An effective leader empowers and motivates its team to perform better: Somali Bajpai

It is rightly said that age is just a number, it is talent and perseverance that counts. Somali Bajpai, Marketing Manager, Crowne Plaza Today New Delhi Okhla (IHG), is a prime example of the saying. She is a young and dynamic communication professional who recently won 'Innovative Leader of the Year' title at the e4m PR & Corp Comm Women Achievers Awards 2020.
Starting her career with Adfactors PR as an Account Executive, Bajpai has come a long way with many innovative and out-of-the-box campaigns to her credit. A passionate branding and marketing professional, Bajpai is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi.
In today’s edition, we speak to Bajpai on her big win, thoughts on female leadership, role of women at the helm of organizations, her future goals and more.

Edited Excerpts

How do you feel being the winner of the Women’s Achievers Award?
I feel proud, inspired, empowered and emotional, all at the same time. In my family (and extended family too), I am the first person to enter the field of Media & Communications. This never fell in the category of most sought-after or popular career choices back in my hometown Kanpur. I took the road less travelled to chase my dream, but it did make all the difference!
It feels absolutely great to be recognized for your work at such a reputed platform. We all know that communications can make or break any brand. It is high time that we encourage and promote the creative minds behind all the wonderful & path-breaking strategies and campaigns that the brands roll out, especially the women leaders who are breaking the glass ceilings like never before.

What are the attributes/qualities required to be a leader in the communication industry?
As a leader, I ensure that I push my team to think big, think innovative, think crazy, yet think smart. It is all about empowering your team. A captain’s true strength can be seen in how empowered & motivated the junior-most team member feels under the leadership. It is equally important to be an empathetic senior, a good listener, a strategic thinker and a creative team manager. In the board room meetings, your voice may not be the loudest, but it should be the strongest. As a leader, in the field of communications, it is very important to bring novelty, innovation, experimentation and out-of-the-box thinking to your campaigns.

What role have women played in the restructuring of the industry and how has communications industry changed over the years for the woman workforce?Five years back, when I started my career, I did witness a lot of enthusiastic women communicators excelling at their respective roles, but majorly at the executive and manager level. The senior leadership roles were occupied majorly by male fraternity. While I am not getting into male vs female debate, we cannot ignore the fact the society still expects a woman to prioritize her family responsibilities, her motherhood and her marriage over her career. Yes, the situation is improving but we have a long way to go. Thankfully, companies are introducing flexible work culture , growth initiatives, family-friendly policies to ensure a better working environment for the women employees.

Why do we need to have more woman leaders at the helm of organisations in today’s scenerio and what value women bring to the table?
I feel women are naturally talented when it comes to being social, being expressive, being empathetic, being imaginative and being great managers, both at home & office. Having woman leaders on board is like having a brand new perspective, which is quite interesting and surprising. PR is just not about press release dissemination. It involves interesting brand integrations, out-of-the-box brand collaborations, intelligently crafted story ideas & brand messaging and understanding the nerve of the target audience to curate a campaign which is relatable. Looks like women are born with all these required traits.

What are your future goals? What initiatives would you like to take as a responsible woman leader of the industry/ society?My career goals are not defined by designations. I want to introduce novel ideas and concepts in the field of communications and do some path-breaking work for brands. As a responsible leader of the communications industry, I would like to work towards setting measurable value of the PR stories/PR Work that we pro-actively get for our brands/clients. Since PR is mostly editorially pitched or collaboratively driven, brands still haven’t realized its true potential. I know that we do have certain ways to calculate that- eg. Coverage value equivalent to advertising cost, but this is not absolutely. The impact of a PR-driven story is far more, which I want to focus on.

How do you see the PR and Corp Comm industry shaping up in the years to come and your message to the future women leaders?PR and Communications is a dynamic industry and it will strengthen its position in the organizational structures, especially during times like these. It is the time to look at the bigger picture. It is very important to develop communities for our brand, the true brand loyalists who will stand by the brand even during the times of crisis.

As the famous proverb says, 'A hand that can rock the cradle is the hand that can rule the world. Here’s to all the future women leaders- believe in yourself and your dreams!

How do you see the PR and Corp Comm industry shaping up in the years to come and your message to the future women leaders?

PR and Communications is a dynamic industry and it will strengthen its position in the organizational structures, especially during times like these. It is the time to look at the bigger picture. It is very important to develop communities for our brand, the true brand loyalists who will stand by the brand even during the times of crisis.
As the famous proverb says, 'A hand that can rock the cradle is the hand that can rule the world. Here’s to all the future women leaders- believe in yourself and your dreams!