The Sounds of S I L E N

Vol 4 | Issue 4 | Oct 2015 C E The Sounds of Silence In this issue

In an age of clutter and noise, to take a breather and look for A Need for Balance: is there room for silence? This some balance in this area. Why brands need to stop, listen and edit their communications efforts. is the question we set out to How are opinions formed explore at the 3rd Viewpoint and shared in an era of social Roundtable held in September networking? One expert offers Silence in a Networked and through the articles in an interesting analysis of Society: this issue. the online dynamics of sound Silence and sound have new challenges in a connected world in Our panel of creative thinkers and silence. which voicing one’s opinion is easier at the Roundtable served up We hope you have a small than ever. several intriguing thoughts on window of silence in your day to silence as they talked about take this all in. Edited excerpts from the ways to incorporate and 3rd Viewpoint Roundtable: leverage it in our lives. We think The Power, Philosophy and Politics you will enjoy reading excerpts of Silence of the discussion in this issue. The brand communications Alterpoint: landscape has now exploded Silence Unleashed: with a whole range of messaging A look at the pent-up power of channels and tools. One of our silence in the arts contributors tells us why it’s time Conversations or Cacophony ?

A NEED FOR BALANCE

In a bid to optimize their If a picture is worth a thousand stakeholder communications, words, the accompanying graphic speaks volumes for the current brands are clearly overdoing communications landscape, one rife it. Now may be a good time to with media platforms, channels and programming of all kinds. As the pause, assess and roll back pressure to be seen and to communi- some of these programs. cate with stakeholders across this spectrum intensifies, the air has exploded with strategies to enable this. Everyone believes they know where the lines are or what is relevant to them. In reality, however, there is a deluge of information targeted at stakeholders who – ironically - now have less time and shorter attention spans than ever before. The result is large-scale noise that is being serviced and supported by a whole set of industries. And yet executives still wonder about reduced employee engage- ment, dwindling turnouts at events, lukewarm responses to blogs, lower ROI on ad spends, and negligible column space in print media. When the LIKES are not quite enough and their SOV is edging downward, Source: The Conversation Prism by Brian Solis, Jess3 the first reaction is to do more. Let’s math involved here is mindboggling. When we pause and step back, start a new thing! Are we using If email and phones are not enough, we will be in a position to assess Facebook enough? How about hiring every bit of visible real estate is the role of silence as well as the a new agency? plastered with a brand message - effectiveness of our storytelling. This To illustrate this point better, let me the lobby, the elevator, conference is not always easy. Real listening and give you the scenario in a typical rooms, digital tickers, floors, water measurement take time and this may MNC of four to five thousand coolers, coffee machines. We even be the reason many organizations shy employees. In addition to all the use the restrooms to communi- away from these activities. external noise and messages that cate, leaving only the toilet paper However, once we begin this process they process on a daily basis, untouched – for now. I accept my of introspection, we will find there is employees now have a plethora share of responsibility for actions plenty of scope for editing. Do we of internal communication channels such as these but if this is not really need another newsletter or designed to keep them engaged. cacophony, then what is? app? What can we stop doing? Can All hands meetings, town halls, Something has to give and a good we slow down, reflect and respond skip levels, 1-1s, volunteering drives, place to begin a much needed rather than react? diversity and inclusion forums, soul searching exercise is with two The history of brand (and all other leadership blogs, videos, newsletters, fundamental questions: 1) are we forms of) communication has shown hackathons, innovation challenges, listening enough; 2) what is the us that honesty builds trust; credible service celebrations…the list impact on employee productivity? content can drive value; and an goes on. I believe the primary requirement in apology can repair broken faith. There are focused campaigns to drive communication and for communi- Brands that understand this are not new Facebook, Twitter or Instagram cators is listening skills. In essence, focused on the volume game. They pages. Employees are asked to that calls for people who are comfort- realize that an employee will be participate, speak, write and have able with silence and who don’t more receptive to an honest “I don’t fun in the bargain. An employee of feel compelled to fill it with words. know” than a lengthy