Paying tribute to YAAP Founder and Chairman Atul Hegde, Arnab Mitra reflected on the leadership lessons and personal values he learnt from the advertising veteran, describing him as someone who corrected people without making them feel corrected.
Recalling an incident from 2007, Mitra shared that after his team missed an important deadline, he avoided taking responsibility and sent a junior colleague to face Hegde instead. The junior was immediately sent back, and Hegde asked Mitra to step into his cabin.
Instead of reprimanding him, Hegde left him with a lesson that stayed with him throughout his career: “Never ever expose your juniors to your seniors. Name, fame and shame all belong to the leader.”
Mitra wrote that the words had a far deeper impact than any scolding could have. “He wasn’t angry about the deadline. He was holding up a mirror to the kind of leader I was becoming,” he said.
Remembering Hegde beyond the workplace, Mitra recalled playing cricket with him at Mumbai’s Oval Maidan during CAG Shield matches. He described Hegde as a composed batter whose calmness on the field mirrored the poise he displayed in the boardroom.
Reflecting on Hegde’s legacy, Mitra described him as one of the last representatives of an era when Indian advertising placed craft, relationships and thoughtful ideas above everything else. He added that the lesson Hegde taught him on leadership continued to guide him while building companies and leading teams.
Concluding his tribute, Mitra wrote, “Atul Hegde was the kind of man you don’t realise you needed until you can no longer call him. Rest well, my friend. You played a beautiful innings. Gone too soon, so for me you will be not-out.”
