Pruthvi Pandit
I haven’t done this before, but one thing I realised working in this industry is that you have to be prepared to try everything. If you want to be noticed then you have put yourself in places which might be out of your comfort zone, try new things and adapt –I would go as far a saying Media is like the evolution process, just times that by a thousand and you’ll get close to the speed it travels at –and trust me, you’re going to have to do everything to keep up.
I told myself, if I was going to write this, I want to have something proper to say, drop any sarcasm, try not to be patronising and give a real account of the scheme. I suppose it’s best to start off with who I am. My name’s Pruthvi Pandit, but most people call me Pru. I have worked in the media in several areas over the last three years, but it didn’t prepare me for the scheme and what I’m learning on it…
For this blog I thought it might be better to stick to a theme for every entry –A great tip I got from a friend. So this time round, I want to talk about The Big People. With The Big People in the media, I don’t mean just the likes of Mark Thompson, or Rupert Murdoch or the Michael Grades of the industry, it also includes your everyday media boss. For me, these have always been people I have been in absolute awe of. They rush around the building, hold great big meeting after meeting in the board room and then head off too a glamorous media do, where they will network and share countless insider media jokes….And I don’t mean this in sarcastic way –these are the people I aspire to be one day.
When you enter this industry, you can’t help feeling incredibly proud of yourself, you’ve entered one of the most tight-knit businesses, where everyone knows everyone and you’ve managed to penetrate the barrier and get in. However, while you are feeling proud of yourself, on your first day, ready to tackle some great media problem, someone is more than likely going to tell you to go and research some awful subject for them like animal rights for badgers.
The thing is there will always be someone superior to you –especially in the very beginning. In the media, no one’s going to suddenly give you free reign and let you start making spectacular decisions, in some cases, they don’t even want to know your opinion. I’ve been lucky enough not encounter those media types, but I think it has a lot to do with how you play your game with the big people. I view everyone as a big person and if I want to get somewhere, I want to impress them. Don’t think the big people are just the CEOs, the big people are the person you’re sitting next to, the line manager you report to etc. These are the people who will impart their wisdom, teach you and help you understand what you are doing. They have been in the system and know how to function within it, and have managed to survive this constantly changing environment.
I found it very important to befriend the big people. Whatever you do, do not stay away and hide from them. If you want to work in this business, you have to get noticed. I started by offering to make coffees, enquiring how their day is going and how they are feeling. You might feel that you are far too educated to bother making coffees, but that simple gesture works a treat. Before you realise, they will ask your opinion on something they are working on and you will be able to offer something. I quite often found that they came from humble backgrounds themselves and worked their way up.
One thing you will notice about The Big People, they are the ones who work tirelessly, they are the first in the office and last to leave in the evening, they work through lunch, and will rarely stop to even go to the loo. And that’s why they are the big people, because they are the ones who power through and it is definitely worth learning from them!