list of FAQs on a global brand has to engage with The challenge we face today is best a subject and that a sincere apology local leadership, business leadership described by this quote (from an is sure to win over customers better and the larger global structure. This unknown source): than any verbose explanation of means that she has to like and be “The biggest communication problem the situation. present on multiple social media is we do not listen to understand; Ultimately, balance – that critical platforms – for the business, the we listen to reply.” balance between words and silence – Indian entity, and the global brand. At a granular level, we have to arrive is key to having a meaningful Meeting these expectations can conversation on the brand. be exhausting. at a clear value proposition for every initiative we undertake. We need to On average, this employee receives put ourselves in the shoes of the 1.2 to 1.5 touch points of internal employee and ask the question: Garima Varma has over communication every day. In an what’s in it for me (WIIFM)? If we can earlier communications audit, we 25 years of experience spend more time in trying to find out in managing brand discovered that there were 154 what employees need to know and and employee events and engagements a year understand about the brand in order communications in for which we were sending out to be more effective in their roles, various multinational messages. By any measure, the then we are on the right track. — As communicated to Viewpoint organizations. Image source: http://her.yourstory.com/ge-garima-varma-0120 SILENCE IN A NETWORKED SOCIETY

The online dynamics of sound The world today is an increasingly and silence have clear networked place. Human societies are changing at a faster pace than implications for how public ever before as new connections, opinion is formed. As a society, groups and identities are quickly forged, thanks to the internet and it is important for us to social media. In the last decade, understand these shifts. the world has seen several mass movements from Tahrir square to Taksim to the Occupy movement, organized largely on the back of rapid communication. Beyond that, social media has made it easy for anyone to voice an opinion and be heard by large numbers of people. Today, almost anyone - not just those with access to traditional media such as TV, print and radio – can broadcast their views to a large audience. In effect, social media has both increased the number of voices out there, and reduced the barriers to entry for those who wish to be heard. However, given its bias towards active participants, networks can lead people to believe that the opinions of a vocal minority are also those of the majority. In addition, it has made the discovery people who wish to engage in fair communication is essential for of alternate voices or opinions easier. debates online. governments and public leaders, People who had unpopular views The Pew study provides a much and silence is more likely to be before the age of social media would needed window into the online interpreted as a sign of weakness, often stay silent about them. A Pew dynamics of voice and silence, and apathy or worse. This is also an Research Centre study from 2014 the areas where people are more environment in which new narratives refers to a theory called the ‘spiral likely to engage in debate. The study can be formed and become dominant of silence’ developed by Elisabeth looked at reporting on the Edward in a short span of time, and anyone Noelle-Neumann. According to the Snowden affair and widespread caught napping may find it hard theory, opinions considered popular surveillance by the American National to recover afterwards. are voiced more often, and thereby Security Agency (NSA), and examined Silence and speech have new spread and strengthen. Minority how people voiced their opinions on challenges today. While it may be opinions stay unvoiced and over time, the case - online and offline. easier to speak out, each opinion all but a core section of this dissident now has more competition. group might end up changing its The study found that people mind on the issue at hand. were less likely to discuss the Furthermore, since it is easy to abuse Snowden-NSA case online, with others online, many who may wish to Internet and social media have given many preferring to discuss it offline speak out may end up being silenced. rise to distinct communities as people and with family. At the same time, the interpretation find and connect with others who The study also found that ‘In both of silence has changed in the age share their hitherto unique interests. of social media. Understanding how Whether it involves spider photo- personal settings and online settings, people were more willing to share things have changed is important, graphy or escapist fantasy fiction, even if current attempts to handle it is easy to find groups, forums their views if they thought their audience agreed with them.’ these changes are incomplete. What and websites today that cater to