The Hindu Business Line : A study in diversity

Travelling, writing, collecting art, acting plus clinching mega deals in the advertising world. And that's not the end either of Geetanjali Kirloskar's list of activities.

After 16 years in the advertising field through gruelling late hours, demanding projects, stringent deadlines, whirlwind schedules, a daughter who was growing up, a family who depended on her, today, Geetanjali Kirloskar has finally come into her own as a professional. Today nobody can say she is here "because of..."

"It was a great experiment, a great experience at managing diversity, in handling change, a great challenge in managing people which I think is my strength," says the 30-something Bangalore-based advertising professional of her stint at the Kirloskar-owned Pratibha advertising agency, followed by her own venture Quadrant and the setting up of Lintertainment for Lintas.

Recently in Chennai for the International Women's Convention organised by the Madras Management Association, Geetanjali chose to wave aside "those boring, theoretical aspects of the advertising business and devastating management philosophies". Instead, the audience got the benefit of her personal experience as someone who chose to break out on her own, which, she tells you, was not easy considering that she was part of a business tycoon's family, but which she nevertheless pulled off with talent and tact. So, even in spite of the lazy afternoon heat, you really couldn't help but listen while Geetanjali talked. "I knew it would be post lunch when I spoke, so I didn't want to put everybody to sleep with a prepared speech," she says.

So how did she manage to do her own thing in a conventional business family? "My mother-in-law in particular was worried as to whether I would be able to balance the demands of being a good wife and mother and whether I would be able to hold it all together given my husband's work pressures." Here she stops to add, "I'm not an aggressive individualistic feminist, I'm very much a woman who believes in being part of a family unit."

She continues, "I was very clear that if at any point there was a crisis situation, my choice would be my home." For instance, when Quadrant shot to an astronomical growth of Rs 60 crore from Rs 10 crore in a short span of time, which meant "a lot more travel and time away from the family," she decided to call it a day. She then set up the Lintertainment model for Lintas, which she ran as President.

But even before Quadrant and Lintertainment there was Pratibha advertising which jump-started Geetanjali's career. "For about 10 years, I worked my way up in Pratibha, made sure I learnt every facet of the business even if it meant travelling and working hands-on in different disciplines, be it art or servicing, or branch management, or creative or finance."

Then came the year 1998 and along with it globalisation as a result of which the smaller agencies were being absorbed by Fortune 500 giants. "I realised that Pratibha could not survive on its own. The only way it could make the next jump in a highly global and competitive environment would be to be integrated with a world-class organisation," says Geetanjali.

She steered the company into a joint venture with Inter Public Worldwide, which is part of the New York-based IPG group, and set up Quadrant Communications Ltd. "It was greatly challenging because it was the recession and the wrong time to set up a company." But the determined optimist that she is, Geetanjali looked for an opportunity and found one.

"The recession meant that companies had to restructure in order to manage the new environment. But as we were a new company, we could do zero-based budgeting, zero-based management structure and actually structure ourselves to meet the needs of the changing environment. So there was the opportunity."

But if it was being alert to good-breaks when they chanced by, it was also good health that championed her various accomplishments. A fitness freak who makes it a point to "spend at least one hour every day on a rigorous workout, be it jogging, tennis or a hiking trip once in three months," she feels in today's hectic lifestyle people, especially women, need to pay more attention to their health.

On the subject of issues that women encounter at work or at home, she says, "I think that perhaps we are too self-obsessed with the gender issue and perhaps sometimes things are an issue because you tend to spend too much time on resolving them." She prefers to see the gender divide as part of a set of problems that any individual has to face, so she says, "Approach it and resolve it like you would any other issue. Let not gender become the issue."

Focus, she says, is a good way to handle it. "Focus only on a selection of jobs or choices based on skills responsibilities and performance rather than worry about the gender issue too much. Allow that to take a backseat, and when you do that, delivery and performance show. Don't get embroiled in petty controversies, you know, forget it," she says with a dismissive wave of her hand.

And for a person like Geetanjali who thrives on variety, staying focussed is important. "I have a profession which is advertising and marketing, I'm a very keen sports person, I enjoy art, I love travelling and I'm particularly fond of historical travel, I write and I also act now as well," she says.

All this plus the recession and a new company, plus a supremely gifted teenaged daughter, who is a sort of artistic genius, it must have taken more than good health... "My daughter was pretty young though she's not allowed to say that she didn't like it; she loved it," she chuckles, looking at her daughter Mansi. On a more serious note she adds, "It did eat into a huge chunk of my time, but like I said you have to manage it. For instance, we completely stopped socialising, every evening we made sure we were at home. When we travelled, our mobile bills were very high because wherever we were we made sure we stayed connected."

Today, however, she can tread at a slower pace, now that she's left the "external world of advertising." Where will the future find her? "Working with my husband in areas where I have proven expertise, such as PR and brand development. It's also widening my own professional horizons and it helps me maintain a larger presence on the domestic front."

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

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