I have not been more proud to be a Public Relations practitioner than I was on last Thursday when I heard a renowned business leader speak about Public Relations and Reputation Management with clarity and conviction like few others can. I’m referring to the keynote address Kiran Mazumdar Shaw delivered at the Bangalore edition of the Reputation Today Conclave.
It was a master class on Leadership Communications in the 21st century. She spoke on Reputation Protection, Message Execution and Communication Evolution. And she spoke about these even better than a professor could in a university classroom.
Well, I have curated over a 100 speakers over the last four years for PRAXIS. But this edition of the conclave in Bangalore was the hardest because for the first time we were assembling half a dozen CEOs in a city that does not see events like these pretty often. And I think the choice of speakers and their delivery of content was outstanding.
We had serial investor K Ganesh who delighted the audience with anecdotes and insights galore. Umang Bedi of Adobe floored the gathering with style and aplomb. The troika of Revathy Ashok from B.PAC, Devita Saraf of Vu Technologies and Aparna Jain who runs Zebraa Works threw light on diverse ideas that had the audience really soaking in new knowledge.
I was glad we had chosen a unique line up of speakers and it all fell in place beautifully. To know that each of these business leaders understood Corporate Communications and batted for it was even more gratifying. Organisations they run are better placed to deal with issues because they lead from the front.
Kiran spoke of the dawn of the new media and how leaders need to realize the power and the potential of technology, excel at co-creation and collaboration – the currencies of the social-media world and offer an affordable and effective way to engage with the public and stakeholders. The manner in which she connected the reputation building of Bangalore, biotechnology and Biocon was truly inspirational. Her outspoken style has taken the organisation she leads to a new level. She exuded warmth and pride which is a rare combination. Her story of being a global influencer was an eye-opener.
All in all, it was a fruitful conclave with senior communicators from the garden city in attendance. Everyone was pleased. A lot of new learning was shared, new connections were made and a hope of a better tomorrow was sown. The idea of getting six leaders to speak on Reputation (most of them were invited on social media) makes me swell with a happy pride.
Pride is an understatement.
He is also the Founding Dean of the School of Communications & Reputation (SCoRe).
He can be reached at @amithpr on twitter.
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