viewpoint hits the stands

7/29/2019 Viewpoint Hits the Stands

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TRUST IS DEADLONG LIVE TRUST

TRUST IS DEADLONG LIVE TRUST

WHATS INSIDE

COMMUNICATION IN THE AGE OF DISTRUST | FILLING THE COMMUNICATION VACUUM

ETHICS AND THE ORGANISATION | ITS NOT REALLY ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA... AND MOREViewpoint is a quarterly thought publicaon produced by The PRacce.

Please send your views and feedback to [email protected] | www.the-pracce.net

Issue - 1 | November 2012


2/10

These are the best of times.

Globalisation is opening doors

everywhere and technology advances are

transforming lives, rather than just

improving them.

These are also the worst of times. There

is simmering discontent around the globe

in the wake of major political and

economic developments. The leadership

gaps laid bare by the Arab revolution,

the mood in recession-hit Europe,

Occupy Wall Street protests against

corporate excess, Indians weariness

with the graft culture in the country

the disenchantment with entities,

organisations and powerful individuals is

at an all-time high.

Its not easy for companies to break through

this cloud of distrust. But it can be done.

This issue of Viewpoint uses its

contributors lenses to look more closely

COMMUNICATIONIN THE AGE OFDISTRUST

From corporate greed to

sleaze in public ofice,

there are enough reasons

for people to tune out. Can

companies regain their

attention and trust?

at how organisations can evoke trust: the foundation on which it is based and how sound

communication can further the cause. We dig around with the modern tools of the trade

(read: social media) and isolate the main factor in driving brand likeability and acceptance.

We also examine news reporting in its present day form and how it needs to evolve in order

to win the conidence of its audience. Lastly, in a slightly ofbeat perspective, we explore the

plot of redemption and the way it unfolds in life and art.

Sound like heavy reading? Dont worry; its not. But we hope it will get our readers thinking

and jumpstart some coffee break conversations. After all, where theres an issue, there is

sure to be many a viewpoint!

IN THIS ISSUE:

Ethics and the Organisation: A perspective on building and sustaining organizational character

Filling the Communication Vacuum:Why clear and consistent communication is important

in good times and bad

Its Not Really About Social Media: In building trust, likeability and inluence, brands may need

a different approach to social media marketing

Your News With a Side of Opinion: The shifts in reporting style that will give news

organisations more credibility

Alterpoint: The Road to Redemption

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Business and government entities face a

serious crisis of conidence in society

today. A recent spate of political scams has

deepened the sense of disillusionment

with the government. On the corporate

front, misappropriation and accounting

scandals involving the likes of Satyam andReebok have called the ethics of business

leaders and the judgement of those

responsible for hiring them, into question.

Character Maketh the Organisation

Even though business decisions are made

by individuals, their motivation and

implications are tied to the entire

organisation. Over time, these decisions

present a pattern that settles to create

distinct organisational character.

An incident from my own consulting

experience underscores this theory. Two

large companies were faced with an

identical ethical dilemma when both

realised that the key account managers

responsible for some large and imminent

business deals were forging bills and

siphoning funds from the companies.

Their options were to terminate the

individuals involved immediately or wait

until the deals in question were inalised

before doing so.

The two organisations handled the matter

very differently. The one decided to wait itout so as not to jeopardise the pending

deal. The other immediately terminated

the account managers services and

briefed the prospective customer on the

situation, winning the latters goodwill

and conidence in the process. It also

made it clear that its principles were not up for

negotiation and that a robust value system lay at the

heart of its culture.

The Building Blocks and Cement

This process of using a core set of principles to guide

ethical decision-making and action consistently

and over extended periods of time helps in

shaping organisational character.

There is another important factor at play here and

these are the critical decision points sometimestermed as deining moments1. For an organisation,

such moments may manifest themselves in big and

small decisions involving its people, processes or

products.

Deining moments shape an organisation because

they cut through all the statements about what a

company aspires to do and reveal instead what it

actually does. They set precedents and create

expectations that inluence a company for years, or

even longer.

