As we navigate a world in a constant state of flux, there are deep discussions around what organisational purpose actually means, not just as rhetoric for public consumption but the systemic actions organisations need to take in order to live their values.
For the first time in decades we are also redefining leadership and the must have skills for leaders of today.
In the 50th episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast I spoke with Nitin Mantri, Group CEO of Avian WE and the President of International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) to explore the boundaries of purpose and leadership.
We also spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾
👉🏾 What it means for a brand to have purpose at its core
👉🏾 Redefining the business of business in the context of stakeholder responsibility and accountability
👉🏾 The role of the C-suite and CEO in articulating and living organisational purpose
👉🏾 Leadership in a post pandemic world and inclusive leadership
👉🏾 What comms practitioners are doing to step up to the challenges; trends in India
👉🏾 How can aspiring leaders in our industry keep pace with the change?
👉🏾 And actions agencies need to take to ensure they are future ready and fit for purpose?
Memorable passages from the podcast:
👉🏾 Thank you for having me.
👉🏾 I believe that while purpose was important I think even before the world was turned upside down by the pandemic, purpose was gaining importance in the boardrooms. The pandemic just accelerated the whole pace and it's now become a business imperative. And from 2019 to 21, the expectation for brands to create stability in uncertain times has risen by 20%. So just to give you some excerpts from a report, in previous years Brands in Motion global reports established that consumers expect brands to have a purpose, humanity and authenticity.
👉🏾 In 2021, what we call the bravery mandate clients expect purpose to inform organisational decisions on how to speak and act on societal issues and purpose initiatives at a given point. And the report actually finds that the brands that will flourish in 2021 and beyond are the ones with the courage to take bold actions and make strong stances with the full understanding that not everyone will approve of them.
So for example, consumers and B2B decision-makers surveyed for the 2021 Brands in Motion report rated environmental sustainability and income equality among the top issues they wanted brands to address. 71% respondents felt that brands have an obligation to engage with social global issues when they impact and stakeholders. And they're more likely to purchase or recommend products or services from brands that address, societal issues. I'll just touch upon one more thing here, which is purpose washing. And I would say that purpose does have its pitfalls as well.
👉🏾 So even though brands across industries are taking up social good marketing, there are instances of purpose washing. People or brands eager to gain eyeballs and profit, brands are choosing causes that they think will strike a chord. So in fact, the Brands In Motion finding on purpose washing talks about this, it says that, despite a rising expectation, brands perceived impact for societal good remains flat. And 52% said that brands that take stance on societal issues are just trying to sell more products and services. So the audience want brands to help, but they aren't yet convinced that brands are delivering. So the task ahead for brands is to bridge this sort of disconnect.
👉🏾 So when we say a brand is purpose led or has purpose at it's core. We mean that brands are rooted in their own values and are clear what they stand for. So, even if part of the audience doesn't want to hear it. They should be clear about what it is that they stand for. So, these brands ground, their purpose statements in long-term quantifiable action. Microsoft talking about reduction in carbon all over the world by 2030 for example. Truly purposeful brands build on their core promise and makes longterm single issue investment to build a purpose credibility endurance. So, the idea is how do you do it, finding your purpose and leading with it? Purpose has become a must have and therefore determines not just which brands or how they'll stay viable in the next few years, but in my view decades to come. So that's how important it's become.
👉🏾 I strongly believe if you follow purpose profits will follow. So I think in this sort of what I call the new fractured world, profits won't be possible if you're not purposeful. So, I mean what will happen if your consumers don't want to buy products, if you don't follow purpose. So it may be tempting for brands to shift focus towards their own financial worries or financial priorities, I mean should treat the balance between purpose and profit as a zero sum game right?
So, if you withdraw from your purpose and stop contributing to creating and supporting a better more sustainable future, then in my view there will be no profits in the end. So today's audiences want it all. In fact again to quote from a Brands in Motion study saying that silence isn't an option and that kind of cosy middle ground is shrinking fast. But the opportunity might be for brands to step into their own light and tell the world who they really are and follow the purpose. I think it's a great opportunity in my view.
