Sushmita Sarkar Email & Phone Number

Mumbai, Mh, In

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Cultivating and Nurturing 'Relentless Acceleration in Growth' mindset

Mumbai Area, India

Experience = reflection-reimagination-reinvention

Mumbai Area, India

New territory, again, means new adventure, new learning, and accelerated evolution. As member of India’s first specialized planning function in a PR firm – I now have to systematize, simplify and distribute at speed and scale – all that my experiences as a PR practitioner, consultant, story hunter and storyteller taught me in the previous decade or so. Our team’s objective is to ensure our servicing teams deliver delight to clients. We guide and support the client servicing team members. We also train them to become self-sufficient, by helping them acquire the skills of ideating, planning and execution we acquired through experience and then codified into frameworks. We continue to conduct workshops for CXOs, senior management personnel across private and government organizations, and our own colleagues - on the role and practice of communication for individuals' and organizations' success. This chapter is work-in-progress.

Mumbai Area, India

An unexpected opportunity allowed me to spend almost two years in the north-eastern part of India, introduced me to development communication – deployed to aid capacity building at a World Bank Group awarded inclusive business model for affordable healthcare. There couldn’t have been a better opportunity to either realize the relevance of the fifth P (Purpose) of marketing, or understanding and applying principles of design thinking to the task of fashioning success of an initiative that attempted to alter deeply-rooted norms in remote underprivileged communities, through multi-stakeholder communication. The programme we designed and implemented delivered tremendous growth in the targeted business parameters and was recognized as the best PR campaign for healthcare in Asia-Pacific at the Sabre Awards, Hong Kong. The most fulfilling outcome of this stage of my professional journey was co-authoring the book capturing the arduous, inspiring journey of an individual – from being the son of an impoverished, marginal farmer to a doctor, an entrepreneur and a social entrepreneur.

Finally assuming managerial leadership – formally – I learned to balance the inclination to be a visionary leader and the situational necessity of managing tasks, teams and objectives. Accelerated for myself the process of being a digital-literate PR professional and communications trainer.

Period of transition - from executive to manager.

As our business unit grew and diversified beyond technology clients, I was initiated into performance management – beyond task management, team management, media management, perception management and client management, which continued as in the previous years. Developed weekly performance rubrics for every individual in the team – aligned to annual appraisal parameters (organization’s expectation) and also client, media and team expectation. Beginning of involvement in design and delivery of communication workshops for CXOs, government officials and management students, among others. This stage culminated in co-presenting an academic paper titled “Nature versus Nurture in Lifelong Learning – the Role of Organisations” at a conference on lifelong learning at the University of Jammu.

Journey continues from granularity to holism; from people, events and practices to principles and business objectives – through Edward Bernays’ Crystallizing Public Opinion and public relations’ functional responsibility to “interpret the client to the public, and the public to the client”. Beyond tasks, perception, management and knowledge of global affairs, realized that as communication consultants, we are required to formulate and implement appropriate communication solutions that help clients’ achieve their business objectives. Our clients seek guidance from us, and depend on us to plan effective communication programmes, implement these plans flawlessly, measure impact of programmes on achievement of business objectives. Started investigating the science of communication, beyond the art of communication. Again, another pillar of the educational foundation – in Physics and Philosophy of Science – helps connect and bind disparate dots I had been gathering over the previous couple of years! These experiences bring alive for me the meaning of ‘life coming full circle’!

As I progressed up the professional ladder, I learnt that perception management is a key enabler of or impediment to effective management of tasks, teams and training. Expectations differ because perceptions differ – from individual to individual, group to group. Decoding perception is key to communication design; influencing perception is the key determinant of effective implementation of communication programmes, I realized. The immense utility of a strong educational foundation in Philosophy – which exposed me to and trained me in understanding perceptions and system thinking – became evident to me.

Introduced to the roller-coaster ride that client servicing is, realised that though expectations of each individual at client organisations and media differ, juxtaposing and combining these expectations allowed us to craft stories that they want to tell and their target audiences were interested in knowing. Participating in industry events such as the annual NASSCOM summits, meetings with CXOs and media personnel – accompanied and guided by senior colleagues – I learnt to listen, interpret, create and disseminate stories. These interactions also helped me understand perspectives about the evolving business environment and the race for growth, as the world recovered from the 2008 financial crisis.

First patent filed, second patent in the process of being filed...and many more in the pipeline...

Formal entry into public relations as a professional. Exposed to a wide range of PR application in diverse sectors such as consumer, entertainment and business-to-business; primarily for MNCs. Also, started understanding clients' expectations from PR.

Participated in the journey of corporate films - from pitching to execution - scripting, project management, shooting, and editing. I also understood the role of corporate films in reputation building and management for organisations.

Mumbai Area, India

This is the position where I was introduced to the methodical madness of India's commercial capital, Mumbai, and started learning how to navigate in this difficult yet rewarding ecosystem. Operationally, worked as an Assistant Producer; also coordinated the public relations activity for Stunner 10, a reality show.

Other/ Certificate In Entrepreneurship Essentials, Complete

Entrepreneurship Essentials is an online certificate program from Harvard Business School. Entrepreneurship Essentials introduces.

Others/Certificate Program On Stepping Into Leadership

The pressures on frontline managers are relentless in terms of expectations from customers, senior managers, external suppliers and their.

Ma, Philosophy

Ba (Honours), Philosophy

Education record