OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS EXEMPLIFIED BY NOBEL LAUREATE Richard P. Feynman even as a teenager was: What do you care what other people think? But, as a young researcher at Princeton University, it was his first wife Arlene who had to remind him of this principle when the shy scientist—later to emerge as one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists of his century—tried to scrape off a love note that she had composed and then printed on his office pencils, or declined to cook steaks right by Route 66. Feynman would later write a bestseller by that name: What Do You Care What Other People Think? No CEO or company in today's world can say this, what with the explosive growth of media, from newspapers to television, from the Internet to Twitter, over the past decade. With politics and business linked inextricably, managing headline presence can become a case study in the theory of unintended consequences: a visionary industrialist's project that has the potential of shaking up the business of carmaking gets delayed and instead powers the resurgence of a politician with no concrete ideas of development. As the BT Newsmakers Special enters its sixth year, companies are shovelling more and more money and resources into public relations and image building, either by internal or external agencies. The importance of good PR and image is embedded in VISIBILITY TOP FIVE: QUALITY Rank Visibility Quality of Image Rank Visibility Quality of Image '08-09 Score Exposure Score '08-'09 Score Exposure Score 1 RAMALINGA RAJU 987,894 3 29,637 1 INDRA NOOYI 12,184 159 19,372 2 RATANTATA 239,122 144 344,336 2 BILL GATES 97,163 155 150,602 3 VIJAY MALLYA 210,174 125 262,717 3 JAGDISH KHATTAR 11,108 155 17,217 4 DEEPAK PAREKH 199,615 153 305,411 4 STEVE JOBS 12,231 154 18,836 5 MUKESH AMBANI 154,318 129 199,070 5 DEEPAK PAREKH 199,615 153 305,411 MAY 3 1 2009 BUSINESS TODAY 77 every CEO'S strategy, whether the company is looking THE TOP 25 PERSONALITIES to mine in a distant forest away from the prying eyes Rank Visibility Quality of Image of the media or lure SEC-A buyers of jeans in the met­ '08-'O9 Score Exposure Score res with an exercise in unbuttoning. An idol created painstakingly can vaporise with 1 RAMALINGA RAJU 987,894 3 29,637 just one "bad" headline. Case in point: B. Ramalinga 2 RATANTATA 239,122 144 344,336 Raju, the now-disgraced and jailed Founder-Chairman of Satyam Computer Services. His accounting 3 VI JAY MALLYA 210,174 125 262,717 skullduggery at Satyam, completely at odds with the image he had acquired, made him the first CEO in recent 4 DEEPAK PAREKH 199,615 153 305,411 years to get a negative Quality of Exposure (QoE) score in the 2009 BT listing (any score below 100 is negative; 5 MUKESH AMBANI 154,318 129 199,070 see methodology). Raju's shenanigans, although a solo act, tarred his company so much so that, when it was 6 ANIL AMBANI 129,096 121 156,206 put on the block, no global name rushed to buy it. If Raju had a negative QoE, he also got the highest 7 BILL GATES 97,163 155 150,602 score in visibility rankings. But visibility has its other face 8 NANDAN NILEKANI 86,924 147 127,779 as well: Raju was followed by Ratan Tata, a man of unimpeachable character whose dream of building the 9 VIKRAM PANDIT 78,694 122 96,007 world's cheapest car landed him into a political mael­ strom and got him more square inches of media cov­ 10 NARAYANAMURTHY 73,928 149 110,152 erage than any body else barring Raju. Fortunately, Tata and his group emerged from the Singur imbroglio 11 AZIM PREMJI 70,384 123 86,572 with their reputation and integrity intact, if a bit dusty. Tata, whose empire has its own PR army, must have 12 SUNIL MITTAL 68,667 141 96,821 realised the value of its external agency during every step of the Nano's agonising aborted gestation at Singur in 13 K.V. KAMATH 56,089 129 72,354 West Bengal. The Tatas, like any other company or 14 NARESH GOYAL 47,982 114 54,699 group, do not reveal their specific PR spending, but every rupee they paid seems well justified, going by just the 15 KUMAR BIRLA 42,926 126 54,087 daily firefighting, perish the thought of influencing people and getting their way. 16 LN. MITTAL 38,147 151 57,602 So, how does this newsmaking thing work? Do headlines come to you or do you have to go looking for 17 ANAND MAHINDRA 29,480 152 44,810 headlines? To people like Tata, headlines don't matter; dreams do. So, the world 18 RAHUL BAJAJ 28,939 119 34,438 watched with bated 19 KISHORE BIYAIMI 25,501 146 37,231 breath as his Nano project battled a 20 MALVINDER SINGH 19,197 131 25,148 disgruntled Opposition. 