# Farzana Baduel > Strategic Communications Adviser and BBC Broadcaster ## Posts - [The Billionaire Distortion Field](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-billionaire-distortion-field/): Panoramic view of a private jet Photo: DGSmith / Shutterstock Billionaires occupy a strange place in public life. Extreme wealth attracts fascination, but it can also make expressions of grievance difficult to hear sympathetically. A complaint about tax that sounds entirely rational around a table of lawyers and wealth advisers can sound very different to […] - [Pay Attention](https://farzanabaduel.com/pay-attention/): “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” — Simone Weil Hello again from London. After a few weeks of planes, different time zones and writing to you from elsewhere, it feels good to be home. I am also back behind the microphones with David Yelland, and the news cycle certainly did not wait […] - [When Silence Stops Being Safe](https://farzanabaduel.com/when-silence-stops-being-safe/): King Charles III and Earl Spencer There is an idea in crisis communications that saying nothing is the safest option. Sometimes it is. But silence can create space for others to tell the story, and you must decide whether you can live with their version. Buckingham Palace faced that conundrum this week after Earl Spencer […] - [Back to the Maldives](https://farzanabaduel.com/back-to-the-maldives/): “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” — Marcel Proust Hello again from Malé. I wasn’t expecting to be writing to you from here again quite so soon, but work had other plans and I found myself on a plane back to the Maldives last week. […] - [Back in Full Swing](https://farzanabaduel.com/back-in-full-swing/): “The beginning is always today.” — Mary Shelley September marks the return to a more familiar rhythm. Schools are back, diaries are filling up and work is quickly getting into full gear. I am fully back at work, and so is When It Hits the Fan. David Yelland and I returned to the BBC Radio […] - [The Power of Good Vibes](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-power-of-good-vibes/): Marks & Spencer superstore (Image Credit: Gilangpnp / Shutterstock.com) There are moments when a brand simply seems to have the wind behind it. People rave about it, journalists want to write about it and customers want to be associated with it. We increasingly talk about good vibes. It is an emotional shorthand for how a […] - [Knowing When to Switch Off](https://farzanabaduel.com/knowing-when-to-switch-off/): In Mallorca “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” — Anne Lamott Hello again from London. After a week in Mallorca with my family, I am back at my desk, back in my inbox and once again paying far too much attention to the news. I did […] - [Beach Diplomacy](https://farzanabaduel.com/beach-diplomacy/): With the British High Commissioner to the Maldives, Nick Low, in Malé “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.“ – Marcel Proust Hello from Malé, the capital of the Maldives. The Maldives is made up of around 1,200 islands, but Malé offers a very different picture […] - [The X-Factor](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-x-factor/): Politics in the Social Media Age I joined Lewis Vaughan Jones on BBC News‘ The Context last week to discuss Andy Burnham‘s use of social media and the role it has played in building his political brand. Social media gives politicians extraordinary control over how they communicate, allowing them to speak directly to millions without […] - [Great and Unfortunate Things](https://farzanabaduel.com/great-and-unfortunate-things/): Jason Arday | The Atlantic “What if I have completely overestimated my capabilities? What if my story ends up being a cautionary tale like Icarus about flying too close to the sun?” – Jason Arday The Cambridge professor Jason Arday has resigned. In 2023, at 37, he became the youngest Black scholar to hold a […] - [The Words That Travel](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-words-that-travel/): I’ve just returned from ten days in Pakistan. I took my daughter with me for the first time, combined family time with work, and spent time with clients and former clients who have become friends. Technology makes it easier than ever to stay connected with video calls, but trust builds when people sit across a […] - [Looking Beyond the Obvious](https://farzanabaduel.com/looking-beyond-the-obvious/): The Pakistan Monument at blue hour | SOURCE: Muhammad Ashar/Wikimedia Commons “Travelling. It leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller” – Ibn Battuta One of the privileges of my work is that it takes me to remarkable places. One of the frustrations is that I rarely get to see them. Like many people […] - [The Power