Walking the talk, being authentic in thought & action are my mantra: Kiran R Chaudhury

Kiran Ray Chaudhury, Co-founder and Joint MD at 80 dB Communications has over two decades of experience in the PR and Corporate Communications industry. Starting her career with India’s first tech-only PR agency, 20:20 MEDIA (now 20:20 MSL), she has worked with clients across boards throughout her career.

Today, she is a proud entrepreneur who is running two successful PR and marketing communications firms – 80-dB Mavericks and Aether Marketing.

Chaudhury has been part of many successful brand campaigns and has a holistic experience of working across sectors and industries.

She is an optimistic, solution-oriented leader and takes pride in being a strong, determined and hard-nosed doer. Chaudhury thrives on bringing creative ideas to the table, is an artful storyteller and enjoys challenging the status quo, by taking measurable risks. A team player, she has built and managed teams from a very early stage in her career.

In today’s edition of Women Achievers Series, we talk to Chaudhary on her journey, opportunities and challenges created by COVID-19, women leaders paving the way, value gaps and more.

Edited excerpts:

If you look back, what would be the most defining moment of your career? How has your journey been?

I started my career as a broadcast journalist, but within the first year, joined 20:20 MEDIA (now 2020 MSL) in 1996, which was at that time, India’s first tech-only PR firm. It was perhaps the most defining moment of my career. I went on to spend nearly 14 years in 20:20, loved every moment and learnt everything about the business from my ex-boss and mentor, colleagues and clients.

It was really the foundation that helped me stumble into my entrepreneurial avatar. First with Aether Marketing, a communications firm and currently as the Co-founder of 80 dB, an integrated reputation management advisory. Incidentally, 80 dB turned 5 yesterday. A journey that would not have been possible without my Co-founder Abhilasha Padhy, and the wonderful and energetic team that make it possible and fun, everyday.

Coronavirus has presented a plethora of challenges and opportunities to businesses. How has it impacted your business? What are the opportunities that it has created for you?

Like everyone else, Covid-19 has also impacted our business revenues. We are confident, however, that this should reverse itself, by this time next year. Despite it being an overused cliché, this situation does present an opportunity as well for communications firms such as ours.

PR would need to reset to newer opportunities in digital (including owned media channels), and invest in the quality of storytelling. There is an incredible opportunity to show our strategic stripes and be trusted advisers. To counsel brands in what newer and relevant narratives should look like and to help build good communication habits will serve well in war times.

How important has communication become now in these unprecedented times?

It’s widely acknowledged that communication in a crisis is vital. It may not be missed and becomes conspicuous in its absence and we are continuously reminded of its importance, for example in the midst of fake news.

This unprecedented global situation continues to throw unique challenges of creating communication that is appropriate, effective, timely to all stakeholders - teams, customers, shareholders, who are all experiencing this crisis in different ways. Add to this the complexity brought about by traditional channels and interfaces of outreach (in person meetings for example), being no longer appropriate and in flux, coupled with the sheer volume and pace of communications activity.

Communication, both internal and external, will be key as companies split their attention between crisis and long-term corporate reputation in a challenging and fluid environment.

Women leaders are paving the way forward now. How have you contributed to this?

Walking the talk and being authentic in thought and action are my mantra. It gives me great pride to see my team and people I’ve worked with live up to their potential and in a small way being able to contribute to that.

A positive and can-do attitude, doing what’s right and fair, going the extra mile, a learn-it-all mindset, and just being a decent human being are some values of high importance to me.

Have there been instances of gender biases with you? If yes, what could have been the possible reasons?

I have been extremely lucky to have never faced any gender bias throughout my career. But, there is no doubt that gender bias exists and is deep rooted in our workplaces, despite evidence of how companies perform with women leaders at the top. The stubbornness of this problem has deep roots in our societal beliefs.

How do you see the post-Covid world to be?

This is such a broad question and I’ll just touch upon a few things.

It would certainly mean a reset to our way of living, thinking, working and pretty much everything. It would mean a respect for essentials and a desire for mindful consumption, along with a renewed sense of nationalism and perhaps solidarity. But it could also mean a deficit in trust between individuals and this will require to be managed. Newer consumption habits will emerge, such as we’re seeing with entertainment at home.

For companies, there will be a high emphasis on creating the omni-channel experience. Building a long-term sustainable brand that evokes trust, will be a focus. Technology will be omnipresent with everything going digital faster than ever before and a distributed workforce will be the new normal.