The Methodist. The Mentalist. Mr Moneyball. Super CEO. Call him what you will, but the name Venky Mysore spells Winner. t2oS sat with CEO and MD of Kolkata Knight Riders at ITC Sonar in Calcutta ahead of the IPL 10 play-offs, to understand the Man and his Plan.

AT THE TOSS
I was born in Bangalore. My father was with the American Consulate so he was transferred to Madras, when I was a kid. I don’t even remember living in Bangalore. Although my native place is Bangalore and mother tongue is Kannada, I grew up in Chennai so I am as much a Tamilian. I did my schooling and college there. Did economics major with statistics and maths. I then went to Coimbatore for my MBA.

I had an opportunity to play district cricket there and won the South Zone Championship. But then another MBA came calling in USA and I took off. So curtains came down not only on India, but also my cricketing aspirations.

I was away for a fair amount of time. I was in the US for 13 years with MetLife. It was my first job. I was one of the high potential performers so I grew quite fast. Then they wanted someone with my background in international operations and my job was to go and set up businesses around the world. So first stop was Indonesia, then Hong Kong… and then India started opening up. That’s what brought me back to India.

I set up a joint venture, got the licence and MetLife India was established, and I became its first CEO. I continued to be an expat here. When they wanted me to go back to New York, I was quite reluctantly preparing to go. Out of the blue, I got an offer from Sun Life of Canada. I was hired as their country head and moved to Mumbai. 

A BIT OF A BATTING ALL-ROUNDER
When I played university cricket, I was the highest scorer in the South Zone Championship. I was a number three batsman and an off-spinner. A bit of a batting all-rounder. I played with (Krishnamachari) Srikkanth, W.V. Raman... (Laxman) Sivaramakrishnan. Like every kid at that stage, when you’re doing decent, you have aspirations of going all the way. But coming from a conservative middle-class South Indian family, priority was a little more on education. In those days, nobody thought cricket could ever become a career. Now there are so many more opportunities. I was fairly good at that level, but whether or not I could have gone all the way, it’s a matter of conjecture.

CAUGHT JAY BOWLED SHAH RUKH 
In 2010, it was in one fortuitous conversation with Jay Mehta, who is part of YPO (Young Presidents’ Organisation) with me... we were just chatting and somewhere cricket came up. At that point, KKR had finished three seasons and I was always a slightly interested observer. I loved cricket, but I was from the old school, which liked the more traditional format.

I was telling him about my cricketing stories from my university days and he was like, ‘How come I didn’t know this part of you?’ and I told him, ‘Jay, we never spoke about cricket! We always spoke about business.’ He said, ‘No, no, we have to have lunch next week.’ So I assumed that he was going to pick my brains on ‘how do we do this or that’ because KKR were one of the worst-performing teams in the first three years of IPL. When we met, I thought he wanted to bounce some ideas off me.

But then he went, ‘Shah Rukh (Khan) and I have decided to professionalise the franchise and bring in a CEO and let him run the whole show….’ He told me, ‘I’m convinced, you can’t say no… you have to do it.’ I almost fell off the chair! Right after that I called my wife (Veena) and she said, ‘I hope you haven’t lost your mind and you’re not even considering this!’

And 24 hours later I was supposed to meet Shah Rukh Khan. Back then he was shooting for Ra.One and he was supposed to go away to London for 45 days so before that he wanted to meet. So before I knew what was happening… there I was sitting in front of him. Jay and I had a good rapport already but going and meeting SRK for the first time was like ‘what do I expect?’ and with the build-up where my children (daughters Priyanka and Malavika and son Aneesh)  were like ‘can we come please?!’ I thought it’ll be more like an interview, but there was no such thing, because he had also made up his mind…. And the rest is history!