of Words](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-power-of-words/): The Bayeux Tapestry being delivered to the British Museum. “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic.” – J.K. Rowling I’m writing this week’s newsletter from the departure lounge, waiting to board a flight to Pakistan. Airports have a habit of making you pause. Between journeys, there is time to catch […] - [What the Nuns of Canterbury Can Teach You About PR](https://farzanabaduel.com/what-the-nuns-of-canterbury-can-teach-you-about-pr/): Tapestry of Bayeux | CREDIT: Isogood_patrick / Shutterstock A thousand-year-old piece of embroidery, a hundred-page resigntion letter and a man dressed as a bin have almost nothing in common, except that all three explain, better than any textbook, how power actually works. At quarter past three one morning last week, a lorry reversed into the […] - [It’s Raining Fan Hitters](https://farzanabaduel.com/its-raining-fan-hitters/): Nigel Farage “The story isn’t what happened. The story is what people remember.” Frank Rose Sometimes it feels like we are living in chaotic times. In a noisy world, it’s hard to get messages to land, let alone achieve the holy grail of people actually remembering them. With so many channels to manage nowadays, the […] - [Me Against The World](https://farzanabaduel.com/me-against-the-world/): Prince Harry | SOURCE: DFID – UK (Wikimedia Commons) There is a particular kind of reputational crisis that happens when powerful people start to believe the whole world is against them. It can be emotionally persuasive. It can rally supporters. It can turn scrutiny into persecution and defeat into proof that the system was rigged […] - [How Ideas Travel](https://farzanabaduel.com/how-ideas-travel/): “Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.” — Jimi Hendrix I’m writing this week’s newsletter on a train to Sheffield, on my way to Crossed Wires Festival, one of the world’s biggest podcast festivals. It’s a fitting place to reflect on how ideas travel. Podcasts have become one of the most powerful ways we share ideas today. […] - [When the Question Becomes the Story](https://farzanabaduel.com/when-the-question-becomes-the-story/): Andy Burnham; Source: LBJ Library photo by Jay Godwin There are few things more revealing in public life than the questions people refuse to answer. A speech can be rehearsed. A photograph can be staged. A rumour can be fed just enough to keep people interested but questions are dangerous because they move power, if […] - [The Alchemy of PR](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-alchemy-of-pr/): “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” – Carl Jung It’s been a swelteringly hot week, and between tube journeys to BBC recordings, delayed train journeys to a strategy conference in Dorset and an evening at Soho Theatre, I am trying […] - [When the Story Gets Away From You](https://farzanabaduel.com/when-the-story-gets-away-from-you/): An image of King Charles CREDIT: Shutterstock In reputation management, optimism is often overrated. The organisations that navigate crises best are rarely the ones that assume everything will go right. They are the ones that spend time imagining what could go wrong, how it might be interpreted and what questions they may be forced to […] - [The New Centres of Influence](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-new-centres-of-influence/): At the AI for PR conference “Influence is not a popularity contest. It’s about showing up, adding value and earning trust.” — Adam Grant Influence is a word we use a lot in communications, but I wonder how often we stop to ask where it actually comes from. Sometimes it comes from institutions that have […] - [When Power Tries to Write Its Own Legacy](https://farzanabaduel.com/when-power-tries-to-write-its-own-legacy/): Previous sign on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Credit: Shutterstock Most people, at some point, want to shape how they will be remembered. The powerful simply have more tools with which to try. This week on When It Hits the Fan, David Yelland and I looked at three stories about legacy, […] - [Stories We Tell](https://farzanabaduel.com/stories-we-tell/): “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” — Philip Pullman This week I am writing from Oxford. I am sitting in a cafe surrounded by bright students holding our future in their minds. Oxford has spent centuries turning ideas into institutions and movements that have shaped the […] - [When Honesty Becomes a Strategy](https://farzanabaduel.com/when-honesty-becomes-a-strategy/): BBC Radio 4’s When It Hits The Fan The goal in most PR crises is not to win everyone back. It is to find the people still willing to listen, earn their attention, and trust in truth. Truth travels further