LinkedIn Top Voices 2016: The 15 must-know writers in India
Ramya Venugopal
#StrategicCommunications #StrategicPartnerships #Communities. Ex-Meta. Former LinkedIn editor, also ex-Reuters, Bloomberg, Dow Jones and Economic Times
Every week, writers on LinkedIn publish more than 160,000 articles coming from over 3 million unique writers on the publishing platform. These are professionals from around the world as well as right here in India, analyzing what they are reading in the news, sharing insights they're hearing in meetings or just simply talking about what they are observing in the professional world they live in.
We’re releasing our first annual LinkedIn Top Voices list in India, a look at the 15 members whose words have launched countless high-quality conversations locally (and globally) on LinkedIn in the last year.
From challenges faced by entrepreneurs to advising students on scaling up and offering their take on some of India's biggest news stories, these writers have been at the forefront, offering their perspectives, sometimes coming out with contrarian viewpoints, triggering vibrant debates in the comments.
To compile the list, we use a combination of data and editorial signals designed to capture the voices making a mark in their industries. Some of the inputs include engagement (particularly the comments and shares of each post); growth of followers tied to publishing activity; and number of times the writer had been featured in a channel in his or her area of expertise. We also emphasize diversity of topics and voices. The list reflects publishing activity over a 12-month period, from October 2015 to October 2016.
And with that, here are the Top Voices of 2016 from India:
Prabhakar Mundkur | Chief Mentor, HGS Interactive
What he covers: A prolific writer, Mundkur writes on marketing, social media and public relations. His pieces are often forthright and newsy, such as this piece on using paid media to wash dirty laundry, or this one on Brexit.
The article he's proudest of: "Pan Bahar Mystery Deepens like a Bond movie," on former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan's ill-advised move to endorse a cancer-causing mouth freshener. Quoting the series author Ian Fleming, he wrote: "Surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles.”
What's not in his LinkedIn profile: A closet musician, he used to be an HMV and Polydor recording artist in his teens and still plays the occasional gig with his friends.
Abhijit Bhaduri | Founder, Abhijit Bhaduri & Associates
What he covers: An HR professional, Bhaduri often writes about how technology impacts people management functions in large companies.
His most popular article: “Why 'Relationship Workers' will replace 'Knowledge Workers,'” where he explains how soft skills will replace knowledge skills in the future of work.
One thing that’s not on his LinkedIn profile: “I acted in a Bollywood film called Apna Aasman (A slice of sky for us).”
Ester Martinez | CEO & Editor-in-Chief at People Matters
What she covers: After leading different functions in HR for a host of blue-chip companies for over a decade, Martinez now runs a magazine for HR folks and shares her perspective from her day-to-day work.
Her most popular article: Through “It’s time for HR to think different!,” Ester gives a lesson on why businesses need to take a different approach to managing their human capital.
Her pick for 2016's most interesting news story: Heading a company herself, she found the whole Tata saga — a nasty and very public boardroom battle in the country's oldest and most respected business group — "very fascinating from organizational rhythm perspective.”
Subhash Chandra | Political Consultant, The Campaign360 Political Consultants Network
What he covers: This political consultant uses publicly available data to offer a take on policy, economic issues as well as political campaigns when they happen.
His favorite article: “What is data telling us about terror incidents in Kashmir?”. Chandra put forth a view that higher terror incidents are linked to India pursuing a certain strategy in the United Nations and not the usual reasons offered by most analysts.
The news story he found most interesting in 2016: "India's surgical strikes against Pakistan. I thought most of the analysis lacked depth and (had an) absence of understanding of the wider implications."
Tamal Bandyopadhyay | Adviser, Strategy at Bandhan Bank Ltd, & Consulting Editor, Mint
What he covers: This banking guru provides deep insights into the world of banking and finance with a tilt towards policy issues.
His favorite article: “The Importance Of Being Arundhati Bhattacharya,” a look at India’s most powerful banker, the first female head of a major government bank, and her tenure.
Where he does his best writing: “Since I travel a lot, at times I end up writing on my laptop at hotels, airport lounges,” he says. “But the best place to write is home, my son's bedroom which I have been using as study in his absence. I also like our pet Gogol beside me while writing and look for his approval!”
Prabal Basu Roy | CEO and Principal Investment Officer, Diptish Investments and Fund Advisors
What he covers: Roy writes on business news stories, offering a sharp and often contrarian take.
The piece he's proudest of: A deep analysis of the controversial Tata-Mistry saga, “Decoding the Cyrus Mistry Affair : and a lesson in corporate leadership.” It presented a contrarian view on the story and took what was at that time an unpopular stand — backed by later events.
What he'll be watching for in 2017: No surprise that the story he will be following most keenly is the Tata-Cyrus saga and globally, the Trump presidency.
Procyon Mukherjee | President & Head of Central Logistics Function, Hindalco Aluminum Business at Hindalco Industries Limited
What he covers: As a business leader, Mukherjee "writes about diverse themes that are relevant to business, whether in macro economics, supply chain, human resource, branding and marketing or even technology."
His favorite article: "Conscience of Management: Conduct of Leadership, Morals and collective thought" whose popularity brought home the impact his writing can have on people who barely know him.
How he comes up with ideas: "The inspiration to write comes from within, in fact if I do not write anything, it pains me at the day's end. For putting up one article on LinkedIn, it needs at least an effort equivalent to reading ten different things and trying to write at least three essays."
