Appreciate and celebrate women in leadership roles: Bhavani Giddu

When your aspirations are high, no goal is big enough. Bhavani Giddu truly justifies it with her professional journey in the communications industry. Coming from the southern boundaries of the country and making it big in the country’s capital by paving her own path is a lesson for all young professionals out there. 

Started as a junior executive to being the Founder CEO of an organisation, Bhavani has seen it all. With proven skills in media strategy, media relations, corporate communications strategy and crisis communications, she has shared her expertise for organisations like IPAN Hill & Knowlton, GE Industrial, Ogilvy & Matter in the first decade of her career before becoming an entrepreneur and starting her agency, Footprint Global Communications, ten years back. 

In today’s feature of ‘Women Achievers Series’, Bhavani Giddu, Founder CEO, Footprint Global Communications opens up about her journey in the communication industry, talks about views on gender diversity, pay gaps, her experiences as an entrepreneur and more.

Edited Excerpts:-

How has your journey been in the communications industry? What was the most defining moment along the way?

According to me, the communications industry is a women-friendly industry. The opportunities are plenty, the learning is tremendous, and the growth is phenomenal if we learn and perform consistently. In my journey from being a junior executive way back in the early 1990s to now as the Founder CEO of Footprint Global Communications, this industry has given me a lot. I value every single person I have met along the way who has contributed to my learning process and to all my bosses in my early days in the industry who believed in me and gave me independent opportunities to explore new ideas. 

My most defining moment was when I set up Footprint Global Communications in early 2010, with plenty of apprehensions, doubts, and fear of whether I would be successful as an entrepreneur and when my first big client sign up happened, I realized I had to believe in myself to make this journey as an entrepreneur possible. I have not looked back since then. It has been the 10 best years of my professional life. 

You have seen the light from both sides, from an agency and a client. What were the key differences in the functioning and your key learnings across domains?

I have worked with large multinational corporates in senior leadership roles in communications, as well as with international agencies; I was witness to and a part of several great projects, clients, opportunities and equally, challenges that helped me mature as a professional. With every experience, I took away a key learning as to how to always deliver customer delight. The customer could be your boss in the multinational expecting great work from you on a project or a client with big expectations of delivery on work assigned. How to enhance customer delight, consistently, time after time, improving quality of work outcomes was something I learnt early in life. My most important learning from working with large agencies was to understand the gaps in client servicing and addressing those when I set up my own agency and not repeating those gaps so that my clients are delighted with the quality-of-service-delivery we provide.  

Another key learning came from working with global teams where collaboration and bringing value to the table with my experience and expertise was especially important. I worked in matrix organizations where this was a critical learning process. While working with large global teams, I understood the significance of knowledge sharing and how teams from other geographies appreciate this as it opens our minds to new ideas, new concepts and new cultures. 

My learnings from the corporate end of the table were how to pick the right agency that suits our requirement, how to brief them in a way that they understood and delivered on the brief, and how to be reasonable with agencies on timelines, budgets and expectations. On the agency side, I learned how to set expectations with clients, how to help clients develop an understanding of the power of communication and how to deliver customer delight consistently with new ideas that pushed boundaries. 

What are the prerequisites for a woman entrepreneur to become successful? 

I believe that perseverance is the key. One should also believe in themselves, pour your heart into whatever you do, learn a new skill every year, keep yourself updated, never limit yourself, demonstrate passion in your work, and celebrate the outcomes of your work. 

What is your view on women leadership in male-dominated industries across domains? How is the PR industry different in this regard? What are the major challenges to women's leadership?  

The communications industry is a women-friendly industry. As a woman, I have not faced any major challenge whether I worked for an agency or for a corporate. Women are becoming successful leaders across several domains, including what was once dominated by males. That gender disparity will disappear as more women are given the opportunity to be on the Board of companies, explore new ideas and concepts, and demonstrate leadership skills that include empathy and determination to achieve great heights. In the PR industry, I do not see gender being a deterrent. The industry hires several women professionals who have made a mark for themselves. This is a great industry for women. We should encourage women to become a part of the PR industry more as we are great listeners, we are quick to understand emotions and empathise, which becomes an important ingredient for a good communicator.   

Despite chatter around inclusivity and gender diversity, why do we observe attrition in women leadership when it comes to the C-suite category? How can we lessen the gap created?

There have to be efforts to make the workplace women friendly. 

Give women more opportunities to demonstrate their skills and craft a career path that helps them grow while honing their skills. Organisations should have a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment and harmful gossip in the workplace. 

Appreciate and celebrate women in leadership roles.

Have there been instances of you facing any kind of bias in the past?

Not really, Delhi has evolved as a business destination over the last decade and a half and has become more accepting of outsiders. When I first moved here for professional reasons 17 years back, I did face some issues of acceptance as I came from another city down South and was not very conversant with the language. But, none of it was gender-related. I have learnt a lot from this city.  

Is there a pay gap in the industry? If yes, why is it so? 

The pay gap in the industry does not exist due to gender, according to me. It exists due to the perception of an individual or an agency. The clients pay more if the agency has a larger-than-life image around it. This must end. Agencies and the leadership in agencies must be assessed based on their performance and outcomes delivered. Clients have started to recognize this.  

PR industry has been fair to women and at Footprint, we have an equal pay policy irrespective of gender. I have not heard of issues of pay gaps in the industry due to gender.  

What are the ways to motivate women employees at work? 

A woman’s Emotional Quotient and Emotional Intelligence are her best assets. Recognize it. Celebrate it. Let her know that this gives her an edge at work. Help her build it as a strength and as a business asset.