Dev Pragad, the CEO of influential American news magazine, Newsweek has lauded the hard working and results-oriented nature of Indian Origin people that has made them successful in the west. Pragad was in India and was guest of honour at the Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention, the mega diaspora event hosted by Indian govt in Odisha.

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Speaking to WION's Sidhant Sibal, he said, " I think 20 years ago, if you're especially in America, if you're Indian American, it was not easy...Through sheer hard work, talent and genius, they helped shape the narrative about Indians in that part of the world. And I think that's made life a lot easier for people like me, who have come much later." 

Born in India in 1984, Pragad grew up in the United Kingdom and is a British American dual citizen. He became CEO of Newsweek in 2016 and a co-owner in 2018 and has been credited with transforming Newsweek into a profitable enterprise, making it debt-free, and increasing its digital presence dramatically.

Asked about Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, he said, it was "very inspiring for me. It was also a real honor to be personally invited by Dr S Jaishankar, recognizing my contributions and having the foresight. First time the government had deviated from inviting a political leader and rather inviting a business leader to get a guest of honor".Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), which happens every 2 years aims to strengthen India's bonds with its large diaspora. PBD is traditionally held on January 9th to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi's return to India from South Africa in 1915.

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He also spoke about international media and perception about India. He explained, "The media is a very small industry, there are not a lot of Indian American leaders there. There are some, but not a lot of Indian American especially on the business side which is where a lot of the decision making happens and the power control lies. And I don't know if it's related to that or not, a lot of the media narrative about India how India is represented can also be little skewed because of it, because the vast person may not always fully comprehend India, because India is a very complex and a nuanced country".

Sidhant Sibal: If you can talk about your India connection..

Dev Pragad: I was born in India in 1984 in Tamil Nadu, in a town called Coimbatore. My parents left when I was 11 years old, briefly to the Middle East. Then they were in London, the United Kingdom, which is where I did my undergrad and then my PhD. And then I moved to the States in 2016 to become the CEO, and then in 2018 I became a co-owner of Newsweek. So, though I'm a British American national, I'm an overseas citizen of India, I'm still very Indian by heritage and culture. Indian food is still my go to comfort food. I'm an Indian in many ways. So, India helped shape who I am. And you know the values that my parents instilled in me, hard work, devotion to education, excellence, honesty, integrity, all of that, I believe, led me to be, you know, very successful like many other Indian Americans. So, I'm not a unicorn. There's a lot of people like me who have been even more successful than me, and all of that has made us so proud in India. Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas convention was very inspiring for me. It was also a real honor to be personally invited by Dr S Jaishankar, recognizing my contributions and having the foresight. First time the government had deviated from inviting a political leader and rather inviting a business leader to get a guest of honour. And I'm just 40, last year in October, so I'm still relatively young, so I hope that my story was inspiring for a lot of the other young people from the Indian diaspora, and also for many others too. I wasn't born into wealth or anything. You know, through sheer hard work, I made it all the way up.

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Sidhant Sibal: So you mentioned that India shaped you, perhaps, if we can delve on it, essentially the Indian Americans. So how do you see Indians making it big in the West, and any challenges do they face currently?

Dev Pragad: I think being a person of Indian origin, you naturally possess certain inherent skills. So the world is often not a binary place. And in business, especially as a leader, you're faced with very complex situations. And growing up in India, from a young age, you're used to seeing what appears to be chaos, but also order within chaos. And there are different shades of gray in every situation that you're very comfortable with dealing with. This leads to you being very comfortable with complexity. And I think that's a major advantage a lot of Indian American or, you know, people of Indian origin, process as they rise up to leadership roles, that they can handle complexity really well. And I also think we are very suited to manage complex people management situations and manage conflicts between people. I think we do have a natural temperament for that, and as you grow in your leadership, managing people becomes a huge part of what you do. You execute your plans and your strategies through people empowering them to excel. So I think that's also a huge, huge plus. Then, of course, a lot of us tend to be focused on working hard and executing rather than trying to tell the world how awesome you are, how great you are. I think that we prefer some of us, not all of us, quite a few of us, or a majority of us, like to be under the radar. Just work really hard, focus on actually delivering stuff, rather than tell the world and make an appearance that you're delivering stuff. So I think as the world has become very driven by performance metrics where delivery of results is more important than the appearance of delivering I think that's also another reason why people of Indian origin have been so successful in the West.

