erstwhile Pakistan, now Punjab. On the other hand, ours is a Brahmin family from UP. Both sides had their own reservations but his parents resisted a lot more because they wanted to continue with their South Indian traditions and language which couldn’t happen with me. Being staunch Tamilian Brahmins, they’re very adamant. My parents also had issues because, leave aside South India, there had never been a marriage even outside UP in our family. So, it was quite a cultural shock to parents on both sides. It really looked like the movie 2 States,” she thoughtfully explains. “It’s true that my parents were a bit hesitant at first, but I was quite insistent. When they realized that it was going to happen anyway, they accepted it,” says Sidharth.
But why did their first meeting not click? Was it because of language/caste issues? “No, I don’t think so. They probably felt that maybe their meeting was happening too soon as they didn’t get enough time to know each other better and that too was true. But, we both had turned 27 by then and made up our mind that we couldn’t wait any longer. So, our stand was, you better meet up, bless us, and say yes to this union.”
“But this was obviously something,” adds Surabhi, “that they were not comfortable with. His parents wanted a greater say on issues like whether the boy is right or the girl is right and things like that. We were both 27 and just not in the mood to give them that kind of freedom. So, they were obviously not happy with that.”
What about his siblings? Did they not influence them? “I’ve a sister but she’s much younger, 11 years younger. She’s getting married in March next year,” he says, adding, “She obviously wasn’t in a position to influence them. Maybe my father was a bit surprised and shocked because I didn’t discuss this issue in detail with him, and he wasn’t expecting me to do this,” Sidharth admits rather apologetically.
“Once we got married, luckily, we faced no such issues and the best part is: We’ve been travelling together quite a bit over the last nine years. For official work too, sometimes she travels, sometimes I, and then we join each other after work at some common place . So, it has been quite good,“ he says smiling.
Butts in Surabhi, “Until the birth of our son, Shreshtha, we used to travel a lot. We must have explored not less than 13-14 countries together, but now our priorities have changed. Everything revolves around Shreshtha. Now, we don’t make plans much in advance. We make impromptu trips. Recently we made a trip to Bhutan and were simply amazed to see its lovely waterfalls.”
"I believe in what Gandhiji said: When your thoughts, words and actions are in harmony, you’re happy. I believe in that and I would never like to be hypocritical. That also helps me in reducing stress"
Who looks after the son when both have gone on a trip?
“My parents --, they’ve relocated from Allahabad to Delhi, taken up a house on rent nearby so that they can be there for the child immediately, because you can’t leave him 24x7 with maids and other people. Shreshtha is now in nursery, growing up very fast, and needs constant attention. Though he can now go to a day-care, you still need somebody to look after his needs,” says Surabhi gratefully. She then quickly adds, “They’re a very, very big support. I don’t think I could have managed my job without my parents. Now I can travel at ease. I don’t have to worry. That is not all. They also make sure that Shreshtha gets the right values. So now I can just pick up my bags and travel any time.”
How important is money? Money is important, but, argues Surabhi, “It is also important for people to work, especially women. For me, it is absolutely critical. If I didn’t get the support of my parents, I would be sitting at home but, in that scenario, probably even our marriage wouldn’t last. I’ve been working since I left college. Though it’s absolutely great to be at home and spend time with your son and family, I also need intellectual stimulation. I’m not someone who’d be happy attending kitty parties. I need financial independence. I don’t think I can now go back and start asking people for money, whether it is two rupees or two lakhs. For me, money is important but I’m not crazy about it, and the same holds true for Sidharth. We spend money on things we like, like international travel, but we’re happy to have just one car. It’s a sedan and we don’t have any urge for a bigger car. Similarly we’ve just one house. We’re happy with basic things—one car, one house and one child (laughs).”
While Sidharth goes on to say, “Money has always been secondary to us because we aren’t moved by any strong desire on this front. Like Surabhi, whatever I do, it’s very much out of passion and I do a lot of things without pay. It has helped me also in my career. In fact, I got my current job because I was doing lots of things outside of work, like writing books or teaching. In fact, during my interview, Chairman of Zee’s Essel Group, Dr Subhash Chandra, asked me, would I work for him till I become a teacher one day? So, money has not been a primary driver for me. I’m very keen on doing what I want to do. Even otherwise, I come from a family where we’re comfortably well-off. My father has also been an IITian, with an MBA from IIM and worked with BHEL. Later he became the chief correspondent for the Economist magazine in India. Though he wasn’t a journalist, he worked more as a consultant, and I feel I picked up my interest in writing from him.”
Since both are working professionals, whose writ runs in the house? Pat comes Sidharth’s reply, “It’s very easy. She does what she wants. Hum argue karte rehte hain, but in the end her writ prevails over mine in all household matters.”
Other than work, what keeps them busy? “We share an immense passion for travel. While Sidharth has gone to over 50 countries, I’ve been to only 15 so far and have a lot to catch up,” says Surabhi. Which places did they like the most? “We enjoyed Norway a lot, particularly the train ride from Oslo to Bergan Hill Station which is the world’s most scenic ride. The seven-hour journey brings you across Europe’s highest mountains and plateaus, and takes you through spectacular natural wonders. We also liked Prague and Budapest which are very vibrant compared to the highly commercialized and very cold Paris. I somehow like Europe a lot more than the US which doesn’t excite me,” she points out.
“I enjoy writing and teaching. On Saturdays, I make sure that I go somewhere to teach as a guest lecturer. Earlier I used to play TT but not so much today. As for travel, I recently went to Canada, which is full of amazing scenery. The same is true for Eastern Europe. Incidentally, I liked Muscat a lot. It’s a beautiful city—very different from Dubai and other Gulf capitals. I also liked some small places in Europe like Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, jahan pe kuch hota nahi hai but still you enjoy the place.”
"We both loved books and travel and that got us really talking more and more—about books, places, food and what not! While I had not been out of India even once, Sidharth had already visited some 13 countries by then and had lots of stories to talk about. I would naturally get excited when he would talk about this or that place"
What do they believe in? “I strongly believe in the theory of karma. Whatever you do, good or bad will come back to you. I read a story about conscience when I was in Grade II, which said that our conscience is like a triangle. The first time you do a wrong, the edges get round and if you keep on doing that, your conscience becomes a circle. It doesn’t pinch you anymore,” Surabhi says with conviction. Sidharth, however, has a different take on it. “I believe in what Gandhiji said: When your thoughts, words and actions are in harmony, you’re happy. I believe in that and I would never like to be hypocritical. That also helps me in reducing stress,” he points out.
“Though it may sound clichéd, it’s very important to me that he becomes a nice and sensitive human being who believes in an inclusive approach in life and is sympathetic towards all,” Surabhi concludes with a smile.
By Pradeep Mathur
