"It's our responsibility as leaders to bring work-life balance back": Wunderman Thompson's Shamsuddin Jasani

Completing 100 days as the CEO, he says his vision is to grow the agency twice its size in three years, but while keeping his people happy along the way.

After being at the helm of Isobar for over 13 years, when Shamsuddin Jasani joined as the CEO of Wunderman Thompson, South Asia, in November last year, the first thing he did was to meet everyone in the organisation physically. This gesture comes from his firm belief that ‘the agency ecosystem is all about people’. Not only does he want to know everyone very well but more importantly, he wants everyone to know him well. These meetings have been about listening to the teams and understanding their pain points. He wants to have complete transparency.

In a conversation with afaqs!, he shares his vision to see the agency grow twice its size in the next three years, integrating different parts of the business and developing the full potential of its martech and commerce capabilities. But all this while keeping his people happy. He insists that it is the people who make the agency what it is and it is imperative that they are appreciated.

He stresses on the need to separate work life and home life once again- two sections that have blurred into each other in the last two years. But he takes the onus for this saying, “it is the leader's responsibility to make sure that happens”.

While he strives to provide this balance to his people, he himself achieves it through family time, especially with his seven-year-old son, weekend runs and a glass of single malt Scotch. Yet he rarely feels the need to unwind as he enjoys the work and the challenges that come with it.

Edited Excerpts:

Need a social media marketing agency for your project? Choose among 82 such agencies on afaqs! Marketplace now. Click here