than any carefully managed narrative. This week on When It Hits the Fan, David Yelland […] - [Connecting The Dots](https://farzanabaduel.com/connecting-the-dots/): “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” — George Bernard Shaw I’m writing to you from the storied city of Istanbul. As a British Muslim, I sometimes feel like a cultural chameleon, a bit of a shape-shifter shuttling between different worlds. Istanbul feels a bit like home, it […] - [Lower Value Human Capital](https://farzanabaduel.com/lower-value-human-capital/): BBC Radio 4’s When It Hits The Fan Lower Value Humans, yep, that’s us folks, in the eyes of our technocrat overlords punch-drunk on AI Does AI have a PR problem or does PR have an AI problem? Probably both. The PR industry has always struggled to invest in R&D compared to other sectors, a […] - [What Leaders Say When No One Is Supposed to Be Listening](https://farzanabaduel.com/what-leaders-say-when-no-one-is-supposed-to-be-listening/): When It Hits The Fan cover There is a unique kind of reputational damage caused by one careless sentence escaping the room it was meant for. This week on When It Hits the Fan, David Yelland and I looked at three stories that reveal how fragile public trust has become, and how quickly audiences now […] - [The Week Unspun](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-week-unspun/): BBC Radio 4’s When It Hits The Fan I’m still getting my head around my new BBC gig. It feels a bit odd to have one foot in the BBC and the other in PR land. It’s getting easier each week as I get used to reading the news with a triple lens: stories for […] - [Should I Stay or Should I Go?](https://farzanabaduel.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go/): Last week, David Yelland and I unpacked the King’s speech to Congress and the careful communications behind it. Thank you to Neil Kerber for the wonderful cartoon. This Week’s Episode: Should I Stay or Should I Go? When It Hits The Fan This week on BBC Radio 4’s When It Hits the Fan, David Yelland […] - [From King Charles to Dolly Parton: Lessons in Modern Communications](https://farzanabaduel.com/from-king-charles-to-dolly-parton-lessons-in-modern-communications/): BBC Radio 4 Fridays are usually wind-down days for most of us, but today feels different. As I write, England’s council results are streaming into my BBC News app, alongside parliamentary results from Scotland and Wales. I’ve always been drawn to diversity of thought, and these elections reflect the eclectic nature of my own world. […] - [I’ve joined BBC Radio 4](https://farzanabaduel.com/ive-joined-bbc-radio-4/): BBC Radio 4 After years as a loyal listener of When It Hits the Fan, I’ve stepped behind the mic as co-host alongside David Yelland, and I have to say, it feels quite daunting. The chair I’m stepping into belonged to the brilliant Simon Lewis OBE, he was the first Communications Secretary to the late […] - [The Epstein Files Didn’t Just Expose Peter Mandelson.](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-epstein-files-didnt-just-expose-peter-mandelson/): Peter Mandelson | Credit: Starlings_images|Shutterstock There is a particular kind of vertigo that sets in when the people we were taught to trust turn out to have been unworthy of it all along. The release of more than three million pages of Epstein-related files by the United States Department of Justice has produced exactly that […] - [First Lady Melania Trump’s Film Deal: Gender Pay Breakthrough or Power-Driven Branding?](https://farzanabaduel.com/first-lady-melania-trumps-film-deal-gender-pay-breakthrough-or-power-driven-branding/): Farzana Baduel on BBC News. Courtesy: BBC News With a reported total investment of around $75 million, including $28 million said to have gone directly into the First Lady’s coffers and a further $35 million spent on promotion, her latest film project looks less like a documentary and more like the ultimate personal branding campaign. […] - [Is the Grass Greener in the United Arab Emirates?](https://farzanabaduel.com/is-the-grass-greener-in-the-united-arab-emirates-2/): With Lamia Kamel and Alex Aiken at the Praxis MENA Conference. PHOTO: PRAXIS I have been coming to the UAE for almost two decades, so I am no stranger to these shores. But in the last couple of years, my LinkedIn has been flooded with a flurry of updates of my digital mates announcing they […] - [A Nation of Storytellers](https://farzanabaduel.com/a-nation-of-storytellers/): Travel teaches you things no classroom can. Not just about countries, but about yourself. When I arrived at the Sheraton in Colombo, to speak on risk, resilience and crisis communications, I expected earnest professionals and polite questions. What I found instead was something rarer; a room full of people who understood that reputation