we do know is that the deft use of specialized interests. At the same Audiences on open platforms such silence and speech can win elections, time, the reduced cost of searching as twitter or even Facebook tend to impact policy and shift public opinion has led to the strengthening be large and so, views expressed on rapidly in this networked era. of extreme views. While most these are likely to get a pushback people would refrain from voicing from those who disagree. Since overtly xenophobic ideas during a people are not as inclined to be polite dinner conversation, they can find online, this can lead to unpleasant like-minded people online. The role exchanges marked by personal of the internet in radicalization has attacks, in many instances. been well-acknowledged, with twitter In public affairs and policy, silence even becoming one of the primary on the part of individuals and recruitment tools for terrorist outfits governments has been integral to such as ISIS. the method of functioning. Doing Pavan Srinath is As easy as it is to voice an opinion nothing or saying nothing is often a the head of policy on social media, it is equally easy cogent tactic and even a strategy - to research at the to heckle and insult people on these signal priorities, to allow problems Takshashila Institution, platforms. Viciously abusive online to resolve themselves, or to not an independent think trolls are quite common across reveal the official line of thinking. In tank and school of platforms, and their vitriol can deter the age of social media, constant public policy. PHILOSPHICAL VIEWS yourself sitting in an office worrying about politics to begin with and you ON SILENCE create silence by stripping away Shoba: Firstly, there is that noise. You still have the noise of silence and sequence. culture around you. You strip away When do you stay that noise and you have the hum silent and when do you of the air conditioner that you don’t speak - in a corporate realize is there till you switch it off. To or public environment? switch off the noise of the city, you go Then there is silence as a strategy. to the hills and you hear the crickets The Power, Philosophy Modi appears to have mastered this, there. You strip away the noise of regardless of whether you agree nature and you hear the sound of with it or not. The Queen of England, your heartbeat. currently the world’s longest reigning and Politics of Silence So, what do you escape from and monarch, has managed to stay silent what do you escape to? The various through much of this reign. You can’t Edited excerpts from the 3rd layers - whether they are techno- misquote silence in this media heavy logical, cultural, or natural are overall Viewpoint Roundtable world. Conversely, Angela Merkel layers of life. In an earlier world who is known to be reticent has perhaps, the abiding condition was September 24, 2015 at Gallops, spoken up for the Syrian refugees. silence and sound was the product of Mahalaxmi, Mumbai She used her previous silence and life. Today, it’s almost as if the abiding strategically broke it to emerge as the condition is sound and therefore, moral vanguard of Europe. silence becomes something that we We often associate silence with can try; something that we retreat self-awareness and with listening. into; something we manufacture. Then there is silence as a path Paromita: Silence to spirituality. Every great religion has now become a It was hard to predict what a Moderator teaches us this, whether through concrete activity conversation on silence would yield. Vipassana, meditation, or Maun Vrat. that also has to Shoba Narayan Words and silence, after all, are on You stay silent in the hope of reaching continuously produce Author and columnist opposite ends of the communication inward and reaching a higher level. a very quantifiable spectrum. Could one convey the Participants Lastly, silence is codified in the legal and knowable result. This is actually depths and facets of the other? Josy Paul world. When the Miranda rights are antithetical to the idea of silence We found it could. Our panel of Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO read out, the first that is mentioned is because I believe silence is part of creative thinkers began by mapping the legal right to remain silent. sound. It’s not the same as noise but Paromita Vohra silence to our lives – as a choice, it is a sound that is also around us. You could Filmmaker and writer a legal right, a manufactured Santosh: It is a place between sounds. Every imagine silence as a Santosh Desai commodity, a path to self- time we speak or we say a word, we MD and CEO, awareness – before delving into successive stripping name something, but the very fact Future Brands India Ltd. how it is viewed, interpreted and away of different that we have made one thing tangible leveraged. It was both profound and layers. You strip away or known through a word requires light in parts. Nobody felt compelled the political. Then that we silence another meaning of to talk when it was over. you are left with the