👉🏾 Well, yeah I mean, several brands. I think some of them have done some really wonderful work. Reckitt is a client we worked with for many years now and Reckitt has been engaged in a multi-year mission to improve the health and hygiene of communities in India. About 750 million people live without access to basic sanitation and more than 120,000 under the age of five died from diarrhoea for example. Reckitt has provided a whole skill development training for sanitation workers. Their brand Dettol has launched a hand-washing curriculum for school children and after COVID hit, Dettol donated product care packages to more than 150,000, and this is not just India. Even in the UK, they donated packages to 150,000 NHS workers. And donated media space to the government for public health announcements.
👉🏾 So there's Reckitt for example, then there's McDonald's they're doing a lot. I'm just moving away from COVID, they're doing a lot with people with disability and they've created something called Eat Equal, which is a specialised packaging solution to eating a burger with one hand, easier for people with lack of mobility. Giving an example of Godrej, in India, they have a huge land base in Vikhrohi and Godrej & Boyce's wetland management services teams has been managing and conserving one of the largest mangroves in Bombay. And taking their efforts a notch higher they've actually joined hands with WWF India to further strengthen the conservation efforts and promote awareness of that area. I mean, it's quite amazing what they've done. So multiple examples, not just India, but across the world
👉🏾 Good question I think brand purpose is a group commitment, right? It cannot be farmed out to a department or project team. So it cannot be that this is my team that will just work on purpose of the company or the organisation.
It has to be a group commitment and genuine purpose doesn't kind of sweeps through down from leadership or shareholder, it'll actually come down from the company's heart and soul, its people. Really and it belongs to everybody so if the whole company does not belong to it, it'll never be successful. So it has to go down from the C-suite to the interns, rising organically together. And you know purpose begins at home right. So this is how brand purpose will truly work when every single person in an organisation believes in it and is driven by it and the brand's purpose in the DNA of the company by and large.
👉🏾 So before brands try to save the world, they must ensure that their own organisations are in order. You know you can't run mental wellness campaign if your managers are sending emails at 3:00 AM in the morning. You know, so purpose has to start at home. In fact, again our Brands in Motion survey respondents rated employees as the group executives need to communicate with the most more than customers shareholders and media. So 75% of executives should communicate with employers about their personal position on issues at least every six months, that's the report. So there's a lot that people are doing around it.
So for example in India, we are running a campaign, you know, as you're aware, India was struck badly by the second wave of COVID in April this year right. And many people lost loved ones, they were impacted at one point. I can tell you we had 50% staff away because either they were impacted or they were taking care of loved ones. And, we really thought what will be best when people will really be involved and as soon as the second wave was over, we launched a campaign called, 'Puri Tayari hai kya', it's a campaign around getting people to follow COVID appropriate behaviour and encouraging to vaccinate themselves. And it's still running we launched this in September I think and it's going to go on post-Diwali. And that's where I think people want to get involved in it because they were so badly hurt by the second wave. So I think we need to take that perspective. It has to be inbuilt within the organisation
👉🏾 So one is employee engagement, they really need to communicate frequently. C suite executives who show courage to communicate frequently and with authenticity will stand out as leaders in my view. And I think, CEO's like Microsoft, Satya Nadedla, Bumbles Whitney Wolf are speaking out in a very, very personal way, for example, and doing so very frequently. And I think they have changed a lot of audience perceptions. I think also leaders are coming to terms with their fears and limitations while acknowledging the same in others.
👉🏾 They're coming out to be more authentic. The 86% of leaders surveyed in our report, they said they have become more introspective during this time. This introspection has become the starting point in my view for a whole new leadership paradigm. So hardwired into believing that a leader should be stoic, relentless and fearless, the whole leadership concept revolved a lot of infallibility in the past. So Covid happened, and the pandemic exposed a gap in health, administrative systems and the vulnerabilities of our personal/professional identities. So now leaders recognise importance of acknowledging, what I would say, human imperfection and leading with compassion. I think that's the way the role has evolved for leaders, it's changed to that extent.
