Changing times, changing strategies

‘The only thing constant is life is change, so you have to learn to embrace it’ so goes a popular adage. As India approaches its 70th year of independence, looking back, one can only but agree that she has faced a rollercoaster ride in global history, whichever area or sector you want to look at.

The Indian corporate world, with its emergence from closely-held family-run companies to being part of the trans-national chain of conglomerates has undoubtedly ushered a sea change in handling and managing corporate affairs.

From being a job or posting reserved for the rolling stones in the company, the profession of public relations too has morphed into being re-christened over the years as ‘corporate communications’ and ‘image management’.

This re-positioning of role plays under new job titles is appropriate, given the added dimensions to the manager in charge of it. Not so long ago, his job was thought of in disparaging terms for the image it carried within organisations as a’ fixer’ and ‘operator’. Not any more, for sure.

Today, public relations is no more a company-run activity as it has widened its scope and encompassed activities like corporate social responsibility into its ambit, apart from disruptive and innovative strategies to woo new markets and retain old ones firmly.

Here is where, a book titled ‘Horses Can Fly’ written by a journalist-turned-PR honcho Ajay Sharma assumes relevance. The book comprises 10 chapters, neatly packed into less than 200 pages of reading with graphs, illustrations and tabulated data.

Sharma has a catchy description to his work: specialist in building corporate narratives. True to his profession, he manages to distinguish himself from the clutter thus and it has obviously hit the bull’s eye, with him being an invitee in over 100 multinational and Indian companies to advise them on PR programmes.

Sample this, about his book: ‘Horses Can Fly analyses global best practices for defending reputations in an age of volatile public opinion and offers a framework to manage the constant paracrisis scenarios that confront communication managers’.

In other words, a paracrisis seems like a crisis, but does not warrant employing crisis management techniques because in reality it is not one but more of a mirage. Still, such anxieties too need to be quelled, time and again in the pin-striped executive world.

As far as endorsements go, Ajay Sharma has two. One is that of the celebrated author Ravi Subramanian, who says generously of the book: “Offers practical advice on how to build highly engaging corporate brands. Belongs on the desk of every business leader.”

The next one is peer acknowledgement as this book has been recommended by Public Relations Council of India, into whose Hall of Fame, Ajay Sharma has recently been inducted into.

With western theorising the dominant theme to follow in such managerial occupations, Indian professionals have the challenging task of re-casting such hand-me-down mindsets with more of such works to lend the desi perspectives for homespun aspirants.

By:K Naresh Kumar