The Work Behind the Narrative: Conversation with Indranil Mukherjee

Work is often judged by what is visible—outputs, roles, and outcomes—but its true nature lies beneath the surface. This edition explores the less-seen dimensions of work, especially in roles shaped by perception, narrative, and stakeholder alignment, where influence matters as much as execution. It looks at how decisions are shaped before they are announced, how conversations define culture, and how unseen effort sustains visible success.

Across professions, from legal and education to communications and organisational roles, the reality of work lies in navigating ambiguity, managing people, and making judgement calls that rarely make it to reports or recognition. This edition brings together these layered experiences to highlight one core idea: real work is not just what gets delivered, but what gets held, balanced, and carried forward.

Indranil Mukherjee

India & Middle East Manager – Communications & PR, Confluent

Indranil is a communications and brand professional with over 15 years of experience in B2B technology communications, working across India, APAC, and the Middle East. In his current role at Confluent, he leads strategic public relations, executive positioning, and brand narratives at the intersection of emerging technology, artificial intelligence, data, and digital transformation. His work focuses on translating complex technological concepts into clear, compelling stories that drive business impact and stakeholder alignment.

Over the years, he has worked closely with leadership teams to shape narratives that influence decision-making, build brand recall, and strengthen organisational positioning in competitive markets. His approach combines strategic thinking with a deep understanding of audience behaviour, enabling him to craft communication that is not only informative but also resonant and actionable. Grounded in experience and driven by clarity, his work reflects a consistent focus on connecting ideas, people, and purpose through meaningful storytelling.

When people look at communications and brand roles from the outside, what do they often misunderstand about the work involved?

Ans: The biggest misconception I faced throughout my career, in fact till today, is that one question comes from the people, “What do you do exactly? Oh! You send those mails which most people don’t read.” – this is the most common response I received. The reality is, Communications and Brand are not positioned well across the corporate sphere. Therefore, people often don’t understand what we do. They think, it is a support function who execute the orders from leadership, CXOs, Board or even HR teams to send emails or posters to employees or stakeholders to communicate. The strategic aspect never been discussed or positioned or understood well.

You have worked closely with leadership teams—what does “real work” look like at that level beyond strategy decks and messaging?

Ans: More than the most common collaterals, strategy decks and Town Halls, the real work lies at what position you hold with leaders at the boardroom. If you are been perceived as order takers and delivery function for leaders or CXOs, then the real potential can’t be leveraged. At this point most leaders underestimate the capability of comms. The real work is setting the right tone and narrative for the decision makers to build that influence ecosystem… and it can’t happen overnight. It needs close collaboration and finding the sweet spot between communications team and leadership. They need to complement each other. Moving needle needs consistent, transparent, coherent, clear and crisp narrative in forms of stories, and communications people can help leaders to master it.

How do you balance storytelling with measurable business impact in your role? Where does the real pressure lie?

Ans: See, the balance is what stories you tell that your audience wants to hear, not just you want to tell. And, balancing with the right objective. It is not always about numbers… it is about the understand the pulse and influence it for organic growth, organic recommendation, top of the mind recall value and resonating with the brand to feel that it is part of their life. This is the sweet spot for comms team to build that architecture to use stories to tap the right pulse with some qualitative measures across the target groups.

The real pressure lies with stakeholders who dont understand the real KPIs for comms. You can’t measure everything with numbers, sometimes qualitative measures can be your real values. This is what comms and brand delivers in forms of recall value, perception build and organic growth. And, if you work with people who understand and judge you with numbers only, then it is a real pressure to find out the balance and sustain it.

What does a typical “high-stakes” day in communications look like—especially when multiple stakeholders and expectations collide?

Ans: Typical high stake day when an organization or your leadership needs to deliver a message during crisis situation or change message org wide or even for outsider stakeholders. It is not easy to deliver a message that asks change or brings a risk to the reputation of a brand. Here, brand people bring that “High Stake” value to ensure right stakeholders are involved, right message are crafted, right channels to be used at the right time with a right intent for a right reason… with full humility and empathy. Sometimes, it is not about what you want to say, it is all about how you have to say. And, this is what comms people do during a high stake situation to guide and advise the right stakeholders.

In your experience, how does narrative influence decision-making within organisations?

Ans: Yes. It does impact. In fact, the most powerful tool is story to influence a decision which needs to be crafted with right narrative architecture. I use a SBI Model here most often…. Create a narrative that explain the situation. Then create a framework what behaviour is expected to tackle that situation and finally ensure impact is being showcased. This is how a narrative can create that impact. Always remember, you are not the Hero in that story always, you can be the coach or mentor who can help the Hero. But, map the right Situation, Behaviours and Impact (SBI) to build that narrative which can be resonating with your audience. Once they connect, they feel comfortable to take the decision.