👉🏾 I think the first and the key leadership trait is listening for real. I'm adding the words for real, right, so I think it's not just about sitting listening to people, but for real. Again I'm saying it for the umpteenth time. But it will start with the employees, it will start with your people. Leading today requires listening without judgment. The new age leader must be open to engaging in difficult conversations to set things right.
They must be available to their people always. For example, during the first pandemic lockdown in our firm, we had set aside an hour a day to listen and address people's concerns. Managers held regular connect sessions with the teams, and talked about how they can manage things better.
👉🏾 Secondly, apart from this thing, you need to practice empathy. So inclusive leaders need to reach out, connect with people during a crisis. In fact, this is a crucial step, right? This realisation changed the way at least I led my teams. In fact, I got COVID in the first wave, in September last year, it's been over a year now. I shared with them about my COVID experience right. I was very open about it because during the first wave have a lot of people were not even sharing, it became like a stigma. When I got Covid I actually addressed the issue upfront - that I have COVID right and how I dealt with it. So empathy is very important and sharing is very important and finally, I think we've talked about this but people over profit.
So, inclusive leadership means prioritising community emotional wellbeing above organisational practice. And we need to take an active role in initiating and maintaining relationships with diverse groups, both inside and outside the organisation. So I think those three things would be very important for new leaders.
👉🏾 I think the 18 months have given us that opportunity to radically rethink how we connect with one another right and how we share ideas and collaborate. I think some of the best campaigns were devised and executed during the lockdown, a lot of people were like, it's not going to happen, we may not be able to create it, we may not be able to do this or that. But honestly, nothing changed. I mean, we did some great campaigns, we delivered everything. So what I think communicators have done is they've fast-tracked tech competence to meet the demands of their stakeholders, right. They've adopted future-forward technologies that encourage what I would call digital agility amongst all team members.
👉🏾They've implemented interactive hyper-responsive campaigns suited to the new reality. AI is something that people are toying with today. I don't know how much it'll be successful. We're tried to build work cultures around holistic wellbeing, I think that's really important and then I think just the fact of how do we listen to people, right? Listening I mentioned to you earlier, practitioners today need to work with more teams.
👉🏾 Some trends I would say to consider would be accelerated digital transformation in the new normal really. Increased integration of data and creativity. So how we use data to build creativity, understanding larger geopolitical shifts today, because there's been realignment completely from a geopolitical perspective right? So, all those things are happening in India and those are trends, I think, which I don't think are far away from global trends either.
I actually think that the Asian culture per se was more about working in the office a lot compared to the West because the West was still doing a lot of flexible working and they will still work remotely but in India and a lot of Asian markets it wasn't happening and people were still of that mindset that people need to come to office, right? And I think that's been the biggest shift for a market like India and for industry like ours.
👉🏾 Yeah, I think it's changed in two ways. One COVID has changed it to the extent that we are working with people remotely. We are doing remote working and we need to just think of different ways than how we are going to create campaigns et cetera. Secondly, I think the industry itself has changed. I'm talking from India perspective, we no longer amplifying things, divergent thinking and creative shaping of PR strategies are becoming the hallmark of our industry.
👉🏾 I think we'll have to be real and compassionate, leaders have to listen, learn, and engage with employees and take a harder look at their own behaviours. We must be able to articulate our personal values. I would say we have to be in a constant state of introspection that would kind of enable people to reflect on the beliefs and acknowledge actions and how they in fact impact organisations.