A LEAP OF FAITH…    A BIT OF A PUNT
In life, the test is always when you wake up in the morning. Are you in a situation where you can’t wait to get out of bed and conquer the world? Or are you dragging yourself out of bed? When you think about it like that, this idea got me excited because I’ve always been passionate about the game. I always felt if there was a business side to it and a game side to it, it’d be an interesting combination, which will test my skills and I felt I had those skills. So that’s what prompted me to say let’s explore this.

What made me nervous was that, and I expressed it to the owners, I’d never worked for an individual promoter. I’d always worked for large corporations and multinationals. Shah Rukh kept asking, ‘What’s your concern?’ I told him my worry was that if it’s an individual who wakes up one day and says, ‘What am I doing in this business’ and changes his mind? And what happens to everyone who’s involved? But he was very reassuring and he told me, ‘Listen, whatever we do it’s long-term. Whatever we do, it’s not for me, not for my children… it’s actually my grandchildren.’ That’s how he put it.

So then you also say to yourself, it was sort of a leap of faith because what I was giving up from a career standpoint, the position I was in and financially also, was quite significant. Multinationals really know how to put golden handcuffs on you and make it difficult to leave. But I thought if I didn’t do it then, I didn’t want to regret later on at some point. Also, I must admit, I was at that stage of my life where I could afford to take that punt. It was a bit of a punt and it’s all worked out.

DO IT DIFFERENTLY, START WITH A CLEAN SLATE
See, when you come into a situation when things haven’t gone well, the expectations are that things will change. But it is also not a bad time to take over, because the only direction it can go is up. 

There is always a business side and cricketing side because in the initial stages the cricketing side is very important for the business side to thrive. Listening to all the feedback that I got from the first three years, there’s one thing I keep repeating, ‘The definition of insanity is to do the same things over and over again and expect different results’. We obviously wanted different results, so what can we do differently? 

The thing I came up with was, let’s not retain any player. There’s a big auction coming up, let’s start with a clean slate. Initially it looked too good to be true because the owners readily agreed. I thought, ‘wow, this is easy!’ even though it was a controversial decision. But then we went through a lot of turmoil because of that decision… as you might know! Nevertheless, the thought process was to get a fresh start. Often people ask me, and I tell them, that was the only thing I take credit for. Not only did I moot the idea but I managed to convince everybody that it was the right thing to do and stuck with it, although there was a lot of resistance at various stages and our owners were wilting under the pressure. But yeah, there was then this pressure of not having a think-tank once you release all the players! 

‘IT’S UNBELIEVABLE... VENKY SIR’
Then the strategising for the auction started and every team was limited by the same amount and every team knew the players that were coming in. So how do you build a competitive team so that you have a legitimate shot at succeeding?

This involved a lot of use of data analytics and technology. When I shared this with the owners, they were like, ‘It’s too complicated, you don’t know how auctions work… it’s ego and adrenaline’… but then they spent time understanding what we’d put together and to their credit they not only appreciated it… I still remember what Shah Rukh said after that. He said: ‘It’s unbelievable. I have never seen anything like this. One thing I’ve understood now is that I shouldn’t come to the auction because then I’ll confuse Venky Sir.’ He addresses me as Venky Sir for some reason! Then he told Jay and he was like, ‘I’m not going either.’ 

So we were the only team which was represented by management at the auction table. Nobody knew us… nobody knew me! So everyone was like, ‘where’s Shah Rukh… where’s Juhi?’ And they looked back and we were sitting down and raising the barrel! And we had the authority and a plan and we went in with some hope. For most parts, whatever we did, worked out. It just vindicated our position.

And when our on-field performances improved, everyone started seeing us as a legitimate team. That also had a positive impact on our business. We went in and got brand-new brands on board, signed longer-term deals with them and the story that I articulated, they bought into that… and when we made the play-offs and won the championship, they also started believing in it.

