Leadership and lessons learned
Branding Lessons from the Battlefield
By Col Saurabh Srivastava
Like most abstract ideas we throw around in the modern world, “brand” too is used casually — as if it were just about logos, fonts, and taglines. But I learned about branding not in boardrooms, but in flooded streets, angry chowks, and remote tribal valleys while serving in uniform. My education in brand value came from lived experience — moments where belief itself altered reality.
In my post-service years, as I transitioned to the corporate world, I began drawing parallels between military ethos and organizational life. Both are driven by shared purpose and trust, but in the military, those lessons are compressed into seconds — where outcomes can mean life or loss.
From the Dusty Lanes of Kashmir
In 2014, I served with the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) during the J&K elections — a time when democracy and insurgency collided daily. My team and I were tasked with escorting election officials through Soibugh, a village where not a single vote had been cast amid stone-pelting and unrest.
As we approached a chaotic chowk, hundreds surged toward us in anger. Logic said we were outnumbered — ten soldiers against a mob. Yet, when we took position, armed only with lathis, not rifles, the crowd fell back. It wasn’t the sticks that mattered. It was the brand — the decades of trust, discipline, and reputation that RR carried. That invisible force made ten men stand as one.
The 2014 floods revealed another side of branding — trust. As the valley drowned, many rejected relief from unknown units or paramilitary forces, but when the RR arrived, the same people opened their doors. Our brand had been built slowly — through winters spent helping locals, responding to emergencies, and showing up when it mattered. Trust, I realized, cannot be commanded; it must be cultivated. In the corporate world too, credibility cannot be parachuted — it is earned drop by drop, through presence and consistency.
In 2013, during widespread protests after Afzal Guru’s execution, a tragedy near my post ignited fury across several villages. A police team was trapped on a bridge, surrounded on both sides by mobs. When we arrived, the crowd parted — not because the conflict had ended, but because the brand of the Indian Army carried weight. That day I learned that real leadership is knowing when to lean on credibility that precedes you. In crises, pride can burn bridges; trust builds them.
Later, as part of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in Arunachal Pradesh, I saw how brands become part of people’s lives. BRO wasn’t just an institution; it was a familiar name that meant reliability and partnership. Even during the COVID lockdowns, when outsiders were turned away, locals welcomed our teams because they trusted the brand — one built over decades of service. True brand equity, I learned, is patient, enduring, and human.
During my early service days, while volunteering for Special Forces probation, I tore a ligament but refused to quit. Why? Because the brand I aspired to wear — the Special Forces badge — demanded endurance beyond reason. It wasn’t ego; it was identity. I realized that strong brands transform the people within them. They elevate performance, instill belonging, and inspire individuals to rise above limits. Employees don’t give their best for perks; they do it when the badge they wear means something.
Looking back, I’ve learned that a real brand does three things:
- It influences behaviour before logic arrives — people act first, justify later.
- It compresses time — trust, built over years, enables decisions in moments.
- It redistributes power — those who carry a trusted brand inherit credibility and permission that cannot be faked.
A true brand is not decoration; it is history in motion — the visible proof of invisible values.
Modern branding often chases novelty, but true branding is about consistency. It is not your tagline; it is your behaviour when no one is watching. Over time, people form a mental model of who you are. That is your brand — not your press release, but your conduct. Every action either earns belief or erodes it.
When I think back to those years — to the mob that scattered before ten soldiers, to villagers who opened their doors in floods, to the officer trapped on a burning bridge, and to the broken body that kept running — I see the same invisible force at work. That force is brand: the collective belief that transforms reality.
Reflection
A brand is not what you say; it’s what others feel when they see you. It’s built in small, consistent acts of integrity, courage, and service — until one day, it carries you farther than reason ever could.
ABCEL Perspective
Saurabh’s story beautifully reframes branding as lived credibility. His reflections remind us that trust — whether in battlefields or boardrooms — is not a campaign, but a commitment. Veterans bring with them an understanding of brand as integrity in action: the quiet, consistent proof that belief can move mountains. When organizations internalize that truth, their brands too become not just seen, but believed.