An example of a deining moment for several service

organisations came during the recent inancialcrisis when they had to make some tough personnel

decisions in order to cut costs. Some laid off

employees, others withheld promotions and

increments, still others made cuts at the managerial

level, or deferred the offers they had recently made

to new candidates.

Employees of one organisation, however, opted for a

pay freeze that would allow them to retain jobs and

honour the offers that had already been extended.

This was combined with active employee

engagement to keep morale up in the company.

Two years later, the companys recent recruits votedit an employer of choice in a survey, citing

managements willingness to make inancial

sacriices for the greater good, as well as initiatives

that showed the company really cared about its

employees.

Making it Work

Organisations must create systems that support this

type of character development. They will have to

Deining moments

shape an organisation

because they cut

through all the

statements aboutwhat a company

aspires to do and

reveal instead what it

actually does

ETHICSAND THEORGANISATION

How do organisations

come to be perceived

as beacons of trust?

Such a reputation

doesnt form

overnight. Instead, it

is based on

organisational

character, something

that develops over

time, aided by a

consistent

demonstration of

ethical behaviour.

By Vasanthi Srinivasan

[1] Badaracco, Joseph L. (1997). Deining Moments: When Managers Must Choose Between Right and

Wrong. Harvard Business Press. 5


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A communication deicit in times when so

much is being said through myriad

communication channels and at soaring

decibels is a strange paradox. As the

theatrics of everyday life unfold around

us, we struggle to process the onslaught of

information, evaluate the data thrown atus by battling entities, judge the integrity

of carriers of that information, and create

our own opinions based on all of the

above.

The world is indeed a stage with everyone

(well, almost everyone) craving the

limelight and a few leeting moments of

fame. So what if the scripts are marked by

dissonance and cacophony and the

protagonists are jingoistic megalomaniacs

who are trying too hard to connect with

their audiences.For those on the receiving end, its a

challenge to separate truth from iction, or

honesty from hype. How do we know

whom to trust or believe? Do we suspend

judgement and go with the most

entertaining or loudest voice? Or do we

process information based on fact, history

and context?

The problem today is not that we dont

communicate enough but that we have

FILLING THECOMMUNICATIONVACUUM

There is a great deal

of noise in the public

domain but very

little in the form of

clear and consistent

communication.

Tired of inlated

claims and varnished

truths, audiences arepushing back. In this

environment, its

more important than

ever before for a

public entity to ind

its steady voice and

get in touch with its

credible side.

By Nandita Lakshmanan

Vasanthi Srinivasan is an Associate Professor at IIM-Bangalore in the area of Organisational

Behaviour and Human Resource Management. She is also the Chair of the Centre for Corporate

Governance and Citizenship and maintains a website (www.teachcsr.org) designed to promote

teaching of business ethics and corporate social responsibility among business faculty in India.

pay special attention to personnel decisions, particularly when senior positions and lateral

movements are involved. A principle-based selection process is clearly the irst step in the

direction. Personnel research shows that sound induction and mentoring are both effective

in nurturing values and character, apart from the skills required for the job.

Last but not least, it is critical to have incentive systems that drive ethical behaviour. The

recent inancial crisis illustrated what happens when incentive structures drive a

self-serving, get-rich-quick philosophy rather than support the responsibilities of the

organisation to its stakeholders.

Since principles are irst demonstrated at the individual level before they can deine the

larger organisation, leaders with a strong sense of personal integrity are vital to the

process.

Over time, the principles of the organisation get embedded in its practices, processes and

systems and evolve in a way that is independent of its members. This is institutionalisation

and it is the key to true organisational character.

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5/10

lost sight of what it means to communicate

effectively in a way that fosters clarity rather than

breeds speculation and more ambiguity. In a rapidly

changing socio-economic environment marked by

growth, reforms and sweeping changes in lifestyle,

good communication is a responsibility for

strategists, policymakers, corporations and the

media.

This involves getting back to basics, and that can still

be done today, even as media evolves digitally andevery person at a keyboard wields power.