cultural. Picture that same thing. Silence then holds all those other meanings. So, when way of referring to silence. There people tell us there is concrete is a little more energy in this and it spirituality or a concrete kind of brings more people in because now behavior linked to spirituality and they say: I like that because it’s real. silence, it is still a sort of noise. It doesn’t belong to my parents or Josy: The problem grandparents or people who live in I have with silence the mountains. is that it’s boring. It’s old-fashioned. It makes you think MAKING ROOM FOR of some men sitting SILENCE cross-legged on top of a mountain. Josy: I find the night Silence comes to mind when my is a beautiful space librarian says ‘ssshh’ or when we for silence. It’s at the observe a minute of it to commemo- crossroads of so many rate someone or something. It says things and you know something about death and loss. that dawn or light is Clearly, silence is not all that. So, going to hit you soon. In the office, there is a problem with the word. there was a time when we tried a I am in advertising and we have a quiet hour every day from 9 to 10 need to rebrand stuff in this industry. am when you don’t impose on each So, I am trying to rebrand silence to other. You spend time catching up make it more enjoyable, exciting, and with yourself. But with daily work desirable; so that people want it and demands, that practice soon died. So then they start looking at the deeper you go back to finding your own way. meaning of silence. You start by There is no organized ritual. People talking about benefits that the larger want the benefits of silence without world wants from silence. You point necessarily using the word. For out immediate rewards and then as example, if someone had a breakup, they get engaged, you start revealing everything hurts, right? They don’t the layers. want people around them. They want Silence does not have to be an that capsule of silence so that they induced artificial thing in our lives. can feel it. It’s an unsaid, unwritten It can be a part of your daily shave or understanding…a sort of retreat. bath. Somewhere, in these Santosh: In our work, activities you can find silence and most of us are trying it’s beautiful because it’s everyday to make sense of and part of a ritual. things that we see Here’s a word I would like to share around us, particularly with all of you (holding up a board). at an aggregate level. Some of you may know this already: We are trying to understand what STFU. Shut the F*** Up. It’s a different is happening in the world, why it is happening, what are the kinds of film of mine. But I think I have learnt a movements that are taking place. lot about the idea of silence from film How do you discern something from making, specifically about listening such a large, fragmented and contra- without the fear of not getting to dictory mass? The classical way is to say my piece. In a sense, art and talk to people and then to extrapolate its practice give you that possibility. that to a larger universe. But I have There is a lot of anxiety in young found that it’s not what people say people today. They want to excel, that is most interesting. Observations to get ahead, to do well. But the and seeing things can be equally, if practice of arts allows you to let go of not more interesting. We often are your anxiety. It allows you to let the blind to everything that is obvious world in by listening to somebody. around us because we know it before And that actually completely we see it. Therefore, we don’t see it. transforms you. Every time that I have done it and I have spoken to So, the sort of observation that is somebody whose views I don’t agree rooted in silence is a useful way of with, I have come away changed being able to pick up, decode, and in the way I look at them, at myself connect in order to arrive at a slightly and at an entire set of ideas that are larger understanding. The ability to involved there. see a pattern has a lot to do with silence. I think it has a lot to do with asking why so many girls in small SILENCE AND CREATIVITY town India who traditionally wore their hair in braids and pigtails now Shoba: Neuroscience have bobbed hair. It’s a small piece has shown a clear link of observation at one level but it between silence and could lead to a better understanding creativity. Apparently of something bigger. I find that there both Thomas Alva is distraction in our dependence on Edison and Salvador what people say rather than what Dali used to lie in bed holding metal they mean or how they behave or balls in their hands. They would lie where they live. Our desperate need silently, holding them up and not to hear comforting sounds emanate allowing them to fall. The minute from the other side that we can then they fell asleep, their hands would capture and synthesize makesit drop, the metal balls would make a difficult for us to actually experience sound and they would wake up. what we are experiencing. And in that twilight zone between sub consciousness and consciousness, Paromita: I don’t make is the wellspring of creativity. The beautiful, arty, and Pomodoro technique involves a quiet movies and there variation of this. It encourages people is hardly 30 seconds of to work in twenty-minute segments silence in a 90-minute separated by five minutes of breaks or walks in the garden. This may think of themselves and of the also be why many of us get our best other gender. Following the ideas in the shower. It sets a vacuum December 2012 gang rape in Delhi, in motion to take our ideas from the issues of women, feminism and backs of our minds and push them to violence are widely discussed. It’s a the front. necessary conversation but it Paromita: You need may be drowning out a space to time to consolidate define these things in a fresh way. yourself and all the I personally think that the only way things that you have out, aside from a big feminist experienced. You need revolution (which won’t happen) to make your being is to allow for more art and artistic ready to produce and stream that products to define that space and which has been fragmented inside that multiplicity of what it means to you. As an artist, you can have an be a woman. extreme approach to socializing that Shoba: When it others may find hard to understand. I comes to speaking up, personally can go from from extreme there is some good gregariousness to not answering calls news for women in for a length of time. the boardroom. I do need to disconnect from the According to a world during this process. I have a New Yorker article, speaking up ritual of teaching myself a Hindi film 30% of the time was viewed as the song in the morning. I just listen to right amount for female executives. it till it’s completely in my head and If they spoke more than that, it was allows me to sync with one mood or construed as pushy and aggressive. one feeling. But I think it’s no different However, the silver lining lies in the from getting ideas in the shower. finding that a younger generation It’s a process of using sound to shut of boys raised by working mothers out other sounds. did not have that preconception. Josy: In the workplace, I believe silence is a POWER AND POLITICS gaming tool because it creates a low Paromita: I think that pressure zone that women, particularly, begs to be filled. struggle with how to When you stay silent, the discomfort define themselves in affects the other person and you presentation and are start receiving information. So you constantly wondering: use discomfort as a gaming tool to am I talkative, am I too loud? It is a receive. You could call it listening or crisis of sorts and the solution lies in manipulation, depending on changing how both men and women how you are listening. The power lies with the person who can hold Santosh: At a personal on. In a group, it depends on what’s level, I find myself happening in that room and the being articulate in the dynamics of the group. If there public forum but utterly is deathly silence after you have inarticulate when just finished an important client it comes to social presentation, it can be very frighening interactions. So silence is an abiding because something has to give. This condition with me even though, once happens so often in our industry I have a microphone in my hand, I SILENCE UNLEASHED that, at one point, we decided we can transform into this loquacious couldn’t handle it anymore. So we sort of being. To that extent, I have Looking at silence in the arts in had one person in the group bring struggled with this question of silence out a guitar and start strumming and the lack of it all throughout. all its tightly wound forms and singing just to kill the tension. In many situations, it becomes Most synonyms of the word ‘silence’ musicians from Handel to Beethoven Coming back to internal dynamics, uncomfortable for the other person speak of ‘calm’, ‘quiet’ or ‘noiseless- who leveraged silence in incredibly there is often - as Santosh already because you impose your silence ness’. But these words don’t hint powerful and unexpected ways. It said - a hierarchy of silence in the on the other person and place that at the pent-up power of silence. was used as a lull before a soaring room. Usually the person who is responsibility on them to speak. Consider some of the ways we often climax, a point from which to veer the most nervous is the loudest Paromita: I want to talk about silence and its variants. off in an unforeseen direction, or an and tries to engage the others share a great story We describe pauses as pregnant, abyss to fall into after hitting the tip more. In the end, everyone is about the actress with fitting responses ready to rip of a crescendo. It is equally powerful intuitive in the silence game. It’s an Rekha who once came through them. The tension in a room in less operatic compositions. As a interesting game of silence and to this book launch after an outburst or disagreement website on Jazz puts it: sound that reveals where the I attended. I am a can be palpable, something you can confidence lies in the room. It’s not big fan like