👉🏾 I think the two other big things would be that, one be open to change. I think we just realised that one thing, that change is going to be a constant now, and that's going to be very, very important. I mean today we've opened our office, right? After 18 months in September, we asked people to voluntarily come to office if they want to. Some really want to come back to work, some really don't want to come back to work. And I think we'll all have to find that midway, so all have to be open about change. It's not going to be like COVID is over and we're now going to be back to office at the same pace. It's going to be different and maybe two years later there'll be something different. I don't know. So it will all in my view, keep changing and we have to be ready for that change.
👉🏾 How our agency is going to ensure the future-ready and fit for purpose. I think we'll just have to act with more, I would say boldness and conviction and bravery and start on a solid foundation. We have to define our purpose and values and make that mission statement our North Star and guide everybody around that. I think agencies have to walk the talk. We do advise our clients on how they have to act with purpose, but I think what is going to change is about how agencies will walk the talk and act with purpose as well. So, we'll have to stay our course as well.
👉🏾 So for example, we've taken on three issues this year right over the last year and this year. We did three pieces, we said we are going to focus on, one mental health, because that was a big piece for us because of the pandemic. We've done multiple things with people, we run a campaign called we care internally. We have an employee assistance program where people can call this helpline talk to somebody, in confidence for free anytime they want. We've got experts coming into the office and talking, We did something yesterday with Dr. Parikh, from Fortis hospital, for everybody on world mental health day. And the 3rd piece we're doing is around diversity. So we tied up with rainbow literature festival, which is a literature festival for the LGBTQ community. And we took out a book called Consciously Speaking, which was on how to use the right terminology when working with the LGBTQ community because people did not know how to address people in different ways. And that's something we did on our own, we launched it. FICCI helped us, and it's pretty good and we're doing the second launch now of that book. So we took on these three broad areas on working with us as purpose for us.
👉🏾 Good question. So I'll just go back a bit, I worked in India for a few years and I went to the UK for a few years and I came back. And when I came back I said, how do I contribute back to this industry right, which has given me a lot. And I think I did a couple of things.
I started teaching and I think that was one way of giving back to me. And of course, also talent was a big issue in our industry and I thought, what better way than to kind of hone talent and get people...
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By Sudha Singh
5
22 ratings
As we navigate a world in a constant state of flux, there are deep discussions around what organisational purpose actually means, not just as rhetoric for public consumption but the systemic actions organisations need to take in order to live their values.
For the first time in decades we are also redefining leadership and the must have skills for leaders of today.
In the 50th episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast I spoke with Nitin Mantri, Group CEO of Avian WE and the President of International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) to explore the boundaries of purpose and leadership.
We also spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾
👉🏾 What it means for a brand to have purpose at its core
👉🏾 Redefining the business of business in the context of stakeholder responsibility and accountability
👉🏾 The role of the C-suite and CEO in articulating and living organisational purpose
👉🏾 Leadership in a post pandemic world and inclusive leadership
👉🏾 What comms practitioners are doing to step up to the challenges; trends in India
👉🏾 How can aspiring leaders in our industry keep pace with the change?
👉🏾 And actions agencies need to take to ensure they are future ready and fit for purpose?
Memorable passages from the podcast:
👉🏾 Thank you for having me.
👉🏾 I believe that while purpose was important I think even before the world was turned upside down by the pandemic, purpose was gaining importance in the boardrooms. The pandemic just accelerated the whole pace and it's now become a business imperative. And from 2019 to 21, the expectation for brands to create stability in uncertain times has risen by 20%. So just to give you some excerpts from a report, in previous years Brands in Motion global reports established that consumers expect brands to have a purpose, humanity and authenticity.
👉🏾 In 2021, what we call the bravery mandate clients expect purpose to inform organisational decisions on how to speak and act on societal issues and purpose initiatives at a given point. And the report actually finds that the brands that will flourish in 2021 and beyond are the ones with the courage to take bold actions and make strong stances with the full understanding that not everyone will approve of them.