To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln: Those who look

for bad in people (or situations) will surely ind it.

In the current climate of cynicism, it is

unfashionable and a tad nave to believe or trust,

even if one wants to. Objectivity is forsaken for

speculation, because everyone is both less trusting

and less trustworthy.

In such an environment, the messenger, the

message and the method play a big role in

delivering a much needed coherence. There is no

one-way street here, no placid acceptance of whatone hears. What is required is for the messenger to

stick to message and communicate for clarity

rather than communicate to confuse.

It rankles then, when senior statesmen or others we

hold in regard make sweeping statements; or when

corporations shy away from providing timely or any

information; or when the media encourage

shamelessly partisan debates that cant see the

wood for the trees.

Perhaps,if they were to stop and consider the

following basic questions, it will help in

re-establishing credibility: who will receive thisinformation and in what context; what will its

impact be; can we vouch for the integrity of the

information; can we pre-empt questions that arise

after its dissemination; can we make a real attempt

to address these questions honestly and to the best

of our abilities.

Information inds ways to break free and cant be

withheld for long from stakeholders. It isnt strange

anymore to see news of infrastructure

The problem today

is not that we dont

communicate enough

but that we have

lost sight of what it

means to

communicateeffectively in a way

that fosters clarity

rather than breeds

speculation and

further ambiguity

Lets face it

many of us are still

happy to talk and

be in the news when

times are good, butare quick to pull

the shutters down

when the going gets

tough. It takes

courage, belief and

a sense of

accountability to be

able to maintainopen channels of

communication

at all times.

development, government projects or corporate

expansion being broken prematurely by real estate

agents. Corporations are caught unawares when the

media gain access to documents through

well-placed sources. Employees can share internal

information on management changes and other

developments with the click of a button.The charges of inaction levelled against the UPA

government, the collapse of Kingisher Airlines, the

panicked exodus from Bangalore of people from the

Northeast, the recent exposs by India Against

Corruption and the general public reaction to them

all these examples serve to illustrate an important

point. That the inability to speak up clearly, or to

speak up at all about the crucial whys, about

goals and contingency plans, about beneits and

challenges can cause a breakdown in conidence

and lead to intense speculation.

Lets face it many of us are still happy to talk andbe in the news when times are good, but are quick to

pull the shutters down when the going gets tough. It

takes courage, belief and a sense of accountability to

be able to maintain open channels of

communication at all times.

The recent debates on privacy have drawn mixed

reactions and with good reason. When

representatives of a fraternity that has largely been

shielded from any form of accountability lobby for

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6/10

Good news. Bad news. It spreads easily.

Being good. Doing good. Raising a voice

for good and bad. We see it all around us.

Brand launches. Offers. Reviews. Events.

We are surrounded by them.

Indeed, we are swamped. By options. Byadvertising. By messages from people we

know. And those we dont.

Six degrees of separation? Sometimes it

seems more like one click of separation.

Or rather one click to connect. We can

connect with anything, anyone... anywhere,

anytime. 24x7x365 is not about customer

service anymore, but about our lives.

Geography is history. Time zones are

immaterial.

The water cooler is no longer something

in one corner of the ofice around whichofice workers gather but has become a

status update that can reach virtually

anyone, anywhere, in the time it takes to

click on a button.

Brands have woken up to this new reality; a

reality driven by the power of technology

and the spread of devices. They have kept

pace with the growth and development of

the Internet and embraced social media.

Websites are pass. Social media is the new

digital home of many brands.

Thats not surprising since thats wherethe people are, and where the action has

shifted. Almost 1 in 7 persons on this

planet is on Facebook. If it were a country,

the Republic of Facebook would be the

third most populous one on the planet

after China and India. Twitter users

crossed 100 million a while back. Youtube

has more new content uploaded every

week than the leading American TV

ITS NOTREALLYABOUTSOCIAL MEDIA

Ever since social media

has become a

must-have in a

marketers toolkit,

brands are locking to

be present and

engaging on these

platforms. In the

process, though, they

may be losing sight of

what it really takes to

build trust, likeability

and inluence. That

realisation is likely to

lead to a new and more

effective approach to

social media marketing.

