CEOs must build positive relationships inside & outside company: Shiv Shivakumar

Deliberating on intriguing topics related to the communication diaspora and the economic revival, the India PR and Corporate Communications Conference (IPRCCC) was held yesterday. One of the most interesting sessions was that of Shiv Shivakumar, Group Exec. President- Corporate Strategy & BD- Aditya Birla Group, on the role of leaders in building trust.

Shivakumar, who recently wrote his first book, The Right Choice: Resolving 10 Career Dilemmas for Extraordinary Success, said, ”Trust is simply firm belief, reliability, truth, capability of someone or something… that's how most people define trust.”

He noted that especially in today's world, trust is meant to be about not hurting someone when he is vulnerable. Stressing on its significance, he said, “I think a lot of people in business, in society are feeling vulnerable and basically they're saying, ‘Don't hurt me when I'm at my lowest. When you're down and not doing well, you don't want people to hurt you. Thanks to what we've gone through over the last 11 months, people are feeling vulnerable right now. They've cut back on their EMI repayments by 200 basis points and they're saving more,” Shivakumar observed.

Sharing stats from a study, he revealed that 63% of corporations and people believe that they are going through a disruption and 14% more believe that it will have its impact. “Individuals are worried about whether they'll keep their jobs, and keep their jobs at the right salary. Citizens are feeling vulnerable at a very basic level. Citizens are saying, ‘If I go out, what's the guarantee that I will not be impacted by COVID?’. Citizens are feeling vulnerable because societies are feeling vulnerable. We put barriers and said you can't travel, even if you travelled to my country, you need a seven-day quarantine or a 14=day quarantine or whatever it is. So, every gated community is putting barriers,” he remarked.

Shivakumar observed that what is interesting this year is that businesses are more trusted than government, NGOs and media.

“I think the media needs to wake up someday or the other. They are like ostriches, they just bury their heads in the sand, and I think, most PR professionals also have done the same,” he opined. Moreover, he shared that the credibility of CEOs is actually at the lowest of all time in countries like India, Brazil, France, Argentina, Russia and Japan. He went on to expound how CEOs can tackle the issue. Shivakumar said, “CEOs are not trusted because I think there's a bit of a history to it, because they think he or she is all about money and is all about himself or herself. It's about inequality which is hurting. I think CEOs themselves need a good hard look at themselves to say what can we do differently,” he said.

Furthermore, Shivakumar shared that trust on an employer in India is one of the highest across the world. “In India, I think trust in an employer is as high as 80% plus,” he remarked. According to him, the biggest challenge as a citizen is to get relevant and truthful information. “So, all of you, as people who are communicating to the public and society need to ask yourselves, what can we do to signal that this is truthful information to the public. How can we make the consumer trust it? So hence, as you report each of these key variables, you have to be very clear about the veracity and fullness of what you're communicating. You cannot say one thing one quarter and something else the other quarter,” he contended.

Shivakumar continued, “Leadership is not a discipline, which you can practice in a vacuum. Leadership is practiced with people. Trust is when people say I trust you. It is not when you say, I've told you something you better trust me. It doesn't work like that.”  His advice to CEOs was clear: to be competent and ethical. “Build positive relationships inside and outside the company and lastly be consistent and meet all commitments,” Shivakumar suggested.