The signboard saying ‘Pradeep Guha Chowk’ has been placed right below the window of the room, which was the media icon’s cabin at TOI, VT office, Mumbai
This week, when Bombay Municipal Corporation named a road in memory of Pradeep Guha, there was a lot of cheer amongst the people whose lives he touched. The road signage is incidentally under the window where Pradeep Guha held office for many years at the large edifice of Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited at VT.
Pradeep Guha who was fondly referred to as PG, carved out an image for himself as a professional who had huge passion & equally high emotional intelligence in whatever he did – Print, Television, Cinema, Outdoor to even On-ground events. He was indeed & truly a complete 360 degree expert.
Initially, PG was also one “from the pack.” But with just over 6 years in BCCL, he always stood out and was identified by Samir Jain, referred to as VC by us all, as his “go-to-guy” to lead the pack. VC’s confidence about PG to implement his (VC’s) resilient vision for BCCL came from his (PG’s) extraordinary ability to appear not only as Confident but also as the Courageous one to lead from the front.
I am talking of the 80’s. VC had embarked on 2 distinct market disruption strategies to give BCCL the much needed competitive edge. One was to infuse Creativity in the way business was to be carried out – whether it was the introduction of MasterMind (a unique pricing structure aimed to milk the Cash Cow and support the Stars) or to make the existing product(s) more market-friendly or tapping of new advertising segments, even with the introduction of niche sub-brands. And the other thing was also to create a great sense of Optimism for the Print industry specially when TV was beginning to emerge (remember 150 years celebrations!) Together, VC along with PG was able to set new paradigms for the industry. As I said it was a different era and it had little room for Flexibility. Whatever happened backstage, for the people, both inside and outside, the always buck stopped at PG. He was the Empowered one.
Over a period of time, PG realised that he also needed to be accepted to a wider set of audience outside, and was quick to add Empathy & Humility in his leadership bouquet making him The Legend of The Times, his time, and times to come.
That era has gone and so has PG. But whatever foundation stones that were laid down then, helps BCCL even today. I will always remember PG in gratitude for teaching us “The power of Communication” & “The Art of Decisiveness” as key learning for self growth.
PG will always remain my beloved Guru.