By Ashok Lalla

Nandita Lakshmanan is the CEO of The PRactice.

privacy, it is bound to raise eyebrows. Transparency

in public life for corporations and for individuals

such as sportspeople and artists who are

institutions in themselves is both an obligation

and an expectation. The increasing clamour for

transparency will alleviate the Jekyll and Hyde

syndrome that has emerged in our society in

gargantuan proportions.

At the same time, we must be cognisant of the ine

line between transparency and privacy. Without theright checks and balances, these cleansing efforts

will overstep boundaries resulting in more

acrimony and negativity.

We are now engaged in a blind race with no clear

winner or inish line in sight. Straightforward

communication, based on facts rather than

self-serving interests, is the need of the hour.

Credible communication must avoid the trap of

instant gratiication if it has to diffuse the currents

of distrust swirling around us.

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7/10

Ashok Lalla is the Global Head of Digital Marketing at Infosys

and an award-winning Digital, Brand and Social Media

Marketing leader. He can be found tweeting at @ashoklalla.

networks produced in decades.

These numbers make brands drool. And spur them

to mount aggressive marketing and advertising

campaigns centred around social media. These are

aimed at aggregating large numbers of fans. And

then talking to them, interacting with them,

inluencing them.

They create elaborate strategies around social

media marketing. Many work, some dont. The ones

that work propel marketers to do more and more ofthe same. The ones that dont usually get marketers

to increase investments in the short term, because

the others seem to be seeing success.

Large campaigns. Backed by large budgets. And an

almost rabid focus to talk to consumers. Engage

them. Get them to Like the brand, and to share it

with their friends. It works to a point.

But really, this approach misses the bigger point.

That social media marketing is not about marketing.

Or even about the media (read: Facebook, Twitter,

YouTube). But it is about being social.

Social, in a manner that enables the audience to talk

to one another. With the brand playing benign host

and providing the stimulus, the means, and

sometimes the incentive, for its audience to stay at

its party and interact with their friends. To tell

others whats happening. To invite them over. To

make new friends. This social manner can help

unleash the ultimate inluencer for brands the

power of the audience, or of People as Media.

Yes, its no longer newspapers, television channels

and websites that provide the best returns for a

brand. They might provide reach, and an

opportunity to see or interact.

But what they miss is the power of People like me.

The ripples of inluence that come from the people

carrying a message, instead of the channel carrying

it. These ripples spread and create waves. These

waves get powerful as they overlap and spread

further and farther.

Look back at any of the key events of the last few

years, and you will see that the difference between

success and failure wasnt just an idea, a campaign,

or a cause. But how the idea got picked up and drove

people to make it their own. To champion and

spread.

Think Barack Obamas 2008 Presidential campaign.

Or the BP oil spill from a few years back. The

Egyptian Revolution. Or any brand campaign that

touched you.

In fact, you can look back over 80 years to the Civil

Disobedience Movement in India. Mahatma

Gandhis idea was wrapped in strong conviction.And it spread across India. Through cities, towns

and villages. From person to person. Through

families, friends, communities. Till its reverberation

brought down an empire.

This is the power of People as Media at work. Long

before we knew media as we know it now. Long

before technology enabled the interconnectivity we

see today. Long before social media platforms were

born. Long before one could Like something and

Share it.

Today, with modern tools and technology, making

People your Media is that much easier. Or that muchharder. Depending on what you see as Media. And

what you view as Social.

But one thing is certain. The difference between a

campaign thats noticed and one that creates real

brand love and trust is bigger than the idea, the

creative, and the cause. The difference lies with

People as Media people who can give the

campaign wings and impact. Unlike that of any

other medium.

Social media

marketing is not

about marketing.

Or even aboutthe media. But

it is about being

social.

Today, with modern

tools and technology

making People your

Media is that much

easier. Or that

much harder.