So for example, consumers and B2B decision-makers surveyed for the 2021 Brands in Motion report rated environmental sustainability and income equality among the top issues they wanted brands to address. 71% respondents felt that brands have an obligation to engage with social global issues when they impact and stakeholders. And they're more likely to purchase or recommend products or services from brands that address, societal issues. I'll just touch upon one more thing here, which is purpose washing. And I would say that purpose does have its pitfalls as well.
👉🏾 So even though brands across industries are taking up social good marketing, there are instances of purpose washing. People or brands eager to gain eyeballs and profit, brands are choosing causes that they think will strike a chord. So in fact, the Brands In Motion finding on purpose washing talks about this, it says that, despite a rising expectation, brands perceived impact for societal good remains flat. And 52% said that brands that take stance on societal issues are just trying to sell more products and services. So the audience want brands to help, but they aren't yet convinced that brands are delivering. So the task ahead for brands is to bridge this sort of disconnect.
👉🏾 So when we say a brand is purpose led or has purpose at it's core. We mean that brands are rooted in their own values and are clear what they stand for. So, even if part of the audience doesn't want to hear it. They should be clear about what it is that they stand for. So, these brands ground, their purpose statements in long-term quantifiable action. Microsoft talking about reduction in carbon all over the world by 2030 for example. Truly purposeful brands build on their core promise and makes longterm single issue investment to build a purpose credibility endurance. So, the idea is how do you do it, finding your purpose and leading with it? Purpose has become a must have and therefore determines not just which brands or how they'll stay viable in the next few years, but in my view decades to come. So that's how important it's become.
👉🏾 I strongly believe if you follow purpose profits will follow. So I think in this sort of what I call the new fractured world, profits won't be possible if you're not purposeful. So, I mean what will happen if your consumers don't want to buy products, if you don't follow purpose. So it may be tempting for brands to shift focus towards their own financial worries or financial priorities, I mean should treat the balance between purpose and profit as a zero sum game right?
So, if you withdraw from your purpose and stop contributing to creating and supporting a better more sustainable future, then in my view there will be no profits in the end. So today's audiences want it all. In fact again to quote from a Brands in Motion study saying that silence isn't an option and that kind of cosy middle ground is shrinking fast. But the opportunity might be for brands to step into their own light and tell the world who they really are and follow the purpose. I think it's a great opportunity in my view.
👉🏾 Well, yeah I mean, several brands. I think some of them have done some really wonderful work. Reckitt is a client we worked with for many years now and Reckitt has been engaged in a multi-year mission to improve the health and hygiene of communities in India. About 750 million people live without access to basic sanitation and more than 120,000 under the age of five died from diarrhoea for example. Reckitt has provided a whole skill development training for sanitation workers. Their brand Dettol has launched a hand-washing curriculum for school children and after COVID hit, Dettol donated product care packages to more than 150,000, and this is not just India. Even in the UK, they donated packages to 150,000 NHS workers. And donated media space to the government for public health announcements.
👉🏾 So there's Reckitt for example, then there's McDonald's they're doing a lot. I'm just moving away from COVID, they're doing a lot with people with disability and they've created something called Eat Equal, which is a specialised packaging solution to eating a burger with one hand, easier for people with lack of mobility. Giving an example of Godrej, in India, they have a huge land base in Vikhrohi and Godrej & Boyce's wetland management services teams has been managing and conserving one of the largest mangroves in Bombay. And taking their efforts a notch higher they've actually joined hands with WWF India to further strengthen the conservation efforts and promote awareness of that area. I mean, it's quite amazing what they've done. So multiple examples, not just India, but across the world
👉🏾 Good question I think brand purpose is a group commitment, right? It cannot be farmed out to a department or project team. So it cannot be that this is my team that will just work on purpose of the company or the organisation.
It has to be a group commitment and genuine purpose doesn't kind of sweeps through down from leadership or shareholder, it'll actually come down from the company's heart and soul, its people. Really and it belongs to everybody so if the whole company does not belong to it, it'll never be successful. So it has to go down from the C-suite to the interns, rising organically together. And you know purpose begins at home right. So this is how brand purpose will truly work when every single person in an organisation believes in it and is driven by it and the brand's purpose in the DNA of the company by and large.
