Transformation requires a mindset change, which is a time-consuming process: Rahul Gossain

We are in a new era of Public Relations. In the last few years, the importance of reputation management has taken a sea change. More brands and clients, especially from the leadership teams, are viewing Public Relations from a close range. The industry has undergone a radical change with the advent of social media, which has to a large extent changed the approach to Public Relations. We have a relatively new and young audience that we need to face in the coming years so there are bigger challenges for brands and PR practitioners, who have to be more agile and proactive in their thinking to draw up business solutions for clients.

In our exclusive weekly column – PR Conversation – Adgully interacts with leading business leaders and obtains their exclusive views and insights on the various trends in the PR and communications industry.

In conversation with Adgully, Rahul Gossain, Chief Strategy and Brand Officer, JSA, speaks at length about organisational transformation, corporate innovation, the role of strategic communication and advocacy, incorporating an AGILE-based approach and technology to drive efficiency and future readiness, and much more.

With a diverse background spanning law, public policy, finance, and marketing, what key experiences have shaped your career trajectory, leading you to your current role as Chief Strategy and Brand Officer at JSA?

Business strategy seeks to create value for the organisation and its stakeholders and gain a competitive advantage in the market, by way of a combination of strategic initiatives. Senior strategy counsels need to have a fair understanding of finance, public policy, and law, to understand the business, effectively interpret the business environment, and develop effective strategies to gain and maintain market advantage. Their understanding is, hence, a critical complement to the core expertise of a strategy professional, which in my case is marketing, communication, and stakeholder engagement.

I strongly subscribe to the philosophy of continuous learning, and it has been fundamental to shaping my career trajectory, along with the guidance of some wonderful ex-bosses, who continue to be my mentors. In the early days, along with marketing, learning computing and programming skills helped me understand the opportunities and benefits of technology, data management, and automation. They have proved critical when implementing organisational transformation, adopting technology and building digital and social media. A post-graduation in Finance helped me get a better understanding of the finer aspects of investor communication and building a deeper understanding of insurance businesses of Max India Group, which resulted in some award-winning outcomes. Likewise, professional services are extremely complex, and demand cross-sectoral, cross-domain understanding. My qualifications and research in public policy, law, strategy and ESG, helped me understand the opportunities and challenges, and to effectively engage with internal and external stakeholders, which is critical to ensure successful outcomes in matrix organisations.

As the Chief Strategy and Brand Officer at JSA, what are your primary responsibilities, and how do you balance strategy, market development, and marketing communications within the firm?

I am broadly responsible for supporting the leadership in developing a strategic framework for the firm to market and to engage stakeholders across domestic and international markets, which operates at various levels. My scope of work broadly involves a combination of corporate reputation management; business development support by way of outreach & events, client pitches, and marketing collateral; and key stakeholder communication.

Three key aspects here are: first, that India’s regulated legal sector does not allow law firms to advertise, which means below the line takes precedence in the marketing mix. Secondly, for large corporate law firms, clientele is spread across sectors and countries, thereby creating the need for a lot of flexibility. Legal and policy across sectors require a change of communication and priorities, hence the need for a strategic and marketing approach designed for continuous and ongoing evolution.

You have built multiple successful strategic corporate innovation and transformation initiatives. Could you describe one such initiative and its impact on the organization?

Need for organisational transformation is often a strategic call, necessitated by internal or external challenges or opportunities, wherein it is felt the current business approach may not be able to deliver the desired outcomes, with employees often at the center. Hence, transformation is driven by a clear recognition of the need for a change and to achieve a desired outcome, which may at times be hazy and need to be crystalized. When setting goals, it is important to see things from an external perspective and external advisors can play a valuable role to be able to provide an independent or an outward in perspective, which aids goal setting at the top, and can then percolate down to the leadership and below, by way of effective communication, engagement, etc.

Transformation typically requires a mindset change, which is a time-consuming process which may often see resistance. A constructive approach calls for encouraging people to come on board by way of active conversations at various levels, engagement initiatives, common goal setting, incentivisation, and continuous encouragement and reminder of individual and organisaiton success being mutually aligned. In my experience, I have seen effective communication, and integrated efforts of various teams like marketing, training, and human resources, backed by necessary leadership support yielding excellent results.

In professional services, one of the transformation initiatives I was involved in successfully establishing the Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, starting effectively from scratch, in two years, 2015 onward. The firm was formed after the split of Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, which had a 100-year pedigree, but also had a legacy approach. From a monopoly scenario in 2015, post the split, the legal sector became a highly competitive market, and the requirement was for the firm to continue to be perceived as a top tier brand by clients, media, and other stakeholders – especially internal lawyers/ employees who needed confidence in the new brand.