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When told by an artist he had

commissioned that there was no war to be

covered in Cuba, the late American news

publisher, William Randolph Hearst, is

said to have quipped, You furnish the

pictures, Ill furnish the war. This

exchange is possibly an urban myth buttheres no denying that Hearst did

inluence the US newspaper industry in a

big way and is largely credited with

spearheading the yellow journalism

trends of the late 19th and early 20th

centuries.

In the years that followed, however,

muckraking in American daily news gave

way to a steady objectivity. This shift,

surprisingly, was not driven by ethics as

much as by economics. According to an

interesting perspective offered by theEconomist (The Future of News, July

2011), impartiality in reporting was

actually designed to broaden a

newspapers appeal to subscribers and

thereby, to its advertisers. Journalists who

followed this code of conduct also enjoyed

greater job security. Objectivity,

according to a New York University

journalism professor quoted in the article

is a grand bargain between all the players

[in the ield].

So, where does objectivity it in themodern Indian context?

Yellow journalism may be a strong label

for the brand of reporting that we often

see in print and broadcast media.

However, with the exception of a few

channels and publications, coverage is

unabashedly sensationalistic. Events and

personalities are cast in shades of black and white.

Every political scandal, big or small, is tagged with

the sufix of gate and framed as a conspiracy

against the general public. These tendencies are

stronger on television with its limited window of

opportunity to grab the viewers attention. In local

and regional coverage, the tone is even more harsh

and shrill.

This is necessary, at one level, but unfortunate, at

another. Its necessary because the state of our

socio-political affairs calls for a certain amount of

activism and engagement on the part of the media.

It requires a spirited approach, unlike the deadpan

and bloodless reporting style seen before the

24-hour news cycle. It demands an appetite for

dogged investigation and probing, something that

Indian media has ably demonstrated over the years.

However, where this approach fails is in becoming

so extreme and one-sided that it loses the audience.

Most people these days absorb news reports with a

healthy dose of scepticism due to the blaring,

shifting headlines and rampant speculation in them.

Of course, if we are to apply a proitability ilter and

view the whole exercise as a drive for subscribers

and followers, truly objective reporting (as

immortalised in journalism textbooks) may never

again be common practice. In an environment

where old models are being challenged,

newspapers and TV channels are being forced to

reinvent themselves in order to survive the

landscape shifts. This has caused news to become

infotainment, lying somewhere at the intersection

of reality TV and scoop journalism. Neutrality and

impartiality get pushed to the background in this

scenario.

Financial imperatives apart, there is a towering

crisis of credibility for Indias news industry and

this can only be tackled by having a new form of

objectivity replace the old standard. Under this

redeined form, there will be time slots and column

space once again for balanced reporting. Just as

there will be for grounded analysis and opinion. The

two just wont be forced together in an embellished

Most people these

days absorb news

reports with a

healthy dose of

scepticism dueto the blaring,

shifting headlines

and rampant

speculation in them.

YOUR NEWS WITH ASIDE OFOPINION

With a presentationstyle veering towards

shrillness and

sensationalism,

Indian media may

have retained its

subscribers but is fast

losing its credibility

with them. Regaining

this means making

some adjustments inthe placement, tone

and pitch of news

stories.

By Sangita Srinivasa

15


9/10

Within every celebrity downfall lie the

seeds of a comeback. Take Bill Clinton or

Robert Downey Jr., for example. With their

misadventures fading from public

memory and their personal demons

locked up, they quickly moved back into

the light one as a popular formerpresident; the other as an ironclad

superhero with a healthy ego.

Celebrities, it seems, have an edge in the

area of second chances. Fame and success

allow them a free spin at the redemption

wheel, or one large peg to grab on the

slope of image revival.

For those of us watching, there is a need to

feel vindicated in backing them in the irst

place. This undercurrent of support

becomes stronger with any manifestation

of their old brilliance. Every time DowneyJr. delivers a box ofice hit, Clinton

enthralls with his oratory, or Tiger Woods

proves he can still come in under par, we

nod with satisfaction. We knew they had it

in them, we tell ourselves. Their stories

become the stuff of comeback legend

winning examples of resilience and

willpower.