everybody else in the “A few beats of silence can raise slice with a knife. This loaded version authority; it’s confidence. country. We were all waiting for her a listener’s expectation of what is of silence even plays out in nature and she arrived at the event, an hour about to come. Used in this manner, at times, when we experience the and a half late. She came, wearing proverbial calm that comes before silence creates anticipation. [Silence] her trademark gold silk saree, her CONFIDENCE AND MORE a storm. can release tension when it follows a Josy: When you are pallu touching the floor. We were full phrase, but it also builds tension as The idea of silence as a precursor or a trainee and you are of anticipation in the audience and the listener awaits the next phrase.” corollary to something more violent in front of this couldn’t wait to hear her speak. When or fierce is used very effectively It is this process of buildup and massive group of she did speak, she said: “You know, in music. Classical music – both release that leaves a lasting impact people who are all silence is more powerful than words. western and Indian - incorporates on the listener. When asked whether watching you, the And so, I will just stay silent. Thank rests, along with notes, to balance there was one thing she could point only thing that gets you through is you for inviting me.” I couldn’t believe out the composition, and to add both to that made her music so divine, the your belief in your idea. It’s not that was it. But in a way, she left you trying to decipher her meaning depth and tension. doyenne of Carnatic music, about silence but about belief. MS Subbalakshmi, is said to have and intent. Was she nervous? Or In a 2009 Slate article, writer Jan You are not thinking about replied: “I think it is the silence just trying to preserve some sense Swafford uses examples to show anything other than the idea that between the notes.” you have. of mystery? We would never know. ‘how a pause can be the most It was like a small Monalisa moment devastating effect used in music.’ Many filmmakers have also used and a performance, in its own right. The examples span the work of silence to great effect in their work. Tony Zhou, a San Francisco-based The Dutch master, Jan Vermeer, film enthusiast and freelance editor, used this tactic in ‘Girl Asleep at has compiled a video montage, a Table’, a painting that depicts a along with commentary, of Martin woman slumped behind a table, in an Scorsese’s ‘deliberate and powerful apparently inebriated state. Experts use of silence’ in his movies. who have studied the work believe A boxing scene in the movie ‘Raging that Vermeer did initially have other Bull’ with one pugilist getting ready elements in the frame, including a to pummel his opponent plays out dog and a man who could be seen in highly charged silence before in the far room beyond the doorway. exploding in sound. In ‘Goodfellas’, a By editing them out, Vermeer left the tense moment of silence between two scene and the state of its subject gangsters after one of them delivers open to interpretation. an expletive-filled speech, is defused Vermeer knew, as does Scorsese, when the other starts laughing. that silence is needed in the right In most cases, Zhou says, silence doses to complete a frame. Not is used to highlight certain key everything has to be spelt out, or moments of individual choice – to every pause filled with sound. There fight back, to take the money, and is power and potential in the balance more. As it rolls, the audience holds between silence and sound, between its breath in anticipation of both that images and space. choice and its fallout. But it can be a tricky balancing act, Sholay, our own timeless masala for filmmakers particularly. Zhou western, uses silence sensitively in warns against cheapening silence by several freezes, most notably in the ‘overusing’ it or diluting its impact early scene when Thakur comes with background noise. Silence home to the slaughtered bodies of needs to be handled right for it to be his family on the ground. There is completely felt. We can then revel in restraint and eloquence in the quiet or reel from its after-effects. that follows after he lifts a sheet off of the body of his young grandson. The audience doesn’t see the body but can sense the spark of a rage that will References: soon consume the man. 1) Swafford, Jan. Silence is Golden. www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_ Given that sound is integral to both box/2009/08/silence_is_golden.html music and movies, one can see how 2) The Role of Silence in Music cutting it out can help to keep the www.allaboutjazz.com/the-role-of-silence- listener or viewer on edge. But is in-music-by-aaj-staff.php that possible in a purely visual 3) Zhou, Tony. Martin Scorsese – The Art of medium such as art? It can be if we Silence. https://vimeo.com/98240271 think of silence in art as the act of 4) Critical Assessments: A Maid Asleep. withholding information. www.essentialvermeer.com

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