The (tor)MENTOR

The Appointment Letter

Jaideep (or “JD”) was elated to receive the appointment letter from Creatiwitty Group. It was known as the best place to start for aspiring creative minds. JD was always fascinated by copywriting. From as long as he could remember, he was awestruck by excellent advertisements; be it print or television. 

He always fancied working with the best minds in the industry – people who could teach him the tricks of the trade and gain the required experience to become one of the leading names in the business. The reason for him being so elated was also the fact that he would be under the tutelage of Samrat Malhotra (popularly known in the world of advertising as SaM.)

JD came home and shouted at the top of his voice – showing off his significant achievement to his family members. Everyone in his family was elated but for Mr. Sumer Singh, his father. However, Sumer did not make this evident.

JD began a new life in the world of advertising. He found inner peace in its chaotic beauty. There was something about copywriting that fascinated him. It never felt like work. He could work on a copy for hours and not feel tired one bit. It came as no surprise then that he was selected for the prestigious “CreatiWitty Superstars program”. The endeavor through the program was to create the brightest stars who could lead the charge in the world of advertising.  The initiative, like many other successful campaigns that came out of Creatiwitty, was SaM’s brainchild.

The program selected ten Superstars to begin with. After the initial four week phase, five Superstars would be selected for five coveted slots in the creative space, which is in copywriting and art direction. The rest would come into account management roles, media buying roles etc. and be trained in the same. SaM was a master at identifying the talent in a person. He believed in the theory that a fish needs to be put into the water to swim and a monkey should be made to climb trees. During the initial four week phase, SaM would not only identify the right talent but also put them in functions wherein they would enjoy their work and flourish.

JD was aware of what SaM would do after four weeks. Among the five coveted positions, he wanted the “Superstars Copywriting” throne more than anything else in the world. He put in his best efforts and created some fascinating copies for the dummy products they were told to market (“market, not sell” as SaM used to put it). However, at the beginning of the fourth week of the program, JD still wasn’t sure if he would achieve what he wanted so badly.  His father, Mr. Singh, has the same apprehensions. In fact, he was more pessimistic than JD himself.

The Termination Letter

Fifteen years is a long time. A bright star from the advertising world was forced to fade into oblivion on this very day; fifteen years ago.

This young star could conceptualize campaigns that invariably met with unparalleled success. He did that for a firm called “Pixelworld communications”. He was the blue eyed boy in Pixelworld and seemed to have a compelling idea for marketing any product given to him.

While many before and after him have been successful, what made him special was that he was nice. His work had a unique stamp of excellence and he received great recognition from the management. He had the need to see everyone succeed and was often seen helping people in the agency. His clarity of thought and problem solving abilities made him a very popular person.

The fact that he became the panacea for all of Pixelworld’s illnesses was a bit concerning for some members of the agency. His opinion was sought in every meeting, his views were sought on projects which he wasn’t directly handling and his suggestions were always giving serious consideration.

This young star reported into a manager who was smart and cunning. While he was very good creatively, he could not fathom the fact that a youngster could be so much better. He did admire the young man but he feared that the young star would take the luster away from his decent career. The young man was happy in his own creative world and was blissfully unaware of such animosity towards him.

Another man, though not his direct superior was a great friend of his young man’s reporting manager and had the same insecurities. The young star was burning the midnight oil working on the campaign for a huge multinational retail chain which was facing tough competition in the market from another mammoth retail giant. Their products were looking for the much needed zing and the campaign from this young star would be a saving grace – that is what they thought and so did people from the agency.

However, two days before the campaign could go live; the competitor came with a counter campaign. The tone and the message were so effective that it easily swept away the potential of Pixelworld’s campaign and also the client’s post campaign plans.  

It was evident that someone had leaked out the entire campaign idea to the competitor’s agency and probably made huge money out of it. The young star was inconsolable. However, what followed was an even bigger disaster. It was established that the young star had leaked out the campaign idea to the creative agency to make a quick buck. Without much investigation or explanation, the young star was asked to leave the job on 14^th of March.

This termination letter came in and he faded into oblivion. Is it a mere coincidence then that every year on the 14^th of March, Creatiwitty selects five new age Superstars? It is easy to establish that the young star who lost his job on that fateful day was none other than SaM.

Life after Pixelworld

The thought of spending even a day without a salary was tough. SaMs termination became the talk of the advertisement world and every renowned agency resisted the temptation of getting him on board. However, “Creatiwitty” was just starting and had nothing to lose. Its Indian founder saw an opportunity and researched a bit about SaM. By the time, he finished his research on SaM, all he had in his notes were positive reviews. He was sure that SaM was an honest man and was made a scapegoat in the much talked about fiasco. He offered SaM a much bigger role at Creatiwitty and it turned out to be the best decision of his life.  

SaM got the creative freedom he desired and he used it constructively. He lead Creatiwitty into one of the country’s most sought after agencies in the country. In ten years, SaM became a brand to reckon with and most leading companies were his clients.