is infrastructure. […] - [How the Power of Narrative Drives Investment, Exports, and Economic Growth](https://farzanabaduel.com/how-the-power-of-narrative-drives-investment-exports-and-economic-growth/): Farzana at the AmCham Sri Lanka forum In Colombo, business leaders and policymakers gathered to explore a force that now shapes capital flows as decisively as interest rates or regulation. Strategic narrative has become economic infrastructure in its own right, influencing how countries are priced, trusted, and chosen in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. When […] - [The Women Who Actually Run Things](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-women-who-actually-run-things/): Farzana Baduel and other speakers at the panel for WIM Sri Lanka Something felt different that morning at Port City Colombo. People had come early to the Women in Management event. They stayed late. And when the conversation turned to reframing Sri Lanka’s global narrative, nobody reached for easy answers or branding platitudes. Instead, we […] - [Women Don’t Lack Ambition, They Lack a Level Playing Field](https://farzanabaduel.com/women-dont-lack-ambition-they-lack-a-level-playing-field/): Before school drop-offs. After the children are asleep. Between paid work, care work, and the invisible labour of holding families and communities together. During motherhood, that is exactly what entrepreneurship looked like in my own life. But before being a mother, my time was my own. I built my first business at 20, in London. […] - [The Mountain Where Power Goes to Be Seen](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-mountain-where-power-goes-to-be-seen/): The World Economic Forum 2026 | Source: weforum.org Snow is falling on Davos again, the way it does every January, turning a Swiss ski town into something between a fortress and a film set. Police checkpoints appear overnight. Temporary barriers cordon off streets. Branded chalets glow along the Promenade like expensive Christmas decorations that forgot […] - [Why We Listen](https://farzanabaduel.com/why-we-listen/): Left to Right: Doug Downs, Farzana Baduel, David Gallagher Most mornings, before the inbox floods and the day’s demands announce themselves, I’m out walking the dog in West London. I’m a working mother, a wife, and the CEO of a global communications consultancy. My phone is in my pocket, not in my hand. My eyes […] - [What War Leaves Behind](https://farzanabaduel.com/what-war-leaves-behind/): Sometimes, life delivers a humbling reset. Last week, I travelled eight hours north from Colombo to Jaffna, Sri Lanka, with The HALO Trust, the world’s largest humanitarian demining organisation. What I encountered there was a stark reminder of how much of what we call success is shaped by the lottery of birth: where we’re born, […] - [The Psychology of Feedback](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-psychology-of-feedback/): Every leader has been told that feedback is essential. Business books and management consultants have built empires on frameworks for how to give feedback, how to make it “constructive,” how to cushion it with praise, how to ensure it lands softly. But what is rarely discussed with the same urgency is the art of receiving […] - [Cognitive Load: The Invisible Weight We All Carry](https://farzanabaduel.com/cognitive-load-the-invisible-weight-we-all-carry/): Like most working mothers, I juggle. I juggle being a mother, a wife, a daughter, a businesswoman who runs a strategic communications firm, and someone who sits on several charity boards. Multitasking is a constant companion. Some days I carry it with ease, other days it feels like an overpacked suitcase that refuses to close. […] - [Inside Prague’s Forum Media 25](https://farzanabaduel.com/inside-pragues-forum-media-25/): In the last week of November, Prague, a city whose beauty is matched only by its sense of history played host to the 25th anniversary of the Forum Media Conference, one of Europe’s most respected gatherings for strategic communications, political messaging, and media scholarship. It was my first time attending this long-running conference, and indeed […] - [Manufacturing Consent](https://farzanabaduel.com/manufacturing-consent/): Edward Bernays was born in 1891 in Vienna, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His family emigrated to New York when he was still a child. He had a unique connection: he was the nephew of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. Freud explored the unconscious drives of individuals, fear, desire, sex, and status. Bernays […] - [A Changing World Calls for New Skills in the Boardroom](https://farzanabaduel.com/a-changing-world-calls-for-new-skills-in-the-boardroom/):   Last week I chaired a panel at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations National Conference which explored a question that, until recently, many in our profession never imagined would be asked. Should PR professionals serve as non-executive directors as a standard. The discussion was lively and thoughtful, and what struck me most was how […] - [The BBC, trust, and the grey rhino we all saw coming](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-bbc-trust-and-the-grey-rhino-we-all-saw-coming/): There are very few media organisations in the world that genuinely transcend their national borders. Many outlets are well-known globally, of course, but the vast majority are read primarily within their own countries or among their diaspora. Truly global news institutions, those that shape conversations in multiple continents simultaneously are rare. The British, for decades, […] - [Sri Lanka must win the PR battle for its economic future](https://farzanabaduel.com/sri-lanka-must-win-the-pr-battle-for-its-economic-future/):   Every few years, Sri Lanka finds itself at the same crossroads, compelled to prove, once again, that it deserves continued access to the European Union’s GSP+ trade concession. Each renewal becomes a political and public relations battle, one that tests not only Sri Lanka’s diplomatic agility but also the country’s ability to communicate its values […] - [When Women Lead, Nations Rise](https://farzanabaduel.com/when-women-lead-nations-rise/): A Room Where Power Felt Different In the grand committee rooms of the British Parliament, under the portraits of old white men and centuries of history, I sat among women who embodied a new kind of leadership. The event, ‘Inspirational Journeys of Leadership and Impact in Business and Society,’ brought together voices from law, business, and the creative […] - [Raising The Resilient Generation](https://farzanabaduel.com/raising-the-resilient-generation/): Me at age 20 traveling across the South of Italy When I was growing up, slippers could fly. Not figuratively, but quite literally across the room. Discipline was swift, emotional, and entirely unfiltered. It was how many of us learned boundaries, accountability, and a certain rough-edged resilience. You got scolded, you cried, you moved on. […] - [The Stories That Bind Us](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-stories-that-bind-us/): From ancient myth to modern cinema, the same universal story continues to unfold. What Joseph Campbell called “the hero’s journey” is not only found in books and films, but also in the lives we live and the stories we tell in Sri Lanka and beyond. Every culture has its stories. They are older than nations, […] - [Learning the Art of Negotiation](https://farzanabaduel.com/learning-the-art-of-negotiation/): For years I mistook people pleasing for diplomacy. It took time, training and humility to realise that negotiation is not conflict but connection. I have always been a people pleaser. Even as a child, I would go to great lengths to avoid confrontation. At school I was the one smoothing disagreements, eager for everyone to […] - [The Currency of Influence In everyday life, persuasion, not power, moves the world forward.](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-currency-of-influence-in-everyday-life-persuasion-not-power-moves-the-world-forward/): Last week in New York, I found myself watching the dance of influence at the United Nations General Assembly. Delegations swept into meetings with carefully chosen phrases. Leaders leaned into the right photo opportunities. Civil society groups worked the corridors, and corporate chiefs reminded everyone that markets can move faster than treaties. It looked like […] - [From Colombo to New York why Sri Lanka needs its own stage at the UN](https://farzanabaduel.com/from-colombo-to-new-york-why-sri-lanka-needs-its-own-stage-at-the-un/): As Sri Lanka marks 70 years as a UN member amid shifting global power, the global south must stop waiting for invitations. By creating its own presence during United Nations General Assembly week through regional alliances, diaspora support and independent platforms the global south can reclaim the narrative, amplify voices and help shape not just […] - [When Fear Marches Through London](https://farzanabaduel.com/when-fear-marches-through-london/): That was the message flooding WhatsApp groups in South Asian communities across London last week. On Saturday, I went for my usual Hyde Park walk. It took me a few minutes to realise what felt different; I was the only person of colour on the path. In London, one of the most diverse cities in […] - [Soft Power, Strong Future: Why Sri Lanka’s Story Matters.](https://farzanabaduel.com/soft-power-strong-future-why-sri-lankas-story-matters/): There is something magical about Westminster on a crisp London evening. Last week, as