Right now, we’re in a very happy place. From the business side of it… the merchandising, content, brand building are all building blocks. I would never say we’ve arrived but all these are building blocks which are integral to the success of KKR. There are very few who are doing everything we’re doing. On all platforms put together, we have 17 million followers today. When our brands come on board, we show them our digital power, combined with content, our programmes, merchandising… then we have a team Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in CPL. So we’ll keep our eyes and ears open for more assets if it fits into our financial model. In the next few years, we could own 2-3 more assets. So potentially with a Knight Riders platform, we could have a year-round activity. 

THE MONEYBALL METHOD 
When I read the book (Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis), it was well before I got into KKR, so little did I know I’ll be involved in franchise sports. The logic used in Moneyball and the logic here is different. But the common thread that we picked up on was analytics and data. We also do scouting, talent search, but in the end how you focus on building the right people in the team is critical. 

I was always convinced about the need to use data and analytics. But it took a lot to convince everyone else. Because what happens is that in the business of cricket, everyone feels it’s their domain. Coaches, scouts… just like it happened in Moneyball. They have a view on a particular player, they’ll say, ‘This guy has gotta be your number one pick.’ But then he’s going to be the number one pick for all teams so what makes you think you can get him? And then they’re like ‘Oh, you’ve gotta go all out.’ I don’t like that phrase ‘going all out’ at all. Because that shows you’re going after a name. It’s then a slugfest between teams on who can pay more! What we found is that teams which ‘go all out’ don’t get to build the squad because they spend an enormous amount on one player. It doesn’t happen that way. It’s always a team effort. 

NEEDS SCORE OVER NAMES
What worked for us was that ability to gain insights into what the team needs and going after those skills regardless of whether those skills reside in a name which is unrecognisable! I always joke about how when we picked (Ryan) ten Doeschate and after he’d played for three-four seasons, people still didn’t know how to pronounce his name, but he did a brilliant job for us! Shakib (Al Hasan) is the No. 1 all-rounder now and there was very little competition when we picked him. When we picked Andre Russell, he was unsold! He made a name for himself after he came to KKR and now he’s regarded as one of the best all-rounders in the world. Sunil Narine played international cricket after we picked him. There are a number of these stories about spotting a talent. Sanju Samson was in our squad. Mohammed Shami started his IPL career with us. Kuldeep Yadav, Manish Pandey... I’m sure I am leaving out a lot of names. 

THE GAUTAM GAMBHIR FACTOR 
Leadership is very important. Having said that, our focus has been to build Team KKR. It’s all about the team, not an individual. An individual is given certain responsibilities. He was our very first pick in 2011 and after the auction, we requested him to lead the side. That leadership is very, very important. At the same time we assembled a team that complemented that leadership. So everyone plays a crucial role but he has additional responsibilities as captain and the way in which he has put the team first and not allowed anyone else’s or his own individual needs or aspirations to supersede the team is probably one of the most important contributions. 

UP CLOSE WITH SHAH RUKH 
The team owners are fantastic. They’re very, very decent people… that’s the starting point. And they respect professionalism. They know I don’t have any agenda. I’ve come in just for the enjoyment of it and, at the same time, whatever I do, I do it sincerely and to the best of my abilities... and they know that. The biggest plus has been their willingness to be completely hands-off. They’ve left everything to me and my team. That gives us the freedom to do what we think is appropriate. Any ideas we come up with, moot and brainstorm, they never say no to that. They’re always open to giving it a shot. At the same time, I don’t take that freedom for granted. It’s a two-way street. The trust I know has been built up very strongly. They have a lot of faith in what we’re doing. But at the same time, I believe in communicating very strongly with them. So whether they want it or not, I keep them updated, in a way where they pretty much know everything that’s going on. 

I tell people often that one of the perks of my job, whether it’s on the cricket field or in the film business, is I am constantly in the company of high-performance people, who’ve achieved a lot in life. So there’s always a rub-off whenever you’re communicating with them. Knowing what they think… what drives them. That’s been quite fascinating to see up close and personal. One common thread that you can see is the hard work that goes into it. 