👉🏾 So before brands try to save the world, they must ensure that their own organisations are in order. You know you can't run mental wellness campaign if your managers are sending emails at 3:00 AM in the morning. You know, so purpose has to start at home. In fact, again our Brands in Motion survey respondents rated employees as the group executives need to communicate with the most more than customers shareholders and media. So 75% of executives should communicate with employers about their personal position on issues at least every six months, that's the report. So there's a lot that people are doing around it.
So for example in India, we are running a campaign, you know, as you're aware, India was struck badly by the second wave of COVID in April this year right. And many people lost loved ones, they were impacted at one point. I can tell you we had 50% staff away because either they were impacted or they were taking care of loved ones. And, we really thought what will be best when people will really be involved and as soon as the second wave was over, we launched a campaign called, 'Puri Tayari hai kya', it's a campaign around getting people to follow COVID appropriate behaviour and encouraging to vaccinate themselves. And it's still running we launched this in September I think and it's going to go on post-Diwali. And that's where I think people want to get involved in it because they were so badly hurt by the second wave. So I think we need to take that perspective. It has to be inbuilt within the organisation
👉🏾 So one is employee engagement, they really need to communicate frequently. C suite executives who show courage to communicate frequently and with authenticity will stand out as leaders in my view. And I think, CEO's like Microsoft, Satya Nadedla, Bumbles Whitney Wolf are speaking out in a very, very personal way, for example, and doing so very frequently. And I think they have changed a lot of audience perceptions. I think also leaders are coming to terms with their fears and limitations while acknowledging the same in others.
👉🏾 They're coming out to be more authentic. The 86% of leaders surveyed in our report, they said they have become more introspective during this time. This introspection has become the starting point in my view for a whole new leadership paradigm. So hardwired into believing that a leader should be stoic, relentless and fearless, the whole leadership concept revolved a lot of infallibility in the past. So Covid happened, and the pandemic exposed a gap in health, administrative systems and the vulnerabilities of our personal/professional identities. So now leaders recognise importance of acknowledging, what I would say, human imperfection and leading with compassion. I think that's the way the role has evolved for leaders, it's changed to that extent.
👉🏾 I think the first and the key leadership trait is listening for real. I'm adding the words for real, right, so I think it's not just about sitting listening to people, but for real. Again I'm saying it for the umpteenth time. But it will start with the employees, it will start with your people. Leading today requires listening without judgment. The new age leader must be open to engaging in difficult conversations to set things right.
They must be available to their people always. For example, during the first pandemic lockdown in our firm, we had set aside an hour a day to listen and address people's concerns. Managers held regular connect sessions with the teams, and talked about how they can manage things better.
👉🏾 Secondly, apart from this thing, you need to practice empathy. So inclusive leaders need to reach out, connect with people during a crisis. In fact, this is a crucial step, right? This realisation changed the way at least I led my teams. In fact, I got COVID in the first wave, in September last year, it's been over a year now. I shared with them about my COVID experience right. I was very open about it because during the first wave have a lot of people were not even sharing, it became like a stigma. When I got Covid I actually addressed the issue upfront - that I have COVID right and how I dealt with it. So empathy is very important and sharing is very important and finally, I think we've talked about this but people over profit.
So, inclusive leadership means prioritising community emotional wellbeing above organisational practice. And we need to take an active role in initiating and maintaining relationships with diverse groups, both inside and outside the organisation. So I think those three things would be very important for new leaders.
👉🏾 I think the 18 months have given us that opportunity to radically rethink how we connect with one another right and how we share ideas and collaborate. I think some of the best campaigns were devised and executed during the lockdown, a lot of people were like, it's not going to happen, we may not be able to create it, we may not be able to do this or that. But honestly, nothing changed. I mean, we did some great campaigns, we delivered everything. So what I think communicators have done is they've fast-tracked tech competence to meet the demands of their stakeholders, right. They've adopted future-forward technologies that encourage what I would call digital agility amongst all team members.
