Kaushal Sampat, President and CEO, Dun & Bradstreet India - on Decoding Communications

Kaushal Sampat, CEO & President, Dun & Bradstreet India has been with D&B since 1998. Prior to this, he has held the position of Chief Operating Officer in the the same organization and he spearheaded the company's strategic initiatives and alliances in India.

Kaushal Sampat, CEO & President
Dun & Bradstreet

Kaushal Sampat on 'Decoding Communications':

"Decoding Communications is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the subject of Communication in its entirety. The author deconstructs the subject of communication systematically and with the precision of a surgeon - its theoretical underpinnings and frameworks, its evolution and most importantly, its effective practice. Written with a deep understanding and passion for the subject, Decoding Communications is a truly enlightening work." 


About Dun & Bradstreet (http://www.dnb.co.in/aboutdnb.asp)
Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB), the world's leading source of global business information, knowledge and insight, has been enabling companies to Decide with Confidence® for over 170 years. D&B's global commercial database contains more than 200 million business records. The database is enhanced by D&B's proprietary DUNSRight® Quality Process, which transforms the enormous amount of data collected daily into decision-ready insight. Through the D&B Worldwide Network - an unrivaled alliance of D&B and leading business information providers around the world - customers gain access to the world's largest and highest quality global commercial business information database.

The sneak-peek of the contents page

DECODING COMMUNICATIONS

Communications is a universal remedy. It helps bridge relationships, sustains knowledge, and also makes chance more predictable. Communications builds a nourishing environment for organizations, brands and individuals to grow. Businesses, brands and individuals, all need to understand communications better in order to impact their own futures.

Decoding Communications is a fascinating journey that turns everyday experiences into revelations, and it demonstrates how communications can help make best use of opportunities.

The book also covers  new communication theories like Trust Matrix, Brand Appeal, Organizational Maturity Model, and 4 Cs Leadership Model, explained simply to apply them in business lifecycles. Decoding Communications is an important read for all communicators – the brand custodians, spokespersons, communication agencies, teachers and students alike. 

The sneak-peak of the contents page of Decoding Communications is here for your exclusive viewing. I am thinking of putting up the synopsis of each of these chapters up for the regular visitors to this blog. 

Please write in in case you would like to view these...

	C   O    N    T    E    N    T     S
Introduction	Sigma bonds to Ethos & Pathos
1	Communications
2	Trust – The basis of everything
3	Trust in Business
4	What is a Brand?
5	Brand Appeal
6	Sustainable Communications
7	Perception, Thinking and influence
8	Propaganda
9	Public Relations
10	Why must organizations communicate
11	4 Cs Leadership Model
Conclusion	Tell it, Don't sell it
	Glossary
	Bibliography

Dr. Frank-Jurgen Richter's thoughts on 'Decoding Communications'

Among the early reviews of Decoding Communications from Dr. Frank-Jurgen Richter, Chairman, Horasis: The Global Visions Community (http://www.horasis.org). 


[Prior to founding Horasis, Dr. Richter was a Director of the World Economic Forum. During this time he has developed an extensive experience and knowledge on the world's economic, business and political scene and of its key players. Under his leadership, the Forum's Summits in Asia and the Asia part of 'Davos' have evolved to facilitate the exchange of expertise between leaders in business, government, and civil society.]


Dr. Richter writes: 

"Decoding Communications uses analysis, humor, and compelling storytelling to explain the magic of communications. Rigorously researched, this is the indispensable guide to impact individual and organizational destiny."

About Horasis:

Horasis: The Global Visions Community is an independent international organization committed to enacting visions for a sustainable future.

Horasis is a visions community - together with our members we explore, define, and implement trajectories of sustainable growth. Horasis provides strategic foresight to public and private entities who envisage growing into global and sustainable organizations.

Horasis hosts annual meetings to advance solutions to the most critical challenges facing corporations today. Participants jointly identify globally relevant business issues and develop sophisticated and interdisciplinary solutions. Participants then leverage these solutions to enhance corporate performance and long-term growth.

Among the participants are the Chief Executive Officers of the world's most respected corporations as well as key business leaders from emerging markets. Also participating are renowned thought leaders and relevant public figures including heads of government and ministers.

Horasis is using its unrivalled history of partnership with corporations from emerging markets to create a powerful platform for cooperation between emerging and developed markets. From the first meeting in 2005, annual gatherings have been held around the globe. The flagship events are theHorasis Annual Meeting as well as regional summits focusing on China, India,Russia and the Arab world.

Phase by phase steps of the cover design

The book cover design started with a concept sent by Hemant (Bacteria Designs). It was finally decided that the cover of Decoding Communications would be a symbol made of words and symbols. We needed symbol units that could become a part of a larger symbol - the book cover itself.

My scribbling habit was finally put to some use and I doodled out some symbols that represented concepts in the book. I enjoyed it so thoroughly that I sent the phone-camera snap of the doodle to Hemant soon after it was done. Then on his request, I further sent some sentences and 'equations'  that would help create the cover.

