GECs
Zee introduces its leadership and development academy ‘Lead Your Ship’
Mumbai: Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) has launched its new academy of leadership and management development – ‘Lead Your Ship.’ The academy is an industry-first initiative that aims to develop new-age leadership and managerial capabilities at all levels. Its vision is to build a resilient and agile organisation where leaders’ skills and capabilities are a true cornerstone.
Zee has made significant strides toward workforce capability development by establishing a 4×4 academy framework that allows for the development of compliance, techno-functional, behavioural, and leadership skills across the organisational pyramid.
These academic pillars are built on four beams: integrated academy journeys; learner-centric technology; assessments & certifications; and career progression; providing the company’s workforce with long-term development and growth plans.
The academy provides career-related development interventions at all levels of the organisational pyramid.
The five interventions—arise, aspire, advance, ascend, and accelerate—are specifically designed to develop foundational proficiency at the bottom of the pyramid into critical leadership, managerial, and transformational competencies, ultimately enabling them to transition to higher roles within the organisation.
Commenting on the launch, ZEEL head of HR, content SBU & head of enterprise culture and capability development Dheeraj Jaggi said, “Being the first media and entertainment powerhouse in India, ZEE has always been an Academy of Talent. Over the years, we’ve nurtured great talent who have shaped the future of the industry. Once again, we are delighted to launch the Lead Your Ship Academy, another pioneering and first-of-its-kind initiative, that will play a critical role in upskilling the workforce to keep up with the fast-changing industry environment.”
“Given the shift in workforce development needs post-covid,” he continues, “the curriculum of all 5 career-linked development interventions is designed to meet the new capability requirements for managers and leaders, ultimately promoting science-based self-development for inclusive and global leadership and supporting their career progression.”
Lead Your Ship Academy will provide holistic development to Zee’s workforce through a blended delivery model based on extensive research-led insights. The curriculum has been developed in collaboration with renowned industry partners and academic institutions, and it will include modern pedagogy to assess, develop, engage, and reinforce new-age skills. The Lead Your Ship Academy will develop the skills of over 3,400 employees across the organisation and will provide over 6,000 hours of training. It is one of Zee’s most ambitious capability-building initiatives.
Following the success of initiatives such as the Compliance Academy and Digicademy, the company is taking workforce capability development a step further by establishing Lead Your Ship as an academy of excellence. Last year, Zee launched the first digital academy of its kind, which received an overwhelming response from both internal and external stakeholders, successfully onboarding 97 per cent of employees.
The Digicademy has consistently outperformed the majority of the key platform KPIs at the AMEA and global levels. The academy received accolades and awards at prestigious industry forums such as ET HR World, People First, Transformance HR Forum, and BusinessWorld People HR, to name a few. In the future, the company intends to launch a techno-functional academy, which will primarily focus on improving technical and digital skills, making employees more adept in this fast-paced industry.
For more than three decades, Zee has had a strong legacy of home-grown leaders who have been at the forefront of innovation and pioneering initiatives around the world. Zee is committed to strengthening the leadership pipeline and building a future-ready workforce in order to lead the next disruption in the M&E industry and drive hypergrowth in the new normal.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… connection because this time, the game isn’t just about winning, it’s about who’s with you. Sony Pictures Networks India is gearing up to launch a new reality game show, Tum Ho Naa, expanding its unscripted slate with a format that promises both emotion and engagement.
The show will premiere soon on Sony Entertainment Television and stream on Sony LIV, with Rajeev Khandelwal stepping in as host. Known for his measured screen presence and selective choices, Khandelwal’s return to television adds a layer of familiarity and credibility to the upcoming format.
While specific details of the gameplay remain under wraps, the positioning suggests a reality format that leans as much on emotional resonance as it does on competition, an increasingly popular blend in Indian television, where audiences are gravitating towards content that offers both stakes and storytelling.
Khandelwal, reflecting on his return, noted that his choices have often been guided by instinct rather than convention, describing Tum Ho Naa as a project that feels “close to the heart”. His association also signals Sony’s continued focus on anchoring new formats with recognisable faces who bring both relatability and depth.
The launch comes at a time when broadcasters are doubling down on original non-fiction formats to drive appointment viewing, even as digital platforms expand parallel reach. By placing the show across both linear television and OTT, Sony appears to be aiming for a dual-audience strategy capturing traditional viewers while engaging digital-first consumers.
As the countdown to premiere begins, Tum Ho Naa positions itself not just as another game show, but as a reminder that sometimes, the biggest prize on screen isn’t the jackpot, it’s the journey shared along the way.
