“Leadership is about co-creating and working together”

shares Sonali Singh, Head – Marketing & Corporate Communications, HarperCollins Publishers India, in conversation with AABP.

Leaders not only do the right thing, they also help others do the right thing by directing them, setting up a vision and mapping out a plan to achieve it. They help to attain team goals by inspiring and encouraging the people involved. How do leaders achieve it, finds All About Book Publishing, in conversation with Sonali Singh, Head – Marketing & Corporate Communications at HarperCollins Publishers India. Sonali leads a team of publicists in planning and executing integrated marketing efforts for promoting books and authors they publish across genres and categories. Additionally, her responsibility also involves strengthening brand positioning in a diverse and competitive marketplace, so that the awareness generated is high and desirable. Her other department of responsibility is corporate communications which mandates the execution of internal and external communications pertaining to their business and new initiatives.

AABP: What do you like most about your work?

Sonali: The multi-tasking and innovative ideas one needs to constantly think of to be different. Also, my job gives me the opportunity to meet and interact with a lot of people, and learn something new from them every single day!

AABP: Who are your target audience?

Sonali: Anyone interested in books, good writing, and having a curious mind.

AABP: What is your aim of marketing? And how do you define leadership?

Sonali: It is what you make of it really! For me, leadership is about co-creating and working with my team whilst guiding, mentoring, and leading, so that together we shine. The marketing bit is about being appreciated and noticed for the positive difference that we make to all those directly or indirectly concerned with us.

AABP: As a leader you believe in…?

Sonali: Complete honesty and transparency in relationships and an attitude that sees and believes in the positivity of people and situations put to me.

AABP: How do you motivate your team?

Sonali: I motivate my team by continuously instilling in them a sense of trust and free communication where we can have a healthy conversation with each other. Once I know what is affecting them, I try to help them by finding a solution themselves to the problem or talking to them through it in a way that works best to their understanding. After all, you cannot motivate someone unless it comes from their own heart!

AABP: What are the challenges you face?

Sonali: The usual…situations trying to pull one down.

AABP: Your favourite Movie/ Book / Hobby?

Sonali: Ah…..too many to name! But, they are all interconnected. After all, books create stories…stories create books and the fun just goes on!