Bossing It: Leadership It’s What Happens to You When You Follow Your Beliefs with Josy Paul
Josy started BBDO in Mumbai from the backseat of his car - in 2008. In 2016, he was named 'Creative Agency Head of The Year' by the Indian Advertising Association (IAA). He is ranked among the most influential people in Indian advertising - according to The Economic Times. Josy and his partner Ajai Jhala pioneered the idea of brand movements with their philosophy 'Create acts, not ads!', Josy and his team won the inaugural Glass Lion Grand Prix at Cannes in 2015 for P&G Whisper ‘Touch The Pickle’. He also won the Cannes Lion Gold in 2015, 2016 and 2017 for P&G Ariel ‘Share The Load’ – ranked as the world’s most effective campaign by WARC two years in a row.
His work for P&G Gillette 'Women Against Lazy Stubble' won the inaugural Creative Effectiveness Lion at Cannes. Before BBDO India, in June 2000, Josy helped set up the challenger agency for Ogilvy. He named the agency ‘David’. To this day Josy has remained a challenger whose work has changed culture and built world-famous brands. Josy Paul was born during an earthquake and has a permanent tremor.
LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?
Josy> It was at St Xavier’s College in Mumbai, during my undergraduate years. I was leading the publicity department of the Social Service League. An exchange student from the US and I came up with the idea of the Rose Day. A day when students could send a rose along with a message to any student they wished to connect with. We created an intra-college system of distribution for this exchange. The Rose Day was a superhit. It became an annual thing. Soon it was adopted by colleges across the city.
LBB> How did you figure out what kind of leader you wanted to be – or what kind of leader you didn’t want to be?
Josy> Ten years into my career, I found something I’d written in my journal when I was in college. I had jotted down – My Mission: To create an environment so fertile that even if you were to sow a seed of doubt it would flower into something beautiful.
It was a moment of rebirth. I left my job at Lowe Lintas in search of something new. It was one of the reasons I joined Madhukar Sabnavis to start the agency ‘David’ for Ogilvy.
LBB> What experience or moment gave you your biggest lesson in leadership?
Josy> I remember the time at ‘David’ when we lost one of our biggest accounts. People were broken. They had lost faith in themselves. I had to do something to make our team believe we could still do it. And we did! We won back the business.
LBB> Did you know you always wanted to take on a leadership role? If so how did you work towards it and if not, when did you start realising that you had it in you?
Josy> I didn’t start by thinking of a leadership role. It was not my goal. I followed my creative calling. And it started with the work.
In April 2000, while at Lowe Lintas, I did a campaign where we got the front page of India’s biggest daily to go blank - to make a radical point about the coming of the internet and the launch of India’s first horizontal web portal called indya.com.
Nowhere in the history of newspapers had anyone blanked out their front page. It was controversial. The work made national news. Lucrative offers began pouring in. But I chose not to take up these offers. I decided to start again.
So along with Madhukar Sabnavis, I set up a second agency for Ogilvy, and decided to call it David. Because David is more than a name, it’s an ideology - the spirit of challenge. This was June 2000.
LBB> When it comes to 'leadership' as a skill, how much do you think is a natural part of personality, how much can be taught and learned?
Josy> Leadership is not a decision. It’s what happens to you when you follow your beliefs, your view of the world. There’s an element of blind faith. You take charge and make it your mission.
LBB> What are the aspects of leadership that you find most personally challenging? And how do you work through them?
Josy> A leader is essentially a follower – you are following a dream or a mission. You are too excited to sleep. The challenge is to not let go of that dream. The noise of the world and the voice of detractors can blur your focus. The important thing is to never lose sight of your purpose.
LBB> Have you ever felt like you've failed whilst in charge? How did you address the issue and what did you learn from it?
Josy> I have failed. I have been rejected. I lost an agency in 2007 that I helped start in 2000. But I have been blessed with friends and colleagues who believed in me.
I started again, thanks to great leaders like Andrew Robertson, David Lubars and Chris Thomas at BBDO Worldwide. I’m a sum total of all who raised me up.
The learning? We are all connected. Every leader is a dependent.
LBB> In terms of leadership and openness, what’s your approach there? Do you think it’s important to be as transparent as possible in the service of being authentic? Or is there a value in being careful and considered?
Josy> I have never seen myself as a leader. I am a seeker. In David we had a playschool. At BBDO India, we are an ‘ashram’. Both are about communities, both represent collective growth. These collectives thrive on openness. It’s bound by deep listening and sharing.
LBB> As you developed your leadership skills did you have a mentor, if so who were/are they and what have you learned? And on the flip side, do you mentor any aspiring leaders and how do you approach that relationship?
Josy> I was fortunate to have mentors at every stage of my professional life.
My librarian Dominic Fernandes in college. Suresh Mullick and Piyush Pandey at Ogilvy. Kersy Katrak, Alyque Padamsee, Neville D’Souza and R Balki at Lowe Lintas. Madhukar Sabnavis at David. Andrew Robertson, David Lubars, Chris Thomas and Ajai Jhala at BBDO.
From each one of them I received gifts of creativity, humanity and empathy. I carry these gifts and try and offer it to future generations.
LBB> In continually changing market circumstances, how do you cope with the responsibility of leading a team through difficult waters?
Josy> We often think of leadership as a pyramid. Like, as if, we are sitting on the top of things. But I prefer circular structures. I believe in distributed leadership. Different people leading at different times. Circular creative leadership.
When things get tough, it’s the time for re-examination, as a team. It’s the test of the creative circle. True creativity loves a good conflict.
LBB> As a leader, what are some of the ways in which you’ve prioritised diversity and inclusion within your workforce?
Josy> Right now, our diversity is in the people we hire from the many states of India across age, gender and orientation. It’s evident in our work. We raise diversity consciousness on every occasion. We feel we are on the right path. Of course, there’s a lot left to be done.
LBB> How important is your company culture to the success of your business? And how have you managed to keep it alive with increases in remote and hybrid working patterns?
Josy> Since November 2021, most of us have been working from office. We love being together. In the belonging index study of 2023 conducted by BBDO Asia, we scored the highest. Our office is an ‘ashram’. It’s the chemistry of the collective. It’s symbolised best by the WhiteRoom where we hold our brand listening sessions.
LBB> What are the most useful resources you’ve found to help you along your leadership journey?
Josy> I was fortunate to touch a creative cultural moment in college. That’s been my energy centre. It is perennial, keeps on giving. And then there is Bob Dylan and Pink Floyd. And there is love - my wife, our son, friends, our clients. And there is Bandra where I live, and the rain, the rain, the rain. There’s always the rain.