The initial thought that Hemant had was to draw the design on a blackboard with chalk. He even said, "I think slate-chalk will be better as it will give a better feel". First on paper, then drawn to scale on blackboard. And then finally photographed. That was the plan.b

He took these symbols and then roughly drew them (with an electronic pencil) on a diagram of a face replacing all the facial lines with words and sentences. The very first draft that we saw looked like the picture below on the right. I never could visualize without having something do visualize with and so it was very helpful. It gave an idea of what could be expected.

After this there was one more draft made. And this one looks like the picture on the left.  The face became more artistic, the symbols more real. The title Decoding Communications was typefaced in yellow. Hemant's version is that this makes a 'no-nonsense' combination. His next pencil drawing was scanned, reversed on the computer and given the effect that you see (the idea of blackboard and chalk was dropped after trying it out).  This was getting closer to what we wanted. Much closer.

If this works, from my point-of-view, the masterpiece has already been created. While the full image viewed in entirety looks like a face (Greek actually), every written word and drawn symbol is a critical concept from the book itself.

One part I particularly like in the version given above are the eyes - they represent what metaphors are. Its actually the metaphor that shows the Neils-Bohr atomic model  explained by the solar system. The right eyeball is the solar system and the one on the left is the atom with electrons moving around it. Nice.

After this version was touched up, more symbols added, lines corrected, contexts created, the draft was finally approved.

Hemant is now working to redo the entire design in pencil (see right hand side image). This is likely to develop into the final version. This image will be created such that the face has a high aesthetic appeal. After this, it will be reversed on the computer, with blackboard-chalk and more effects added. Then we'll have the final cover design.

Who said you should not judge a book by its cover?  

The 7 book cover designs that DIDN'T make it

The cover design has been the toughest part of the book. Now that I'm a part of a book creation process, I feel that book cover design needs to be this tough. Its not easy to represent everything that the book is in one simple visual. It also needs to be attractive, yet aesthetics should not become the only focus. It has to be representative, but not too much. 

Hemant Basankar of Bacteria Designs is the creative force behind the cover of Decoding Communications. A rare breed who is as good with the pencil as he is with the mouse. He sketches with passion and splurges colour and shapes with pixels. 

The cover design of Decoding Communications is of much greater importance than any other book. Its because this book is meant to be "the book of everything in Communications – explaining what should be done, why it should be done, and how it should be done."  You falter in the cover design of a book with such a name, and it reflects. 

All in all, the cover design came as too much of stress for me. At one point, I used to even see T-shirts that made me think of the my cover design. Here, I'm putting up 7 designs which we spent considerable time on (each representing a phase of the thought of which there were several designs), but those that did not not make the final cut. Each design began as excited scribbles, moving onto concept and finally taking shape in the designer's head, and then paper/screen.  

The designs have to be seen like this. Each graphic is entire book cover with five parts, with front cover, spine, back cover and the front-inside and back-inside flaps. The first part (with my photograph) will eventually be folded and become become the inside flap of the back cover. The next section of the graphic is the back cover itself. The third thin strip is the spine of the book. The fourth part of the graphic (with the name of the book) is the actual cover, and the last part is the front-inside flap, which will also be eventually folded in. 

DESIGNS THAT DID NOT MAKE IT

1. In the very beginning we felt that no visual  could do justice to the title. So, the cover had to have only the title on it. Nothing else. The black, grey and red colours gave a stark visual contrast and gave attractiveness to the book. The spotlight effect was also meant to give a sense of mystery to the book.

2. In the next selection shown here, the design clearly shows that
the book deals with 'human communications', and the human head leaves little for interpretation. Inside the head, Hemant visuals to represent symbolic ideas extracted the book. These add a creative and attractive appeal to the book. The cover background was maintained white to give high relief and keep the entire visual focus on the head.
You must not miss the spine, which just has a cut from what's in the head.



3. This design is more conceptual - and draws inspiration from the fact that Decoding Communications is about the magic of communications. We wanted a 'how-the-heck-does-that-trick-get-done' quotient. So, the floating egg in front of the man. No gesturing, no abracadabra. The man could be the reader, he could be the person performing the trick - the ambiguity is carefully constructed. I especially like the spine in this one. In an unusual turn from normal, there is a different image than that in the cover. The man is looking up, and he sees an egg on top of his head, almost as if it were going to fall any moment. This builds a sense of continuity and anticipation where the reader should probably say, "I wonder what happens next?"

4. This black white (and, Hemant's favourite red spine again!) is a study. As if communication were on display and the connoisseur or critic were looking at it to know more, understand more. The glazed exterior of the man was purposely made a little unreal. The study of "C" of Communications showed how beginnings are important for understanding.

5. New colour attempt with mustard yellow, though the red spine and black tones stay. This cover is meant to be intriguing to engage the audiences. The C cut is made in the shape of a key (but not too obviously), as the book is full of contexts where communication is the solution to any problem.