21 ADI GODREJ 17,065 148 25,257 22 STEVE JOBS 12,231 154 18,836 23 INDRA NOOYI 12,184 159 19,372 24 JAGDISH KHATTAR 11,108 155 17,217 25 KP. SINGH 10,683 137 14,636 Ranked according to Visibility Score -Raj Tata was also in the news for the financial troubles with FRONT PAGE GRABBERS his Jaguar-Land Rover deal, but it was Singur that kept Rank Visibility Quality of Image him constantly in the headlines. '08-'09 Score Exposure Score Mallya was more of an all-rounder, feeding off the media buzz created by his Royal Challengers 1 Tata Motors 409,418 142 581,374 cricket team at the Indian Premier League, the travails 2 State Bank of India 365,947 143 523,305 of Kingfisher Airlines, the progress of his Formula 1 team Force India, his penchant for being the white 3 Satyam Computer 355,148 -22 -78,132 knight at auctions of India's heritage, et al. Then, there 4 Reliance Industries 102,876 132 135,796 are people like N.R. Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani, who are persona in their own right with 5 Jet Airways 93,975 75 70,481 rankings way above their legendary company, Infosys. 6 Lehman Brothers 74,796 59 44,129 HDFC's Deepak Parekh saw his scores shoot up in January 2009 when the government roped him in 7 ICICI Bank 63,122 139 87,739 to salvage Satyam. Even otherwise, his reputation as a 8 Infosys Technologies 54,437 156 84,922 crisis manager keeps him in the news the year round. Mukesh Ambani, ranked fifth on the image front, 9 Kingfisher Airlines 54,373 88 47,848 was more like Tata, focussed on growing his vast 10 HDFC 54,356 143 77,729 business empire. Also see list of top 100 companies Corporate Landscape for the environment in which they found themselves As we study cover-story CEOs and companies, the in. Soaring aviation fuel prices, high taxes and airport question arises: what makes a CEO or company newsy? charges were breaking their backs. So, they attempted Does the CEO/company make the news or does the news some pretty radical management steps and got plenty make the CEO/company? Headline space is as important of bad press. (Remember Jet's tearful cabin crew on for companies as it is for their CEOs, but sometimes a street protests?) company has to live in the shadow of its CEO's image, At the other extreme, SBI does not go looking for and is defined by it. Example: Mallya and his headlines. In fact, its Chairman doesn't even find a Kingfisher Arlines. Sometimes, the organisation's im­ place On the list of top 25 personalities. He doesn't age is all powerful and a succession of CEOs comes and have to: when SBI sneezes, the economy can catch a goes uneventfully. Example: State Bank of India. Then cold. So, sometime during the year, SBI decided to stop again, an attempt to create a positive image can back­ tractor loans, close on the heels of a government fire horribly if the CEO and his organisation work at decision to waive agricultural loans. Oops! That was cross-purposes or live in different worlds. Remember a big no-no for the political regime. SBI had to back­ what happened to the third player in the Nano drama: track. SBI decides to cut home loan West Bengal's Marxist Chief Minister, Buddhadeb rates? Rivals fume, borrowers Bhattacharjee, who began his second innings by queue up, never mind SBl's turning Left ideology on its head? Capital of any assurance that applications colour is welcome, he said, rolling out the M will be cleared in a fort­ red carpet for big industry. Bhattacharjee night (yes, a fortnight. the CEO was the toast of the town as Tata Not over the table, not announced Singur as the location of the in 10 minutes). Nano project. But the Chief Minister's At the global level, administration was still in the British empire following the financial mode, following a land acquisition law meltdown, there was the of the 19th century. The Singur land insurance giant AIG and protest became legend. its bid to hand out large Bhattacharya became toast. bonuses to its staff after it Then, consider compa­ had taken financial aid nies like Kingfisher and Jet from the American people Airways. Both found them­ to survive.