I walked past the historic buildings glowing in the soft light, I felt the hum of global conversations taking place all around me. Diplomats, academics, journalists and policymakers were gathering for the launch of the Foreign Policy Centre’s latest report on […] - [How to Start a Career in PR (UK Edition)](https://farzanabaduel.com/cracking-the-uk-pr-industry/): This is an updated version of a guide produced by Farzana Baduel in January 2025. Things happen pretty fast around here. Introduction Between us, we have spent decades working in public relations and communications, and neither of us found it straightforward to enter the profession. Farzana entered public relations from accounting (!) over 15 years […] - [How to land a non-executive director role and what to do when you get there](https://farzanabaduel.com/how-to-land-a-non-executive-director-role-and-what-to-do-when-you-get-there/): As a somewhat crude saying goes, non-executive director (NED) roles are a bit like bidets: no one knows quite what they do, but they add a touch of class. I landed my first NED role over a decade ago and have been on boards since. For years, I had the growing realisation that I was […] - [Does space have a PR problem?](https://farzanabaduel.com/does-space-have-a-pr-problem/): To a certain generation, the word space will always be followed by “The final frontier,” as spoken in the opening credits of popular sci-fi series Star Trek. However, is it actually a case that space is in the last-chance saloon, amid a wave of negative sentiment and unpopular public opinion following recent galactic developments? It’s […] - [To service or not to service, that is the question](https://farzanabaduel.com/to-service-or-not-to-service-that-is-the-question/): In this increasingly complicated world, where the relative political certainties of the Cold War era grow fainter by the day, Britain is far from impervious to dubious foreign influence. This may be anything from recent reports of China allegedly trying to buy influence over our MPs to overseas powers such as the Kremlin infiltrating our […] - [The Language of Truth](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-language-of-truth/): I have always had an uncomfortable relationship with the truth. Being brought up in liberal London in the 1990s and raised by conservative Muslim parents from Pakistan led to an adolescence of lies. Deceit was a daily occurrence and became as natural as breathing, as I tried to bridge the gap between a western culture […] - [Do brands need to do media relations any more?](https://farzanabaduel.com/do-brands-need-to-do-media-relations-any-more/): Elon Musk, not the most media-friendly tech tycoon, has been rattling cages again. In late April he indicated that he had no plans to reverse last year’s closure of Tesla’s PR department. Musk has long had a difficult relationship with the press, now seemingly preferring to speak directly with his audiences. What need has he of gatekeepers, one might […] - [Reputations at stake in post-covid Asia supply chain shakeup](https://farzanabaduel.com/reputations-at-stake-in-post-covid-asia-supply-chain-shakeup/): Western firms looking to build greater resilience into their supply chains in Asia in the wake of the pandemic could face reputational nightmares unless they undertake thorough risk assessments when looking to diversify their sources of products and raw materials in the region. As Covid restrictions ease and some degree of business normality returns, companies […] - [The art of storytelling](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-art-of-storytelling/): According to the god of storytelling, Professor Robert Mckee, ‘Whilst fiction told stories hook, build and reward with insight, the purpose-told stories which hook interest for both head and heart, express a need or problem, build interest and involvement, show a path to fulfilment, reward, and motivate action ‘ Advertising has had its day. Forced […] - [The building blocks of negotiation](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-building-blocks-of-negotiation/): After almost 20 years of running businesses, I decided to confront my biggest weakness – negotiation. Throughout my career, I developed coping strategies to avoid negotiation where possible. I deflected negotiation to my colleagues and looked for negotiation skills in the recruitment process to hire in the skill set that I did not have the […] - [PR for Humans by Mike Sergeant](https://farzanabaduel.com/pr-for-humans-by-mike-sergeant-book-review/): A book review by Farzana Baduel We are living in uncharted waters. Social media has opened a gateway to self-storytelling. We are no longer the passive audience consuming stories about society’s heroes and villains. We are the story. We are the Luke Skywalkers. We