👉🏾They've implemented interactive hyper-responsive campaigns suited to the new reality. AI is something that people are toying with today. I don't know how much it'll be successful. We're tried to build work cultures around holistic wellbeing, I think that's really important and then I think just the fact of how do we listen to people, right? Listening I mentioned to you earlier, practitioners today need to work with more teams.
👉🏾 Some trends I would say to consider would be accelerated digital transformation in the new normal really. Increased integration of data and creativity. So how we use data to build creativity, understanding larger geopolitical shifts today, because there's been realignment completely from a geopolitical perspective right? So, all those things are happening in India and those are trends, I think, which I don't think are far away from global trends either.
I actually think that the Asian culture per se was more about working in the office a lot compared to the West because the West was still doing a lot of flexible working and they will still work remotely but in India and a lot of Asian markets it wasn't happening and people were still of that mindset that people need to come to office, right? And I think that's been the biggest shift for a market like India and for industry like ours.
👉🏾 Yeah, I think it's changed in two ways. One COVID has changed it to the extent that we are working with people remotely. We are doing remote working and we need to just think of different ways than how we are going to create campaigns et cetera. Secondly, I think the industry itself has changed. I'm talking from India perspective, we no longer amplifying things, divergent thinking and creative shaping of PR strategies are becoming the hallmark of our industry.
👉🏾 I think we'll have to be real and compassionate, leaders have to listen, learn, and engage with employees and take a harder look at their own behaviours. We must be able to articulate our personal values. I would say we have to be in a constant state of introspection that would kind of enable people to reflect on the beliefs and acknowledge actions and how they in fact impact organisations.
👉🏾 I think the two other big things would be that, one be open to change. I think we just realised that one thing, that change is going to be a constant now, and that's going to be very, very important. I mean today we've opened our office, right? After 18 months in September, we asked people to voluntarily come to office if they want to. Some really want to come back to work, some really don't want to come back to work. And I think we'll all have to find that midway, so all have to be open about change. It's not going to be like COVID is over and we're now going to be back to office at the same pace. It's going to be different and maybe two years later there'll be something different. I don't know. So it will all in my view, keep changing and we have to be ready for that change.
👉🏾 How our agency is going to ensure the future-ready and fit for purpose. I think we'll just have to act with more, I would say boldness and conviction and bravery and start on a solid foundation. We have to define our purpose and values and make that mission statement our North Star and guide everybody around that. I think agencies have to walk the talk. We do advise our clients on how they have to act with purpose, but I think what is going to change is about how agencies will walk the talk and act with purpose as well. So, we'll have to stay our course as well.
👉🏾 So for example, we've taken on three issues this year right over the last year and this year. We did three pieces, we said we are going to focus on, one mental health, because that was a big piece for us because of the pandemic. We've done multiple things with people, we run a campaign called we care internally. We have an employee assistance program where people can call this helpline talk to somebody, in confidence for free anytime they want. We've got experts coming into the office and talking, We did something yesterday with Dr. Parikh, from Fortis hospital, for everybody on world mental health day. And the 3rd piece we're doing is around diversity. So we tied up with rainbow literature festival, which is a literature festival for the LGBTQ community. And we took out a book called Consciously Speaking, which was on how to use the right terminology when working with the LGBTQ community because people did not know how to address people in different ways. And that's something we did on our own, we launched it. FICCI helped us, and it's pretty good and we're doing the second launch now of that book. So we took on these three broad areas on working with us as purpose for us.
👉🏾 Good question. So I'll just go back a bit, I worked in India for a few years and I went to the UK for a few years and I came back. And when I came back I said, how do I contribute back to this industry right, which has given me a lot. And I think I did a couple of things.
I started teaching and I think that was one way of giving back to me. And of course, also talent was a big issue in our industry and I thought, what better way than to kind of hone talent and get people...