Deepika Bhardwaj: Just a month of training … but the lessons I learned will last a lifetime

Deepika Bhardwaj in London for a Future Leaders' visit to the House of Lords

DEEPIKA BHARDWAJ, a production manager with Jain Studios in New Delhi, India, reflects on her participation in the Thomson Foundation’s Future Leaders course, 2010

I was really excited by the prospect of becoming part of the Thomson Foundation fraternity and felt lucky to have been selected for the Future Leaders course.

At first, I was curious about meeting people from different parts of the world and had high expectations for the course itself. Ahead lay a month of leadership lessons, a chance to work on my own strengths and weaknesses and, hopefully, make friends for life.

Now it is over, I have taken back a lot more than I could ever have imagined.

Apartment number 239 at Century Wharf in Cardiff was my amazingly-comfortable abode for the month and I quickly realised that the Thomson Foundation had left no stone unturned to make this the best experience of our lives.

Our journey brought us into personal contact with some of the most respected media leaders in the UK. From them we learned how to prepare ourselves to lead and avoid the pitfalls they faced. Lyn Hartman and Clive Jones from the Thomson Foundation led the course throughout and helped us get the most from our experiences.

Lyn’s helpful advice was that I should learn from everyone we met. “Imagine you are plugging a USB into their brains,” she said. A famous quote by Woodrow Wilson says: “I not only use all the brains I have but all I can borrow.” Well, we had the chance to borrow the best brains in the world … for the the rest of our lives!

Menna Richards, Director of BBC Wales, was the first leader we met. She inspired me. Menna taught me not to put limits on your ambitions. She seemed always to be striving to do more. And I feel that’s the way to go about in life. Keep going. Never stop.

Meeting David Mannion, Editor-in-Chief of ITN, was a great experience. He discussed in a very candid manner his responsibilities and the tough decisions he has faced. A major lesson I learnt from David is the fact that you grow the most when you surround yourself with people more talented than you.

He advised us not to feel daunted, but to learn from these people. I now realise that working with more talented people actually makes you raise the bar for yourself. David also stressed the importance of moving forward: “Don’t dwell too much on bad decisions you make in life. Move on. Remember you have other people to lead and decisions to make. Don’t beat yourself over those decisions. Just move on.”

From influential people, to a globally-influential organisation: Google. Their office may look more like a party space than offices, but what the media really needs to learn from Google is the art of employing the best people. Their rigorous selection procedures ensure they hire only the best.

Another great thing about the course was the way our intensive learning was interspersed by breaks to relax with friends. Our picnic trip to Monmouth was like that. Just loved the countryside!

After the visit to ITN, Press Association and Google we returned to Wales to meet one of the most creative media personalities of British television, Peter Bazelgette. He provided us with a lot of insights into the success stories of people who changed the face of television, such as John De Mol, Paul Smith and Charlie Parsons, creating formats like Big Brother, Who wants to be a Millionaire and Survivor.

He told us that all these people had brilliant ideas initially, but no one to back them. Peter explained “If you believe in your ideas and constantly work on it, you will definitely get the results. You have to be persistent and wait for the right time. And you should never, ever give up.”

Another leader I loved meeting was Vikki Keywood, Executive Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

What inspired me most about her was that, after reaching a high position, she decided to go right back to basics in management and start from scratch. Now she is transforming the Royal Shakespeare company. Vikki is a perfect example of a leader who follows their heart and doesn’t let anything get in the way – even if it means starting all over again! One important tip I remember from Vikki is that if you want people to follow you, you have to lead by example.

Last but not the least came Greg Dyke, former Director General of the BBC, who brought lessons not just in leadership but humanity. I will remember forever him saying: “As a leader, you have to be good to everyone in your organization. People from the bottom to the top. It’s not about the speech you delivered or the suit you wore, its all about the way you make people feel.”

Apart from the speakers, the team activities were a great experience too. The tasks we were set opened our minds to the importance of teamwork. From a personal perspective, time management was one of the things I really wanted to work on. While peer pressure helped me improve, Mona (another course participant) gave me an insight I won’t forget.

She said we should think of ourselves as an image. Whatever we do has an impact on that image. If we do good things, we love to look at our image in the mirror, and when we do things we do not like, we don’t like our own image. So the lesson: Identify the things that make you feel satisfied and prioritise them. If you stick to this, time manages itself.

Between all the lessons, workshops and visits, I loved shopping in Cardiff and meeting some amazing people. I am really going to miss the whole Thomson family I became a part of.

The Future Leaders course was an unforgettable experience for me. As the title says, it lasted just one month … but the lessons will last a lifetime.

• Thanks Tim, Lyn, Tracey, Miranda, Clive for all your support and thanks to Siko, Noli, Ghassan, Mona, Misha, ManQ, Abdul, Amitabh and Lucy for being such great friends and such great time together.

Be Sociable, Share!

•