Sri Lanka Beyond the Headlines… What the World Misses

Farzana Baduel (00:03):
Now we are going to have a different type of vibe on this show just for today.

Doug Downs (00:12):
I know we wanted to keep today lighter. And I have been following your journey. You just came back from three weeks in Sri Lanka, which when you mentioned to me, I'm going to Sri Lanka, I'm going to spend three weeks. I Googled it. That's how dumb I did. Of course, I've heard of Sri Lanka, but I know nothing. I really didn't know where it was. Then I caustically called it the Madagascar of India, the little island off the south tip of India, right?

Farzana Baduel (00:41):
Yeah.

Doug Downs (00:41):
But you have taught me so much, shown me so much video, so many photos. I'd love if you shared today from your three week trip to Sri Lanka in mainly Colombo, but all over the place.

Farzana Baduel (00:54):
So I was invited out there because I just joined the board for Halo Trust, the largest demining charity in the world. And Sri Lanka has had a 27 year civil conflict that just ended around about 15 years ago. And it's one of the most heavily mined countries in the world because of the tenure of the conflict 27 years and the sort of relatively constrained space in the north where these mines were buried. And so what's quite tricky about Sri Lanka is that not only is very dense, but you've also got the mines that have been put into the coastal areas, which is really hard to remove, as well as lagoons, as well as jungles. So the terrain is very, very complex. Once they find the minefields, they have to sort of cordon them off. So children go in and play and then they have to go and teach the children in the local schools what the mines look like so they don't pick it up thinking it's a toy.

Doug Downs (01:49):
And that struck me. This is such a beautiful area filled with palm trees and gorgeous foliage.

Farzana Baduel (01:55):
Yeah, it is. Obviously

Doug Downs (01:56):
Near the equator, right? They've got weather sort of in their favour in terms of

Farzana Baduel (02:00):
Warmth. Yeah. In terms of wars, but definitely not in terms of the natural disasters. They just suffered a cyclone Ditwar. And of course, in the past they had the tsunami as well. I went to the Halo Trust and it's wonderful because actually 42% of their staff are women, the operations. Awesome. And these women are in leadership positions. So it's really wonderful to see because for the Halo Trust, the gender balance is also really important. And the women have massively stepped up. And I had conversations with a few of them through translation. And I said, "Why did you start working for Halo Trust?" And they said, "Well, we've lost our husbands because obviously the civil war." And it was quite sad. One lady said, "We've lost them either physically or mentally."

(02:49):
Gosh. So it's quite heartbreaking. So these women then have to wake up at five in the morning, feed their children, school, come and do a shift, go back, feed. And so these women were absolutely extraordinary. And speaking of women, I met the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. And again, to give a briefing, because again, it's stakeholder engagement. When you're serving on the board, you have to say thank you to all of the different High Commissions and embassies that are supporting and giving them sort of progress updates. And then of course, also engage with the government. And I was lucky to have a meeting with the Prime Minister who has been hugely supportive. And so that's been wonderful. And again, just great to see a woman Prime Minister as well. It's really like has a history of females in sort of political leadership, which I think is great.

(03:42):
But yeah, that was pretty much it. But I think the most touching, Doug, was this gentleman, he was telling me the story that this particular land that we're sitting on was full of mines and the Halo Trust, they spent painstaking years removing the mines. And he finally got his home back about two years ago and the house had to be rebuilt. And he was telling me how that he was worried for 20 years every year he was moving from place to place being a displaced person. And he finally got his land back, finally was able to plant fruit trees, which you can see the foliage behind. And then he took plants, he took fruit from it and sort of fed me with his hands. And it was really, really, really lovely. And it was really touching actually because when you meet the beneficiaries, those stories really do benefit and they do really resonate.

(04:33):
So yeah, it's wonderful.

Doug Downs (04:35):
Let me ask you, if Sri Lanka had a brand that it wanted the world to understand, what would that brand be? Because as you said, 25 years, civil war, 27. Yeah, 27. So I mean, most of my time reading about Sri Lanka has been war torn Sri Lanka, right?

Farzana Baduel (04:53):
Yeah. I mean, some would say, is it a country of resilience? Because they've had the tsunami, they've had COVID, they've had the economic crisis, they've now had. So they have had a series of very shocking sort of negative impacts to the country. And so resilience is a word that comes up again and again. But I would say that actually it's got so much more to offer than it's simply being resilient. It is an island that has been on the spice routes for centuries. It has a history pre being sort of colonised by the Dutch, the Portuguese and the Brits and it has this incredible history. I mean, I think it's a very gifted island because for tourism, you have everything. You've got beaches and jungles and you've got tea plantations and you've got layers and layers of history and the architecture alone I think is worth going.