Purnima Menon | EVP & Chief Marketing Officer & Chief Sustainability Officer, CSS Corp
What she covers: Menon writes primarily on emerging trends in marketing, "as well as my own leadership experiences in managing teams, organizational situations etc."
Her most popular article: She shed light on the challenges that leaders face in today’s time through “My Leadership Diaries: How fit are you to lead?”
News stories that she found most fascinating in 2016: "India's mission to Mars, Mangalyan for the accomplishment of the mission at a cost that was less than what it took to make the Hollywood film Gravity" and the performance of Indian women at the Rio Olympics, that spotlighted other games beyond just cricket, top the list.
Hari TN | Head of Human Resources, BigBasket
What he covers: After spending over a decade in technical roles, Hari found his niche in human resources. “Passionate about solving complex problems and building organizations for scale through clear and uncluttered thinking and relentless execution,” he writes primarily on entrepreneurship, leadership and management.
His favorite article: Five Habits of a Highly Successful Start-up employee, which are broad enough to apply across start-up environments and specific enough to cultivate.
A story that fascinated him in 2016: “The Facebook Free Basics versus net neutrality debate. This debate was on multiple dimensions (technology; free speech; information privacy; free markets being distorted by a large and moneyed multinational company; the dream of providing free internet access to the poor in developing nations, etc). The issues were complex. Both sides were persuasive in their arguments. LinkedIn was the perfect media for settling this debate by giving a voice to everyone who had a view and helped shape public opinion like no other media.”
Roshni Dhal | Co Founder, HighOnM
What she covers: This entrepreneur writes on social media and advertising and tried to address new marketing and branding challenges as well as issues in using new forms of marketing such as digital and social media.
Her most popular article: Dhal gives advice on how to “Write cold emails like a boss” and not feel guilty about it.
How she get ideas for writing: She experiments a lot and "for inspiration I watch Ted talks and try to understand problem of people they are suffering from any reason."
Jayashree Patnaik | Founder, Sparkbootcamp.in
What she covers: Patnaik "evaluates business strategies and innovation from the perspective of an entrepreneur." She writes on starting up and scaling up.
Her most popular article: In “Indian Startups – Cloning Works?,” she talks about how Indian startups are copying the business models of Western companies.
Something that should have been big in 2016 but wasn't: I "expected Indian eCommerce to have a roller coaster ride in 2016, but trends have been slower."
Vartika Kashyap | Marketing Manager, ProofHub
What she covers: This marketing professional aims to inspire readers with her perspective on company culture and leadership and management.
The post she's proudest of: "What’s pushing your team members away from you?" on management challenges that leaders of organizations face and why.
Something she thought would be big in 2016 that wasn’t: “Facebook’s voyage to change the world with free internet has to be the biggest setback of 2016. The hype that was created and the end results were completely the opposite."
Ritesh Kumar Singh | Group Chief Economist, Raymond Limited
What he covers: This corporate economist with in-depth knowledge of government policy writes well-researched posts on business strategies and the economy.
His most popular article: “Why India's home prices will crash” struck a chord with the majority as buying a home is top on the priority list of most Indians. The post got more than 400,000 views.
Something he thought would be big in 2016 that wasn’t: “I thought Make in India would be a great initiative in pushing manufacturing and exports of India. But it's been a modest success at best. Most of the promised investments especially FDI (foreign investment) either didn't materialize or went mostly into M&A. Services attracted more FDI than manufacturing.”
Parag Kar | Vice President, Government Affairs, India and South Asia, QUALCOMM
What he covers: An expert with a deep knowledge of the telecom sector, Kar writes on the impact of government policies on the telecom industry
The post he's proudest of: The Story of Spectrum Auctions, which analyzed previous auctions and offers a view on spectrum pricing and whether it makes business sense. The post came at a time when India was preparing for its biggest ever auction so the timing was quite perfect. "This was a culmination of research work spanning many years," he said.
The story he’s watching in 2017: “GST implementation from April 2017. This will have significant impact on the Indian economy."
Lakshmipathy Bhat | VP, Marketing & Communications, Robosoft Technologies
What he covers: This marketing and communications veteran writes an interesting mix of articles about advertising, social media and news as he sees it.
His most popular article: “The ad agency account executive: soon to be extinct?” is a well-articulated article on how agency executives need to reinvent themselves to meet new challenges.
Something he thought would be big in 2016 that wasn’t: “Virtual reality and augmented reality in marketing storytelling. I guess we will see it in the years to come.”
Saas Copywriting @ b2b Sales pitch strategist @ SEO Curated Content Marketing in SMM & ORM & Analyst of lucrative traffic graph model at branding funnel creator & linkedin @ IOT,GMB,GTM in CRM.
2 年Incredible linkedin stars are playing crucial role in terms of exposure at digital organic traffic .
Product Strategy| Go-to-Market Expert| Hybrid Cloud/B2B Tech|16 years
7 年Purnima Menon.. congratulations!! So proud that I actually know someone in this list :)..
Digital Marketing Strategist | Ecommerce Growth Marketer
7 年wow... almost all are Indians?
A specialist in financial research outsourcing, business transformation, data analytics, and ESG
7 年Awesome influencers! Congratulations Hari T.N! Wish you many more successes in future.