The Persuasive Needlepoint

In 2022, I have completed my undergrad at the University of Amsterdam. Now an honors graduate in business administration, this marks a step toward the final year of this (full-time & five-year) academic sprint. This September, a day after Ganesh Chaturthi and thus quite auspiciously, my master’s program in persuasive communication (Graduate School of Communication, UvA) begins.

It has been a rewarding climb to study finance, statistics, operations, research methodologies, communication, and AI/data science through undergrad courses so far. In the 2020-21 pandemic year, I doubled my courseload to 120 credits from the usual 60, to make the most of an extracurricular minor in communication science. Especially considering that my university is particularly known for this faculty. And this was the year I married Nikita :)

My favorite course remains the one on argumentation theory, which was a part of the honors module. It helped us dissect, analyze and reframe sentences that aim to serve a purpose. Words are potent in all forms - either written, spoken or the ones unsaid. Making the most of them for business and life is a crucial skill set.

Persuasion in Business, Sales, and Recruitment

My choice of the master’s degree was natural, given my work roles and the intravenous binding role that ‘communication’ plays in any organization - especially when the leadership wields it effectively. A degree in persuasive communication would focus on strategies in health and marketing communication, ensuring an up-to-date hands-on understanding of digital workspaces, digital technologies, and analytics.

As the program description mentions, it is essential to understand both - 1) what persuades the audience, and 2) what equips them to resist persuasion. In the world of growth hype, echo chambers, half-baked marketing messaging, and accompanying blinding noise, this academic program promises to be an assured dose of calm certainty.

Persuasion in business is similar to ‘Needlepoint’ art. A quick google search tells us that Needlepoint is the oldest form of canvas stitchwork. It traditionally fills up the canvas and combines multiple strokes—almost as if developing a detailed, all-encompassing, robust, convincing narrative for its viewers.

For customers and employees to be ‘convinced’: 1) The narrative needs to be holistic, thorough and consistent 2) There are promises that need to be kept, 3) In the case of grey areas, triggers that reveal the undesirable need to be buffered, 4) New methods of accessing customers need to be utilized with caution. Old ways do not work on new mediums, quite as Howard Roark did away with obsolete frames in his concrete architectural designs, 5) Multiple parts of this non-fiction story need to interact with integrity and move together in tandem, 6) Moreover, ‘the point of a needle’ is an apt prickly pokey nudge when the situation calls for it. Wink.

I am excited to participate and learn.

being hands-on

After 8 years of building and helping build businesses in Mumbai, I stepped onward to school in 2018. These last couple of years, in addition to college, I had a chance to work with a Dutch social enterprise incubator, coordinating volunteer teams and advising first-time entrepreneurs setting up new businesses in Europe.

Last year, my partner (Nikita) and I co-founded Brand Content Strategy (BCS). As a consultancy specializing in communication and marketing operations, we have had the pleasure to be associated with businesses of varied sizes across the spectrum.

Stepping in as marketing and strategy leaders, BCS unifies organizational functions to solve pertinent communication and legacy issues. These primarily concern plateauing growth, stagnating sales, lack of quality recruitment, and gaps in processes. There is an analysis of data quality, and work done on bridging silos for higher efficiency. The scope of our involvement depends on the client’s business itself, and BCS has been as internal as external, suited to the project.

The tip of the iceberg is often an easily-identifiable basic requirement—a content plan, implementing marketing automation, a new website, or entering a new market. What distinguishes the BCS approach is the ability and willingness to dig deep into the core of this requirement, charting the path to greener pastures and handholding the management throughout while also offering a mirror to the leadership. It includes representing the client on the table, coaching teams to perform, and implementing digital transformations.

There is an innate understanding of people, design, content, data, technology, and what makes the needle move. Despite my only being in an advisory role, it has been exhilarating to peek into BCS projects this last year. I’m proud of the team, and truly excited about what lies ahead.

bowing to thee

It is Ganesh Chaturthi (गणेश चतुर्थी) today. We have a tradition of welcoming Ganesh at our family home for 10 days, and this occasion has always led to a new door opening in the last decade, every year.

Ganesh is the lord of wisdom, prudence, and learning. He is learned in scriptures and is a gifted scribe. It is to be noted that “Gaṇa-eṣa” (The-Lord-of-Varying-Elements) refers to the unity of macrocosm and microcosm, as they come together in the form of varying elements. [‘Ganesh’ by Wisdom Library]

This is but the methodology for understanding the universe, life, and business. It is the many parts that come together, in all sizes and empowered with all characteristics, that make one whole. I bow to Him in obeisance, eternally grateful to everything He represents and symbolizes.

The desk awaits.

—

Words: Sushrut Munje