How long it takes famous wrongdoers to

claw their way out of disgrace depends on

their pre culpa popularity as well as the

nature of their crimes. With a one-timelapse, they will land directly on the

trampoline that will propel them back in

public favour. Chronic offenders, on the

other hand, will soon run out of their

forgiveness passes.

Life and art provide

plenty of examples of

trust betrayed and

promises broken. How

do those who stray

ind their way back? It

depends on the

original status of the

perpetrator, the

medium, and the

desired message.

mix of fact and judgement.

With the boundaries redrawn, the media will act as

a chronicler and interpreter of events rather than as

a prosecutor of real or overblown crimes. Along the

way, it will maintain complete transparency in

revealing its sources, methods and motivations.

In short, the media can and should take a stand as

long as it arrives at its position after irst presenting

an unvarnished view of the situation and weighing

all the facts surrounding it. Under this new standard

of objectivity, the neutral voices of a past reporting

era are not completely snuffed out. Their pitch isjust adjusted to accommodate rational arguments

and well-articulated opinion. News will then regain

credibility and the trust equation with the audience

will be re-established.

Sangita Srinivasa is a feature and content writer based in

Bangalore. She maintains a blog at www.nimblepen.com

ALTERPOINTTHE ROAD TO REDEMPTION

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10/10

Celebrities, it seems,

have an edge in the

area of second chances.

Fame and success

allows them afree spin at the

redemption wheel

Consider the cases of Rajat Gupta and

Lance Armstrong, two former icons of

rectitude and courage, whose fortunes

have recently taken a nosedive. Based on

the parameters above, it seems likely that

Gupta will be back soon, following a brief

incarceration. After all, he didnt

personally proit from his slip-up in

sharing corporate secrets with a hedge

fund manager and led a largelyexemplary life spanning philanthropy and

consulting before he crossed the line. His

offense appears to be a lapse of reason

rather than a calculated attempt to beat

the system.

Armstrongs case is a little more

complicated, however. The large amount

of equity he had built, as a champion who

conquered cancer, among many cycling

titles, is now considerably depleted by the

evidence that he cheated his way to

winning. And since he dragged his entireteam through a systematic and sustained

doping program, it leaves us with a

jumbled view of the man that will take

time to sort out.

The movies often handle the redemption

theme with more drama and less nuance.

In the 70s Bollywood hit Deewar, two

brothers who choose divergent black and

white career paths clash in a climax that

features blood, tears, keening music, and a

full maternal pardon. Its a potboiler

ending but an apt one in which the female

igure that inspired one of the most

famous responses in Hindi cinema (Mere

paas ma hai or I have my mother with

me) holds the key to the wayward sons

salvation.

Love unconditional or otherwise also

igures prominently in delivering many

Hollywood characters from the brink.

Take Darth Vader, that cult rider of the

personal transformation arc. Pulled into

the dark side by a conspiracy of

circumstances and forces, this conlicted

villain ultimately inds redemption in the

arms of his son, Luke. As his asthmatic

breathing tapers off, fans can take comfort

in concluding that this tormented soul is

now headed back to his good roots.

The message in religious texts is not quite

as restrained. The Hindu scriptures (atleast, according to some interpretations)

are quite clear on what it takes to win

rebirth rights. An errant soul will need to

do its time in purgatory and this means a

trip to Yama Loka and some severe

handling by Yama, that purveyor of death

and justice. Depending on his read of the

situation, he may choose to boil the

wrongdoer in oil or roast him over a slow

ire. After this cleansing routine the

equivalent of a karmic spa treatment the

soul will emerge: rejuvenated, refreshedand ready to be reborn.

If there is a common ingredient in these

examples, it is retribution. You have to face

the music, serve your sentence, spend

some time trapped in a hard head mask or

one made of your own feelings of regret.

The road to redemption may be

treacherous and unpredictable; full of

hairpin bends and steep drops before it

inally ends at a place from where one can

begin again on an almost clean slate.

19

viewpoint hits the stands

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