Sometimes from a distance you only see the glamorous side. Shah Rukh works extremely hard, he’s probably one of the hardest workers I’ve seen. Juhi too. Then there’s the extra sense of understanding what works and keep working towards it, with a sense of focus. So it just reinforces in you that you have to do your job sincerely. Do it with honestly, work extremely hard… work your tail off. And then the longer you do that, you keep picking up certain insights. So it always comes down to the basics, keep identifying those and keep working hard on that… things start falling in place. 

BITING INTO RED CHILLIES
It’s very different and very fascinating. I must admit that when Shah Rukh asked me to do that four years back, I told him, ‘In hindsight, the shift to cricket seemed easier because I was always very passionate about that. I’m not really passionate about movies… I’m not a movie addict or something like that.’ I thought when I said that he’d let me off the hook, but he said something interesting to me. ‘This is music to my ears that you’re not very hooked on films because in all the years I’ve been in the business, a lot of people have come in to run it, but they all get too attached to our business. So they want to produce, write, act… we have a lot of such people. What we need are disinterested business people who can look at the business and manage all that stuff.’ And that’s what I’ve attempted to do. Again like KKR, he’s given me complete freedom to run the business side of things. 

THE HAT-RACK MAN
It’s tough balancing KKR and Red Chillies, but it’s also very enjoyable. It doesn’t seem like work, although there’s always a lot on the plate. I’m always wearing a minimum of two hats. I jokingly tell people that I need a hat rack in my office because I need to know which hat I am wearing! We have a visual effects business also, which I oversee. We’ve set up a foundation. So there’s a lot going on. KKR, TKR, Red Chillies, redchillies.vfx, the foundation and then we’re still not satisfied. We’re going after a few more things. Whether it’s business in India or overseas, digital platform or music or merchandising. There’s a whole host of activities that go on. So it’s challenging but fun.

WHERE KKR GOES, I GO…
I think I am fully intertwined with KKR, so wherever KKR goes, I go! What we feel is that Knight Riders as a brand, more than KKR, has already established itself for people to see. But our ambitions transcend the boundaries of India. I’d like to see Knight Riders as a recognised global brand. Whether we do it through a cricket platform or pick up on other sports. Hand in hand with that goes our fan base. We are one of the few pan-India teams, so it’s fascinating to see in away games when a KKR chant goes out. Just tells you that people outside East follow us as well. We’ve also been fortunate largely thanks to Shah Rukh.... If we can concurrently build our brand as a global brand and our fan base as a global fan base, it gives us a canvas on which we can build our business on a very different scale. That creates a very different business portfolio for us, making the value even more significant. 

MESSAGE FOR KKR FANS
Oh, one of the things I missed out on saying is that giving back to the community is very important. Genuinely. Shah Rukh believes in it very strongly, Juhi does, I believe in it. To connect with the community. Support some of the really good things that are happening in the city. Last year we contributed to St Jude (St Jude India ChildCare Centre in Rajarhat). What we want is integrate a lot more into the society and give something back to the society.

Full credit to the city and fans who’ve been supporting us. At the end of the day, it’s just two-three basic things. Firstly, the on-field performance has to be competitive, doesn’t mean we have to win every time. The second is, you have to engage them, have to make it easy and affordable for them to come for the games and when they do, there have to be appropriate amenities for them, even if it means just toilets. I want them to know we care. We’re appreciative about the fact that we get massive support. It gets the team highly motivated!

What gives me the greatest pleasure is when I drive up to a game and see serpentine lines waiting to buy tickets. Just shows you the support of the city. When we won our first championship and Didi (Mamata Banerjee) felicitated us… the scenes were unbelievable! We were on an open bus on a hot day… there were 4-5 lakh people on the streets that day. Then we pulled into Eden Gardens and it was overflowing! That roar! Money can’t buy that. It’s just awesome that we get that kind of support. Our endeavour is really to take care of every single person supporting us. It might sound utopian but that’s what drives us and we’re taking some concrete steps towards it.