Will JD become a Superstar?

Will JD get selected? His father couldn’t sleep through the night as there was less than two days left for JD to know the truth that will haunt him for the rest of his life. His father was sure that JD would not win the coveted “Superstar copywriting” throne. He decided that he should go and meet SaM.

How did Sumer Singh (JD’s father) know? Was it his advertising agency background or his paternal instincts? Why was he being so pessimistic that he thought he required to wield his influence?

With these thoughts in mind, Sumer Singh dozed off only to be woken up by a bad dream. Early next morning, he decided to meet SaM in his office. He reached the office without an appointment.

SaM got a call from his reception and was informed that Mr. Sumer Singh had come down to meet him. “Hello Sir, are you there?” the receptionist repeated thrice. SaM was lost in thoughts but soon recovered. He requested the receptionist to send Mr. Singh into his office in fifteen minutes.

The Encounter

SaM was polite as ever as he greeted Mr. Singh. If there was animosity, SaM did not show it. If there was any remorse, Singh didn’t show it either. In their minds, they were playing the happening of that day fifteen years ago when SaM was asked to leave Pixelworld and Singh, his reporting manager, has to do the hard task of giving him the termination letter.

Singh spoke first in his usual arrogant style. “Look SaM, I was not responsible for your exit from Pixelworld and I am here to say that this shouldn’t have an impact on my son’s career. He thinks you are the best in the advertising world. Do not, and I repeat, do not bring our past into this and disappoint him.”

SaM gave him a patient hearing and then responded. He told him that he would like him to meet one of the key people in his IT team. He called for Raghu and asked him to come in. A man of about the same age as SaM came in. He was furious when he saw Mr. Singh. He told SaM that we shouldn’t even allow this man in our office. SaM explained to Mr. Singh that Raghu had told him how the files from SaM’s computer were transferred into a CD and given to Mr. Singh. The honest Raghu started crying again as he told Mr. Singh that he got him into committing the unpardonable sin while being made to believe that he was doing his duty. Singh had asked him to copy the files of the campaign from SaMs computer to a CD for a presentation the next morning. While Raghu thought he was doing his job, he did not realize that he was unintentionally participating in getting SaM out of the organization. Raghu was very fond of SaM and when he came to know about SaM’s termination, it left him devastated. Everything happened so quickly that Raghu did not even get a change to stand up for his good friend SaM. He confronted Singh and resigned as he just couldn’t focus on work.

While Raghu was at home with no work, SaM was gaining in prominence in CreatiWitty. He had discovered how and why he was asked to leave Pixelworld and decided to talk to Raghu and bring him into CreatiWitty as Director of IT. And he did.

The Revenge

SaM thanked Raghu for coming to his office. Raghu left, but not before giving Mr. Singh the worst possible stare.

By now, Mr. Singh had mellowed down a bit. He told SaM that it would be most unfortunate if his revenge would be in the form of hampering Mr. Singh’s son (JD’s) dream.

SaM laughed. He laughed out loud; much to Singh’s amusement. He told Singh the idea behind starting the Superstars program. He told Mr. Singh that his idea of life was to create individuals who could be better than him and not ruin their careers for being good. He said that he was happy that some of the people heading competing agencies today were his protégés. He told Mr. Singh that when one has talent working for him, it is a privilege and not a right. He said how the same person could become a Mentor or a (tor)Mentor depending on the approach he takes with the talent that works with him.

SaM told Mr. Singh that JD was one of the brightest copywriters to have worked under him. He told Singh that he considered it a privilege to mentor JD and learn things from him as well. As for the coveted “superstar copywriting” throne, he conveyed that JD had just won the coveted position and also told him why they had declared the result a day in advance. He told Mr. Singh that it was only because of JDs talent that he had won the throne and not the fact that Mr. Singh was his father.

SaM added, “The last part now. The revenge. My way of exacting revenge is to make him the best copywriter I can. I am a creative person. My revenge is in creating and not destroying; unlike you. If he is impressed by my skills and will consider me as a mentor, that will be my revenge. You know why? It is because he will then talk about me, every once in a while, and you will keep hearing about me. I am sure you wouldn’t want to hear about me.”

SaM told Singh that he believed JD was a better copywriter than SaM was at the same age. He prophesied that he would play a part in creating one of the best copywriters the country has seen. On that note, he politely requested Singh to excuse him as he had to get back to work.

Singh left the office with a rare emotion. He was happy that his son was with SaM and yet sad that he would keep hearing about SaM. He realized that what SaM said was correct and agreed on the importance of mentoring talent to heights than (tor)menting them to oblivion. Unfortunately, the realization dawned on him at the twilight of his professional life. The attitude of destruction had left him with a lifelong regret.

Every professional who follows Singh’s lead would be left with a lifelong regret at the twilight of their careers. Everyone who would follow SaM’s lead will have planted some great seeds in their respective fields; seeds which would give them recognition and more importantly, a sense of accomplishment in the twilight of their careers.