 6. One more type of attempt was to try to use the inherent attractiveness of a human head. Believe it or not, we even toyed with real head getting shaving off in the pattern of 'Decoding Communications' (like football fans haircuts), and Hemant went on to create a sample, with full plans to look for a woman who would be willing to go through this bald hair cut (for the photoshoot). It looked good and we were quite interested in taking this forward, but then we saw a very similar concept for another book cover. Got trashed immediately.

7. This  one is different in concept, where the front and back cover are connected visually. The beckoning finger at the back is meant to do a 'pssst'. We dint want to use a face, and alphabets instead of a face were looking a little untenable. Dropped this concept too, though I personally really like the concept of the hand in the back cover. Its kinda different!


After all these rejections, we finally narrowed in on a concept for the cover. It is entirely from Hemant's visioin, and this one is really tough to execute. But Hemant is taking up like an art project - so kudos to him. This one has hand sketching, calligraphy and visual appeal.

He's half through it. Will post the WIP soon. 

A good book needs a good editor

I never thought this would turn into a how-to blog, but it does seem to be going that way - fingers tugging the mind! But if you promise to keep me on my toes, I promise to limit the how-to parts to just a few.

Most think that authoring a book is about writing it. That's only half the job. The rest of it is in the editing, designing, publishing, distributing, promoting, etc. And its quite an overwhelming world out there. And to bring clarity, it is important to discuss the most important of these first - the editor.

The first partner I searched for was an editor. A good editor serves the role of a partner to the book who not only knows the language the book is written in, but also understands the subject. For business books, if the editor is an avid reader of books, blogs and journals on the subject it adds even more value to the editing. The more the editor represents the prespective of the subject the better the editing.

In the case of Decoding Communications the reader is a typical communicator. A CEO-spokesperson, an agency professional, or a student. So I naturally needed an editor of all three profiles rolled in one. After several unsuccessful attempts, in 2011 beginning, I zeroed in on one. One who fit the profile quite well, and also did a good job of it. He was a little slow for an impatient me - but that was more because he was an editor-by-moonlight, than because of lack of will. But what he churned out was good, so I trudged along.

Chapter one was fairly swift, and the second came at the speed he promised. But as we went on to Chapter Three the flow became painfully slow. By Chapter 4, I had had several meetings with him urging him to speeden things up. But the exact opposite happened. He finshed fourth chapter and became totally incommunicado. Vamoosed!

Stuck mid-way.

You get comfortable with one style of editing, and as an author it is quite a challenge to adjust to a different style. So, having just 25% of your book edited, is like not having started at all. To maintain the style, structure and flow, you have to get the entire book edited all over again with the new editor. In editing, its all or nothing.

I started my search for an editor in the genre of my book again. I was looking for people who could edit communications, marketing or even general business as a last resort. No luck for 6 months - though I met a few, none passed my test of editing Chapter 1.

Then finally, I sent out one more last sms to an old friend, asking her to recommend an editor to me. She smsed back, "Ahem... Me? :-) ". That's how Pritsikha Anil became the editor of Decoding Communications.

Chapter check over, she went about the book's editing with energy and enthusiasm that completely rejuvenated me (and the book as well). Chapters going back-and-forth, ideas being discussed, and cuts and tucks adding to the final flavour of the book. And the final outcome gave me complete satisfaction as an author.

The book, Decoding Communications, is about thoughts and ideas. The editor is one such important idea stimulant for the book. Once you find a good editor, most of your post-production is automatically taken care of. If anyone is using this blog as steps to take for their own book, I would only suggest this - 'Choose your editor with the greatest care. Rest will take care of itself.'

On naming a book

Its taken three years, almost every weekend and holiday, and several weekdays; but the 50,000 words are finally over. Edited and ready for design flow.

A book never finishes in the same way that one imagined it at the start. The words begin to have a life of their own, tugging the fingers to type words that the mind has yet to comprehend. The title too, never remains the one that the author started with. It evolves and molts, till you finally see one that feels right, and start feeling comfortable with it. And usually, that one stays. 

As chapters keep getting added and shuffled, the name comes back in question. Of the three ways to name a book (i.e. in the beginning, in the end, or letting it evolve as the book-writing happens), starting with a title comes with more than a little trouble than the rest. 

Each time you make a structural change in the book (of which there are plenty!), not only does the name come into question, but all the contexts within the book with regard to the title also have to be changed. This is often, the most unnecessary time spent on the book. So, I would ideally prefer to name the book in the end. 

But, naming the book in the end, has a bigger issue (at least for me). I cannot seem to think unless I have a title to start with (and naturally it also means that I cannot allow the name to evolve as I write). So the method I adopted, was to begin with one. 

It changed. At least 6 times. And each time, wherever the context of the content referred to the title, that too had to go through a change. But finally, I have managed to settle onto the final name for my book on communications. 

Decoding Communications - that's what it is finally called.