(05:48):
And it's incredible. I mean, I spent three weeks there, could have easily doubled my time. And I went also to go and speak to the media as well. They've got a thriving sort of media. I think I went to about 15 or 16 different sort of media outlets and it was fun. And funny enough, print is still there. It's not as dead as it is here in the Ukraine. Print print,

Doug Downs (06:10):
Not digital print. Print,

Farzana Baduel (06:12):
Print. Yeah, print. I mean, of course, podcasts are making massive inroads, so it's digital and print is still a medium that is still used there, which is wonderful. So yeah, it was a great time. And they are very conscious also about strategic communications and the importance because it's quite tricky because on one hand, they need to communicate that this is the impact of Cyclone Ditward, the floods, the landslides. But at the same time, that messaging and imagery isn't necessarily the best images for tourism who don't want to come over if they see those. And so it is definitely a country at the highest level in terms of political leadership that they do think about communications as an important means to communicate with the outside world because that's what brings in the foreign direct investment, that brings in the tourism, that brings in the trade. They're a big exporter for lingerie.

(07:10):
So they've got a big apparel sector, so they make a lot of retail garments. And so that's one of the big exports alongside with tea. So they're big on tea as well.

Doug Downs (07:23):
Lovely. And being so close to India, the two must just get along famously. And I'm being facetious because I'm thinking Canada, America, population wise, not country size wise, but we're not the United States and Canadians like to think of themselves as very separate, distinct. Does India muscle itself around Sri Lanka?

Farzana Baduel (07:44):
I think there's probably mixed relationships. When I was there, India did an amazing job stepping forward and giving a lot of aid to Sri Lanka. And so they were very quick to respond on the ground, delivering rations and so forth. And of course, they're also familiar because the South of India also suffers from cyclones and floods and landslides. And so they really did step up. But of course you have that sort of big brother of the region. And I think funny enough, Sri Lanka has the sort of same relationship that India and Sri Lanka has. Sri Lanka is a much bigger country than say the Maldives who are their neighbours. So it's always really, really interesting to see.

Doug Downs (08:30):
Take me with you next time. I'd love to

Farzana Baduel (08:32):
Go. Yeah, absolutely.

Doug Downs (08:34):
Okay. Segment number two that we wanted to do today, we kind of wanted to have some fun. And wouldn't it be cool if we could just create our own board of advisers? Every organisation needs a sophisticated, intelligent, well meaning, contributing board of directors, board of advisers. And we are going to create the Week Unspun board of advisers with five individuals whom we know, who don't know we're putting them on the board and are not really doing this because we're doing it all in ChatGPT. We took five folks from the chats, the PR chat that David Gallagher has set up and I said to him, so who are five folks that we could put on the board? He just arbitrarily threw these names out. AnnMarie Blake, Catherine Arrow, Candace Coos, Rod Cartwright, whom I know, we've had them on Stories and Strategies and Aaron Berger. I hope I'm saying that right.

(09:30):
It could be Berger. I may not quite have that right. And they don't know we're doing this by the way, Farzan. I didn't even tell them that.

Farzana Baduel (09:39):
Okay.

Doug Downs (09:39):
We've put them on the board and up top I've just simply told ChatGPT that they're on our board of directors and to give us a short sentence with their advice, we can ask them any question we want and we can get their advice. This is based on the content that they've just put up online. What do we want to ask our board?

Farzana Baduel (09:59):
Gosh, trends for next year for communications.

Doug Downs (10:06):
What are the PR trends for 2026? Okay. I'll put that in and we'll see the answer that

Farzana Baduel (10:15):
AnnMarie is watching.

Doug Downs (10:17):
AnnMarie's watching. All right. Well, we'll get AnnMarie's advice first.

Farzana Baduel (10:21):
Okay.

Doug Downs (10:21):
Overall, the board tells us that PR in 2026 is going to focus on trust building through transparent data use, inclusive storytelling and measurable impact. Now here's the quote from GPT, AnnMarie Blake. Keep that in mind. AnnMarie doesn't even know we're saying this. Authenticity wins. Audiences will reward brands that show real values, not polished slogans. If AnnMarie comments, pop it up, I won't be able to see it. Catherine Arrow tells us integration of AI with human insight will be essential, not optional. Candace Coos says purpose driven communication tied to measurable outcomes is the new baseline. Rod Cartwright says, "Stakeholder engagement must shift from broadcast to ongoing two way dialogue." And Aaron Berger says, "Data, ethics and privacy will shape how we earn and keep trust."

Farzana Baduel (11:16):
I love that, Doug. Now, David has tuned in. So he's obviously taken a break from shopping at Harrods.

