Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Shivraj Parshad: As a former news editor, presenter and communication coach/trainer I witnessed first-hand how various business leaders and institutions fared in the court of public opinion. Realising that this was a niche that remained unaddressed both from the communicator and the audience perspective I set up Brevis, where brevity and real impactful communication became the centrepiece. Over time with the demand for Coaching and Mentoring growing, the idea morphed into providing a whole gamut of services with a focus on building a growth mindset with individuals, leadership or institutions, that required personal development to further their goals.
The company is borne from experience, wisdom, and leadership in 3 key areas. Firstly, having been in the media; real-time experiences and perspective on people’s stories and retelling them, secondly, as a communicator being able to advise others on crafting their narratives and finally, as a presenter, giving them the tools and techniques to take charge and be fearless of public judgement or appearances. We built the practice, with the belief that for our clients, everyone they employ is a spokesperson. That for their businesses to thrive, their people are their ‘gold dust’. We offered, training for management across levels to speak to the media, public speaking workshops for any level, presentation skills and more critically crisis communication and management.
Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Brevis Consulting
Shivraj Parshad: Brevis was set up with the understanding that in a post-millennial workplace - one has to be an early adopter to avoid the stress and complexity of meeting leadership/business/personal objectives. So, we offer solutions that are individualized or tailor-made across Coaching (Communication, Executive and Life), Training and Content Curation (Podcasts, Videos and Emceeing).
Great Companies: What makes Brevis Consulting different from hundreds of other similar service providers?
Shivraj Parshad: Given the breadth and depth of experience in specific industries over the last 3 decades, we work primarily with overwhelmed folks in the age range of 27-60 years old. These have been in the following areas:
a. Shift driven, public-facing and multicultural fields like the Media, IT, Consulting and Manufacturing and not-for-profit sector
b. Individuals or groups at the cusp of taking over as mid-level or senior management or looking at being more effective in leadership roles.
c. Individuals grappling with professional and personal issues related to their sexuality or interpersonal relationship
We stay laser-focused on helping overwhelmed companies, individuals, and institutions gain clarity on their current realities, goals, building a better vision for the future. At the end of the day, we share the same values: creating that authentic thought leadership through clear communication, strong interpersonal skills, and storytelling.
Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face?
Shivraj Parshad: The first few clients we got at Brevis really came from word-of-mouth marketing. We began by doing email marketing with existing clients and prospective clients and announced we had arrived. Some of the prospective clients were discovered in the process of researching individual entities and organizations in the news for the wrong or right reasons. After all, this audience set needed the expertise I had to offer.
However, now with a very cluttered coaching and training market the real challenge is commanding the value for the services provided. Setting ourselves apart as premium yet value added service providers remains the key challenge.
Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Brevis Consulting?
Shivraj Parshad: The next 5 years will be critical in building expertise in Executive Communication and Leadership Coaching using new tools and strategies like NLP, Mindfulness and Neuroscience. The endeavour is to continue learning and developing our expertise to address the growing market need. The dream is to start a safe space and haven for individuals who strive for excellence irrespective of sexuality, financial struggle or position. Imagine, a river side haven with expert coaches and mentors who help them build habits that created a self-motivating, positive and influencing environment. The most critical being learning how to set boundaries, getting used to hearing the word ‘no’ when bidding for work and always seeing it from differing or different perspectives. A Brevis centre of excellence and wellbeing.
Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Shivraj Parshad: The one major piece of advice I would give to someone starting out is not to be reactive or hard on oneself. You don’t have to live up to everyone’s expectations and be good and perfect at everything. After all, you learn from what you see as failure. As my mentor once put it, the acronym for F.A.I.L is the First attempt in learning. So, keep at it. whether in the professional or personal sphere, if you hear a no or are challenged by clients or peers or near and dear ones, know that behind every behaviour may be an unconscious positive intention. Ultimately, flexibility in thought and behaviour has more influence, especially when you are challenged.
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