Crisis Management To Sustainability - Ms. Sarita Bahl, Country Group Head - Communications & Public Affairs - South Asia, Bayer Group In India

On 6th February 2020, the students of the Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur had the privilege of hosting Ms. Sarita Bahl, Country Group Head - Communications & Public Affairs - South Asia, Bayer Group in India for an invigorating Guest Lecture session. With over three decades of professional experience in stakeholder engagement, sustainability, and communications, Ms. Bahl has donned multiple roles across diverse industries, MNCs, Public Sector, trade associations, and Not-for-Profit sector.

She started the session by collecting a wide array of topics that the inquisitive young audience felt would be pivotal in their journey ahead. She ensured that she addressed each of these areas and shared her valuable views on every subject raised along with a tint of her life experiences. Beginning with crisis management, she briefed on how the flow of information and training of personnel becomes crucial in the hours of peril. She also insisted on the need to act proactively, being factual, considerate and consistent in the occurrence of a crisis.

Ms. Bahl then moved on to share her views on how corporate communications play a strategic business role in the present-day corporate world, and how the team becomes the caretakers of the brand. She then touched upon the importance of amalgamation of diverse cultures that can come up in the corporate landscape. She went on to discuss the relevance of being a student all your life, upskilling continuously and investing in yourself to stay relevant in the ever-changing world.

She further discussed how being a risk-taker will help in bringing out the best in each one and rediscovering oneself. She also mentioned how women have turned out to be great leaders by demanding equality and not exclusivity. Ms. Bahl concluded the session by giving a quick glimpse regarding her organization’s objective of aggregating technology and agronomy to ensure sustainability.

The Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur thanks Ms. Sarita Bahl for the valuable time that she spent to conduct such a compelling session and sharing her fascinating insights with the budding managers of tomorrow.