FF Live | Managing Corporate Reputation in the Digital Age | Spotlight

Dear ,

Thank you for signing up for the Founding Fuel Live on Managing Corporate Reputation in the Digital Age scheduled for Friday, 21st February 2025 from 6 PM to 7 PM IST.

The spotlight on each panellist is meant to provide a sense of their leadership perspectives and what they've learnt over the years about managing corporate reputation, in about 2 minutes.

If you have filled out the survey we shared in the earlier mail, thank you very much. In case you haven’t filled in, here is the link. Your responses will help us design the session better.

Regards,
Charles Assisi
Co-founder & Director
Founding Fuel

Posters display a name, a title, and a face—but they rarely reveal the person within. What shaped them? What lessons have they learned? What wisdom do they carry? We asked, Vijay answered. And we walked away wiser. Now, read his insights firsthand.

Rebuilding Identity from the Inside Out

Vijay Bhat

True transformation isn’t about tweaking appearances—it’s about rethinking who you are at your core. Whether it’s a company recovering from a crisis or an individual rebuilding after adversity, meaningful change requires deconstructing and reconstructing one’s identity. That’s deep work. It’s not just about changing priorities or refining messaging—it’s about re-examining your values and questioning how they shape your actions. I’ve learned this the hard way, both in corporate branding and personal coaching.

Cadbury wasn’t just selling chocolate. It was selling identity. One of the most significant brand transformations I worked on was the reinvention of Cadbury Dairy Milk. For decades, Cadbury had been positioned as a treat for children—something parents gave their kids as a reward. But the brand had plateaued. The real breakthrough came when we were willing to redefine its core identity: What if Cadbury wasn’t just for kids? What if it could be a guilt-free indulgence for adults, too? That shift—from surface-level marketing campaigns to a deeper brand transformation—changed everything. The rest is history.

The inner critic never disappears. But you can change its role. One of the most profound lessons I’ve learned is that the voice of the inner critic is almost always louder than the inner coach. We all have an internal dialogue—a tension between doubt and self-belief. The trick isn’t to silence the inner critic (that’s impossible), but to cultivate a stronger relationship with the inner coach. Real growth happens when you start shifting that balance.

Resilience isn’t only about bouncing back. It’s about transforming. People love to talk about resilience as if it’s a rubber band effect: take a hit, recover, return to normal. I don’t see it that way. The Chinese philosophy of bend, not break resonates with me. In a storm, the oak tree is uprooted, but the reed bends and survives. Resilience isn’t just about endurance, it’s about using setbacks as a fork in the road, an opportunity to redefine who you are. The problem? Most people just treat them as a bump in the road and move on.

We wasted the COVID crisis. The pandemic was a planetary reset, an opportunity to fundamentally rethink how we work, live, and lead. But as soon as the crisis passed, most people snapped back to the old ways, failing to extract deeper lessons. Pain is a warning sign, but most people ignore it. Over the years, I’ve come to a difficult realisation: 95% of people prefer the pain of the status quo over the discomfort of change. Even when faced with a personal or professional crisis—cancer, financial ruin, a broken relationship—many choose to endure suffering rather than embrace transformation. Why? Because change threatens our identity. But here’s the truth: transformation doesn’t diminish you—it expands you.

Safe spaces make vulnerability possible—and vulnerability builds trust. Leadership in India (and many other ‘power-distance’ cultures) comes with a problem: we pedestalise leaders. We expect them to have all the answers, to be invulnerable. But the leaders who build true trust are the ones who create spaces where it’s okay to say, I don’t know. Teach me. This doesn’t mean a leader has to wear their vulnerabilities on their sleeve at all times. But if you never show it, you risk isolating yourself, inflating your ego, and losing the ability to receive real feedback.

Quick-fix leadership advice is a distraction from the real work. The internet is full of leadership listicles—“Nine ways to build resilience,” “Ten secrets of successful CEOs.” They make for nice LinkedIn posts, but they don’t address the deeper truth: leadership requires self-examination, the willingness to confront your blind spots, and the courage to change. Real transformation isn’t an infographic. It’s an ongoing, deeply personal process.

Blind spots are the real danger, not mistakes. When you’re leading, you don’t see what’s holding you back. That’s the biggest shift I experienced moving from corporate leadership to coaching: I used to be in the trenches, unaware of my own patterns. Now, my role is to help others see their blind spots. Leaders often think they need more strategies, more frameworks. What they really need is the ability to see themselves clearly. With that awareness, they usually have the skills and resources to make lasting improvements.

Reputation isn’t a tuxedo, it’s a living, evolving entity. Too often, people think of reputation as something fragile that must be preserved. But why should reputation be static? It should evolve alongside you. Take L&T, for example. A stellar reputation, shaken after recent leadership missteps. The question isn’t just, “How do we fix or minimise this?” The real question is, “What does L&T want to become now?” So if you face an adversity or a setback, I'll ask you the same question: “Who are you and who do you want to become?”

NOTE
Previous editions:

Intro to the FF Live, survey & next steps
Spotlight on Sabia Schwarzer

Next: Spotlight on Aditya Ghosh, Co-founder, Akasa Air, Founder, Homage Adviser & Ventures; Board Member: OYO, Greencell Mobility & The e-Plane Co.

Warm regards,

Team Founding Fuel