are the hero on our own journey. This is our life, […] - [How to build influence in the workplace](https://farzanabaduel.com/how-to-build-influence-in-the-workplace/): Like most skills in life, building influence starts with self-knowledge. Know thyself. Research-based development for leaders focuses on three main themes: Self-acceptance Self-management Self-development Self-acceptance involves undertaking a self-audit. Understanding your strengths and limitations enables you to focus on building influence using the building blocks of your natural strengths. Self-management develops the wisdom you need […] - [Psychology of negotiation](https://farzanabaduel.com/psychology-of-negotiation/): There are certain principles that one can follow in order to negotiate a successful outcome. Negotiation is both an art and a science, one which requires the skillful mastery of influence through persuasion, rather than coercion, for the purpose of reaching a desired agreement without excessive sacrifice and/ or compromise. We should not be haggling […] - [Diversity: how we can change the face of the PR industry](https://farzanabaduel.com/diversity-how-we-can-change-the-face-of-the-pr-industry-2/): Diversity is the future of public relations. Without a diverse and multi-skilled team, an agency cannot cater to today’s ever-globalised market, writes Farzana Baduel of Curzon. Diversity gives agencies a unique and competitive edge, providing different perspectives, life experiences and knowledge when working across international markets. A recent survey funded by the PRSA Foundation found […] - [The business case for diversity](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-business-case-for-diversity/): I started Curzon PR, a public relations and strategic communications agency six years ago in 2009. My entry into public relations seemed to coincide with a time when the industry, that had for so long prided itself on the modern, progressive and cosmopolitan image it had cultivated, seemingly woke up to the fact that it […] - [Top tips for starting your own PR agency](https://farzanabaduel.com/top-tips-for-starting-your-own-pr-agency-2/): Setting up your own PR company can be a daunting task and there are a number of key factors you should bear in mind. Research and planning are vital when thinking about starting up your own PR company. Putting in some solid groundwork will establish your target market, what key services you will need to […] - [BBC Special: The Economy](https://farzanabaduel.com/farzana-baduel-on-bbc-special-the-economy/) - [Farzana Baduel on Al Jazeera](https://farzanabaduel.com/farzana-baduel-on-al-jazeera/) - [Changing The Narrative: Britain's Asian Businesswomen Take Center Stage](https://farzanabaduel.com/farzana-baduel-on-forbes/) - [Curzon PR founder named "Businesswoman of the Year" at British Muslim Awards](https://farzanabaduel.com/farzana-baduel-curzon-pr-awards/) ## Pages - [CIPR President](https://farzanabaduel.com/cipr-president/) - [Privacy Policy](https://farzanabaduel.com/privacy-policy/) - [The Baduel Brief](https://farzanabaduel.com/the-baduel-brief/) - [Podcast](https://farzanabaduel.com/podcast/): This podcast series, hosted by Farzana Baduel, brings together global thought leaders in PR, media, business, politics, and academia to explore the rapidly evolving world of communications. - [CIPR](https://farzanabaduel.com/cipr/):   I am honoured to be nominated for the role of President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). As the co-founder and CEO of Curzon PR, I have had the privilege of working for 15 years with a global portfolio of corporate, governmental, and non-profit clients. My role as Resident PR Expert at […] - [Media Library](https://farzanabaduel.com/media-library/) - [Broadcasting](https://farzanabaduel.com/broadcasting/) - [Advisory](https://farzanabaduel.com/farzana-baduel-advisory/) - [Insights](https://farzanabaduel.com/insights/) - [Speaking](https://farzanabaduel.com/speaking/) - [Media](https://farzanabaduel.com/media-thought-leader/) - [Contact](https://farzanabaduel.com/contact/): And put down for speaking engagements Contact - [About](https://farzanabaduel.com/about-farzana-baduel/): BIO Farzana Baduel is a passionate advocate of strategic communications, in particular its role in promoting international trade, cross-border investment and cultural diplomacy across the developed and developing world. She is a regular media commentator on PR and business issues, her views sought by leading broadcasters, newspapers and industry publications. Farzana’s experience and expertise have […] - [Farzana Baduel | Public Relations Expert](https://farzanabaduel.com/) ## Optional - [Agent (MCP protocol)](websites-agents.hostinger.com/farzanabaduel.com/mcp) [comment]: # (Generated by Hostinger Tools Plugin)