In terms of challenges, we have come a long way. So, I think 20 years ago, if you're especially in America, if you're Indian American, it was not easy. I think there were a lot of pioneers who went into Silicon Valley. Through sheer hard work, talent and genius, they helped shape the narrative about Indians in that part of the world. And I think that's made life a lot easier for people like me, who have come much later. So I think today, in certain fields, you know, Indian Americans are extremely well respected. In the media circle, keep in mind, the media is a very small industry, there are not a lot of Indian American leaders there. There are some, but not a lot of Indian American especially on the business side which is where a lot of the decision making happens and the power control lies. And I don't know if it's related to that or not, a lot of the media narrative about India, you know, how India is represented can also be little skewed because of it, because the vast person may not always fully comprehend India, because India is a very complex and a nuanced country. As we earlier said, there are so many shades of gray here, and it's very hard to interpret it all when you just look from a very far away prism. I think it's an evolution as different industries get comfortable with people from diverse cultures, right? Our culture is quite unique, and that culture also shapes how we do things, how we approach things, and it can differ from the standard status quo of how some of the people there would do things or approach things, right? So I wouldn't say this is a major issue, but definitely, you know, it is an evolution.

Sidhant Sibal: If you can talk about India and about India's rise, what India can do..

Dev Pragad: First of all, India has gifted the world with its amazing, amazingly talented people, who are the Indian diaspora. There are so many great people who have gone abroad and, you know, did amazing things for those countries and also for the world. I mean, we over glamorized the CEOs, but let's not also not forget, a lot of scientists, a lot of doctors, a lot of people in academia have gone there, discovered many things, done a lot of great things, and contributed greatly to the global society. So you know, in a way, directly or indirectly, that is credit to India, and testament to the rise of the ways in which India contributes to the world. So, we must really acknowledge that. And it is my view that like America, India is a democratic country. And India takes great pride in being a democratic country and given its very decentralized system broadly speaking it is a very stable democracy. People hold the democratic values very close to their heart, very much, like America. You know last year in the presidential elections people in America really celebrated it, it's almost like a celebration. It's a festival. People take it very seriously. It means a lot to them. So, it was a very defining moment for me as an American to vote in the elections this time. But that's a huge thing. I think the more it indeed succeeds; it's a testament and a strength to the importance of democracy. And also at Newsweek, we care about geopolitics a lot. And I think, as a democratic India rises and becomes more influential, our shared values from a geopolitical angle also plays a very important part, I think, for India.

Sidhant Sibal: So my last question to you is about you being the CEO of Newsweek, that's a major outlet in the west now, essentially as the CEO, how do you see the media landscape? There are challenges like fake news, There are new opportunities, especially driven by artificial intelligence. So if you can sum up, what's your view?

Dev Pragad: For us at Newsweek, it's incredibly important to be trustworthy. We say trustworthy more than trusted, because when we say we want to be trustworthy. We are seeking to earn the trust of our readers. So that's super important for us, and that we're very conscious in that our journalism is very accessible to as many people as possible, and also at Newsweek, we listen to, we speak to and listen to people across the political and cultural spectrum in America. America is a very big country, and people do hold very different views. And we want to be a publication for all Americans that's been an integral part of our turnaround. And also, you know, we do want to be a very global publication, because that's always been a part of Newsweek's history and heritage. So if you look deep into Newsweek's history, it had two major products. One was the domestic American product, and one was the global product, which was really much more elite. And it's really where we focus on interviewing world leaders, like we had with the Japanese prime minister or the Indian Prime Minister, or the president of South Korea. So those are the few, the two major products that we produce, and being a very fair and trustworthy publication is incredibly important for us, and we place a lot of emphasis on that, and that's been quite central to the way we have transformed the business. Even independent studies have shown our brand is being trusted more across the political spectrum, on both sides and for the huge win, and that's also been a big part of what's driven the audience. You know, today we have between four, four and 5 million people every day reading us on newsweek.com, alone, plus we add some of the more, wider distribution platforms, like Apple news, and probably easily a few more million. And we take everything very seriously in terms of, you know, we fact checked a lot of news. We are an accredited fact checker. You know, we do use AI to help and supplement, with the rise of AI, of course, it will be easier for people to spread fake news. So our view is that if we stay true to our mission and true to our values of being a trustworthy publication for all Americans, we think we can remain very relevant in an era in which there could be a lot of fake news and AI generated news.