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By:

Divyaa Advaani 

2 November 2024 at 3:28:38 am

The Space That Speaks

Some people step too close without realising it. Others recoil the moment we enter their personal space. In boardrooms, cafeterias, client meetings or even casual workplace conversations, the invisible boundary between comfort and discomfort is crossed more often than we admit. And every time it happens, something subtle but significant shifts. A colleague feels disrespected. A client feels pushed. A partner silently withdraws. Space may be unseen, but its consequences are very real —...

The Space That Speaks

Some people step too close without realising it. Others recoil the moment we enter their personal space. In boardrooms, cafeterias, client meetings or even casual workplace conversations, the invisible boundary between comfort and discomfort is crossed more often than we admit. And every time it happens, something subtle but significant shifts. A colleague feels disrespected. A client feels pushed. A partner silently withdraws. Space may be unseen, but its consequences are very real — especially in today’s workplace, where one misread signal can erode trust faster than any spoken mistake.   A few months ago, a mid-sized consulting firm approached me with a puzzling problem. Their young team was technically brilliant, but client retention had dropped sharply. After observing a few interactions, the issue became obvious: enthusiastic associates were unknowingly leaning too close, interrupting personal bubbles, and making global clients uncomfortable. Nothing was ill-intentioned — just unaware. Yet that small behavioural gap had created a Rs 1.6 crore revenue leakage over the year. Once we worked on spatial awareness, presence and non-verbal communication, the same team rebuilt client confidence and closed three major renewals within a quarter.   This is why personal space is not a “soft” concept. It is strategy. It is reputation. It is a non-negotiable part of personal branding.   When people think of personal branding, they imagine polished LinkedIn profiles or impressive introductions. But the truth is simpler and deeper: your personal brand is your behaviour. It’s the distance you maintain, the respect you signal, the safety you create for others in a conversation. Space is communication — silent but powerful. When you don’t understand where your boundary ends and where someone else’s begins, your interactions unintentionally send the message that you lack awareness, sensitivity or professionalism. For a leader, this can appear as dominance. For a young executive, it can appear as insecurity or over-eagerness. For a business owner, it can cost trust and business.   Modern workplaces are more global and more culturally diverse than ever before. In India alone, teams now collaborate daily with counterparts from the UK, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the US — each with very different expectations of proximity. What feels friendly to one culture feels intrusive to another. When employees are not trained to navigate these subtle differences, the company brand is what ultimately suffers.   And here’s the truth companies often overlook: you cannot build a strong organisational brand without strong individual brands inside it. When employees understand boundaries — emotional, verbal and physical — they communicate with clarity, empathy and confidence. They carry themselves with the ease that clients trust. They handle negotiations better. They build relationships faster. They close deals without friction. The company’s culture becomes more respectful, more refined and more reliable.   I’ve seen it repeatedly while working with founders, leadership teams and fast-growing organisations: the fastest way to elevate a company’s external image is to elevate the personal brand of the people representing it. Not through scripted behaviour but through awareness — especially in the small, often ignored details like space, body language and non-verbal cues.   These details decide whether your teams come across as polished or unprepared, mindful or careless, leadership-ready or still learning.   If any of this feels familiar — a slightly awkward handshake, a colleague who stands too close, a new executive who unintentionally intimidates a client — it’s more than a social inconvenience. It’s a branding issue. And one that’s entirely fixable.   Because when people feel respected in your presence, they trust you. When they trust you, they listen. And when they listen, they say yes more often — to ideas, partnerships, renewals and opportunities.   If you’re a business leader who wants your teams to communicate with maturity, presence and global sensitivity, you can reach out for a complimentary consultation call here : https://sprect.com/pro/divyaaadvaani Strong personal brands build strong company brands. And it all begins with something as simple, as silent and as powerful as space. (The author is a personal branding expert. She has clients from 14+ countries. Views personal.)

Unrest within Mahayuti

Updated: Jan 21

Mahayuti

Mumbai: The state administration on Sunday stalled the appointments of guardian ministers in Raigad and Nashik districts. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had cleared the appointments before he left for Davos in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum on Saturday. They are believed to have been stalled on behest of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the state in absence of the Chief Minister.


NCP’s Aditi Tatkare and BJP’s Girish Mahajan were entrusted with responsibilities of guardian minister for the Raigad and Nashik districts respectively, where Shiv Sena’s Bharat Gogawale and Dada Bhuse had staked claims. Gogawale is a first-time minister while, Bhuse had been the guardian minister of the district during previous government under Eknath Shinde.


Shiv Sena, NCP and BJP all the three constituents of Mahayuti have strong roots in both the districts. However, the Shiv Sena and the NCP had been particularly on loggerheads there. The Shiv Sena, which had been demanding the guardian minister’s post in Nashik district has managed to win only two assembly seats in the district where the NCP has Six and the BJP has Five MLAs. On the contrary, in Raigad the NCP has won only one seat while the Shiv Sena and the BJP both have Three MLAs each in the district.


Sunil Tatkare, MP from Raigad Lok Sabha constituency and the stat unit president of the NCP and father of Aditi Tatkare, had been the guardian minister of Raigad between 2004 and 2014. Gogawale had always been his political opponent before Tatkare joined the Mahayuti government under Ajit Pawar’s leadership in 2023. Gogawale claimed that all the Six Shiv Sena-BJP MLAs in the district had opined in his favour to be the guardian minister of the district and after the decision to appoint Aditi Tatkare was announced, his supporters resorted to violent protests. They burnt tyres in bid to stall traffic on highway in the district. Reacting to the developments, Tatkare said that the issue should be pondered over after CM Fadnavis returns from Davos on Saturday and settled amicably.


In Nashik Girish Mahajan had been the guardian minister of the district between 2014 and 2019 when Fadnavis was the Chief Minister.


The post of guardian minister doesn’t have any constitutional mandate and is considered to be a political appointment. Guardian ministers head the district planning and development councils (DPDC) that control the funds for development works being carried out in the particular district. This control wields much of political power to the minister in that district whereby spreading the party in the district becomes much easier. This is the reason why the grass root politicians seem to be very sensitive to such appointments.


While Gogawale and Bhuse are unhappy about not being appointed as guardian ministers, some others like NCP’s Hasan Mushrif and BJP’s Pankaja Munde are unhappy about not being appointed as guardian district in their home districts of Kolhapur and Beed respectively. DCM Shinde is learnt to have gone to his ancestral village Dare in Satara district after the decision and BJP’s firefighters Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Girish Mahajan are expected to meet him there to try finding a way out of the issue.

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