Early professionals often equate visibility with success. How would you differentiate between visibility and value in your field?

Ans: Visibility will come through when you take responsibility and accountability. There will be a thin line difference between what is expected and what is needed. Once, someone cracks it and understand what is needed and delivers it with full responsibility and accountability, the visibility will be built gradually. And, success will follow when it coupled with consistency and integrity. Therefore, value you deliver will be acknowledged. But have patience. This can’t be achieved overnight.

What are some of the invisible skills required to succeed in communications roles that are rarely taught or discussed?

Ans: There are three skills which are key to sustain in this field.

1.   Understand your audience. This is a skill you must acquire because audience behaviour is changing every day. The trick which works today, may not be applicable tomorrow. So, understand what your audience needs.

2.   Listening – Listen. Listen and Listen. If you want to be a good communicator, first you need to be a good listener. Partial listening or zero listening will not help you. The more you listen, the better you will be able to connect. That’s why I always say don’t try to change someone’s life without understanding their world. And, to understand their world, listen to them.

3.   How you say, that’s the key – It is not about what you want to say. Always remember, we are still dealing with human. So, it is all about how you say it. There is a way to put the elephant on the table so that it doesn’t break the decorum. Not very difficult to master this skill, but with consistent effort, mistakes, learnings and observation, you can master it

These are not taught, you can acquire these skills with observation, listening, practice and applications.

How has your understanding of productivity and success evolved over the years in your career?

Ans: Productivity is not about numbers of hours you clocked in your work. Not, I don’t see this a value addition. For me, the terminology has evolved. Be a smart worker. Productivity can be measured your availability when you are needed. Productivity means to me do you have the right intent. Productivity means not to pass your monkey to someone’s shoulder. Productivity means are we on right track at the right time with right approach. This is what I believed throughout my career and I see success follows as well. Build that credibility so that you can be trusted when needed, and this will be your success.

In fast-paced roles like yours, how do you navigate ambiguity, shifting priorities, and constant change?

Ans: It is a 70-30 rule for me. I always ensure 70% work of mine has to be on a planned framework. And, 30% has to be in-the-moment situation to respond during the needy situation. The more you work a processed framework, you become more rigid. Be flexible, adopt agility, be nimble and on-the-toe. However, keep an empty template always ready to plot, fill, design, act, measure and tweak. This is how you can navigate through, you can shift your priorities as needed.

If you had to offer one grounded piece of advice to young professionals entering the workforce today, what would it be about the reality of work?

Ans: One piece of advice which I followed.

Communication is not only about perfection. It is also about connection. Build that connect, don’t try to change overnight. Have patience and be flexible. Don’t expect a platter, expect an empty canvas most of the times. It is you who has to draw your mind map to achieve your own defined goals.

Key Takeaways

• Communication is Strategy, Not Support

  The role extends far beyond execution—it shapes narratives, influences leadership thinking, and builds alignment across stakeholders.

• Influence Happens Before Visibility

  Real work in communications lies in boardroom positioning, trust-building, and crafting narratives that guide decisions before they are publicly seen.

• Not Everything Valuable Is Measurable

  While metrics matter, true impact often shows up in perception, recall, and influence—areas that require qualitative understanding.

• Storytelling Is a Business Tool

  Narratives are not just creative outputs; they are structured frameworks that influence behaviour, decisions, and organisational direction.

• Invisible Skills Define Impact

  Listening deeply, understanding audience behaviour, and communicating with intent are critical skills that are rarely taught but essential to succeed.

• Value Precedes Visibility

  Sustainable success comes from consistently delivering what is needed—not just what is expected—through responsibility, integrity, and patience.

• Productivity Is About Intent and Relevance

  It is less about hours and more about being effective, timely, and aligned with purpose and outcomes.

• Adaptability Is Non-Negotiable

  Navigating ambiguity requires a balance between structure and flexibility, planning and responsiveness.

Closing Note

This conversation brings us back to a central truth of this edition: work is not defined by what is seen, but by what is understood, shaped, and carried forward. In roles like communications, where influence is subtle and outcomes are often intangible, the real work lies in building connections, guiding narratives, and enabling clarity in complexity.

It reminds us that behind every visible outcome is a layer of thinking, listening, and decision-making that rarely gets acknowledged—but ultimately defines impact. In understanding this, we move closer to recognising work not just as execution, but as responsibility, judgement, and sustained intent.