Doug Downs (11:23):
Good,

Farzana Baduel (11:23):
Good, good. He wants to be added. So let's see what he's

Doug Downs (11:29):
Got to

Farzana Baduel (11:29):
Say. David. And meanwhile, whilst you're adding him, I just wanted to just show one of the cheeky comments that have come in. Yes. Someone's written that the British accent is so annoying. I really apologise. I was born in London. Is that from

Doug Downs (11:43):
Someone in the UK?

Farzana Baduel (11:45):
I don't know. I don't know. But can I just say, I'm so sorry if my accent's annoying. Maybe what you could do is mute and just go on subtitles. So that's something

Doug Downs (11:55):
Oh my gosh. You be you. Okay. Let's ask another question. What else should we ask the board?

Farzana Baduel (12:06):
Gosh, whether Martin Sorrell was right.

Doug Downs (12:12):
Oh, what's Sir Martin Sorrell correct? Was it PR is dead? What would it

Farzana Baduel (12:19):
Be? Yeah, we had no future. PR is dead.

Doug Downs (12:23):
All right, here we go. Here we go.

Farzana Baduel (12:25):
Okay. So Martin Sorrell's claim that PR is dead is both provocative and inaccurate. Now, AnnMarie Blake, PR isn't gone. It's just being redefined around trust, strategy and genuine influence, not old school outputs. Catherine, she says, according to ChatGPT, again, these people are not aware that we have been here apart from AnnMarie who's just tuned in. So this is not from any of these people. This is what ChatGPT thinks that they would say. So Catherine, ChatGPT thinks that Catherine would say something along the lines of saying it's dead, misses how reputation work now underpins organisational value and stakeholder confidence. Candace, ChatGPT reckons, she would say something along the lines of, "The phrase gets attention, but communication still shapes perception and drives strategic outcomes." Very

Doug Downs (13:13):
Good.

Farzana Baduel (13:13):
Our friend Rod, according to ChatGPT, would say something along the lines of, "It may be transforming, but the idea that organisations don't need strategic narrative and credibility is wrong." Good. Now, Aaron, ChatGPT reckons he would say something along the lines of, "Flooding channels for visibility isn't a replacement for thoughtful reputation and relationship building." Our friend DG, David would say PR functions are alive. They're just embedded deeper in strategy, culture and how leaders earn trust.

Doug Downs (13:44):
Awesome. Awesome.

Farzana Baduel (13:45):
All very coherent.

Doug Downs (13:47):
I've got one more question. Just in the lighter spirit, what is your favourite flavour of ice cream?

Farzana Baduel (13:57):
So AnnMarie vanilla. Vanilla. Yeah.

Doug Downs (14:01):
Emory.

Farzana Baduel (14:03):
And then Catherine salted

Doug Downs (14:06):
Caramel. That's a little more flavourful.

Farzana Baduel (14:08):
Okay. Candace pistachio.

Doug Downs (14:10):
There you go.

Farzana Baduel (14:12):
And then Rod chocolate.

Doug Downs (14:14):
Yeah.

Farzana Baduel (14:14):
Aaron cookies and cream.

Doug Downs (14:16):
Okay.

Farzana Baduel (14:16):
Quite an American thing, isn't it? David Gallagher vanilla again.

Doug Downs (14:20):
The benchmark flavour. Look at benchmarks.

Farzana Baduel (14:23):
Oh, like trust in communications. So do you think in the future people don't have to pay for board advisers? They can just actually take the people that they admire and just feed them with all the books and the thought leadership articles that they've written and then have a separate ChatGPT for each sort of pretend board adviser and then just ask them questions.

Doug Downs (14:47):
Can I be provocative. Kind of. So will people make use of something like this and create a board of advisers? Yeah, I kind of think they will do something like this. And as generative AI gets stronger and stronger, I think in a way we might. What do you think?

Farzana Baduel (15:05):
I do. I do. And sometimes I think would people pay to take someone's ChatGPT that's been trained on their prompts for the last two years because they give intelligent prompts and they submit really interesting data into their ChatGPT. So that would be quite interesting.

Doug Downs (15:20):
Yeah. And it makes you think about the content that you're putting out there, right? Yeah.

Farzana Baduel (15:25):
Food for thought.

Doug Downs (15:27):
Awesome. Spending Boxing Day with you. Appreciate it.

Farzana Baduel (15:29):
Likewise.

Doug Downs (15:31):
And time to, as we wrap up, as always, I want to thank our superstar producers, Emily Page and Solomon Ebay. The Week Unspun is a co production of Kurzen Public Relations, Holgate Advisors and Stories and Strategies podcasts. The recordings are on Apple, Spotify and YouTube. Give them a listen, a like and a share if you could. And our final thought for today, Boxing Day, is maturity is the courage to examine the story we are telling ourselves and ask whether it's true. Have a great weekend, everyone.