The firm, hence, required to redefine its identity, its client outreach & BD model, and stakeholder engagement strategy and the internal operations thereof. This process entailed active consultation with leadership and partners, consultants, etc., to get people on board and I could use my learnings from the corporate world. A systematic approach was pursued that went top down, starting with developing and defining a new client-focused positioning, aligning and completely revisiting collateral and communication, etc.

On the operations side, the work processes were defined, BD infrastructure was revamped through a modular approach and easily extractable databases with the objective of drastically reducing turnaround times and achieving first-to-client BD requests goal. Internal and external communication approaches were revamped to enable internal engagement and develop a focus on market-oriented thought leadership. The outcome was a clear distinct positioning for the firms in two years.

Corporate innovation, on the other hand, is about keeping the people also future-ready, along with the product or services, to remain market-relevant and competitive. It is something that organisations need to have integrated into their DNA or corporate culture and has ongoing initiatives to identify, recognise, and implement such innovations. It also is something that can help organisations understand the needs and preference of newer generation employees, as also benefit from learning from their capabilities, especially technological.

How do you incorporate an AGILE-based approach and technology to drive efficiency and future readiness?

With or without using a technology tool, I have found the AGILE framework very simple, practical and effective across my career.

When pursuing an important project, the AGILE approach requires development of an adaptive strategic framework, which is a critical part. The planning phase seeks to seek and effectively incorporate stakeholder feedback in the design stage and further development, in the process also helping get wider stakeholder support and buy-in. The testing criteria needs to be clearly defined which could assess on various parameters both tactical and strategic like long-term viability, goal alignment, and assessment of acceptability by wider stakeholders.

For a project’s success, in today’s dynamic environment, the mid-cycle qualitative and quantitative review becomes critical, and should also provide for any significant internal/ external changes, so that the same can be incorporated. The ongoing operation of the AGILE cycle highlights the need to continuously review and adapt plans as required, which ensures the outcome is present-aligned, and future-ready. Also, the cycle enables optimisation, often with the use of better and more efficient alternatives like newer technology, and enables the removal of process, people, and resource redundancies.

Given your specialization in critical stakeholder management, what strategies do you employ to maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders?

Stakeholders are a very wide universe and when compared to my experience in corporates, a large consulting or law firm stakeholders are very wide and also spread across countries. Also, unlike in corporate where there is an additional sales function, the regulated nature of legal services in India means client engagement has to also serve multiple roles.

In such a scenario, a stakeholder is like a neural network that has to connect directly or indirectly in a systematic manner, on an ongoing basis for it to work effectively. It requires strategically segmenting the stakeholder buckets, understanding their respective priorities, aligning and mapping them to internal priorities, and then communicating with them on topics, platforms, domains, and media of mutual interest. The objectives are broadly building awareness and brand, showcasing thought leadership and expertise, developing mutual trust, and thus enabling business and other relationships.

What are some emerging trends in ESG and corporate responsibility that you believe will shape the future of professional services firms?

As advisors to large corporations, ESG is a key emerging business vertical for professional services firms. With the increasing level of legal and regulatory compliances coming in, law firms will have an increasing role. This is best represented by how the scenario is playing out in Europe, where the EU Taxonomy and EU Green Finance Frameworks legislated by the EU Parliament, are in advanced stages of implementation and are already having global implications. I personally believe tightening governance standards for professional services, data governance, internal stakeholder standards and going paperless.

How do you foresee the intersection of law, policy, communications, and marketing evolving in the next five years, and what are your aspirations for the future in continuing to make an impact in the fields of strategy, market development, and professional services marketing?

At a more macro level, in present times of rapid public policy and legal evolution, such changes can create and dissipate business opportunities itself. Hence, they have a critical role in top-level business decision-making. Besides, as the policy and legal processes become increasingly consultative, the role of strategic communication and advocacy, and an extension of public policy development becomes increasingly critical.

In the US and UK, given the critical role, professional services marketing is now an established industry itself, with specialist roles and functions and agencies. Given the key role of India, high growth, and the increasing role of international players, I foresee the Indian professional services marketing industry would witness a transition, similar to what happened to the PR sector in the early mid-late 2000s, on the back of rapid growth, international players and increasing sophistication.

Also read: Rahul Gossain joins JSA as the new Chief Strategy & Brand Officer