At the start of August, Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Sao Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV EAESP) held the opening lecture of its Professional Master’s in Administration program, marking the beginning of the journey for students in the class of 2024. The event addressed the topic of “Executive Communication as a Competitive Advantage: Strategies, Trends and the Artificial Intelligence Revolution,” reflecting on AI’s impact on the corporate world and the importance of adaptability at a time of technological transformation.

Paul Ferreira, the program’s coordinator, welcomed the new students and highlighted the overriding goal of the course: to train people to work as both managers and scientists. “Our aim is to educate professionals who use scientific foundations to solve the challenges of the corporate world. Technology is advancing at a remarkable pace and our ability to adapt is constantly being tested. We always need to be aware of changes,” he said.

Communication as an ally of scientific research

The morning’s first speaker, Maria Paola de Salvo, a journalist and founder of the startup Easy Telling, shared her practical vision of the intersection between science and communication. “Today, over 80% of scientific research fails to be transformed into practical applications and utilized due to a failure to communicate with stakeholders,” she explained. During her presentation, she offered six essential steps to ensure that scientific research has practical applicability, as well as valuable tips on how to communicate effectively, taking into account the target audience, objectives, language, format and communication channel.

She emphasized the importance of connecting scientific research to stakeholders efficiently, reducing the gap between theory and practice. “A lot of knowledge is lost because it is not communicated correctly and to the right people,” she said. Her speech reinforced the idea that communication is a determining factor for academic innovations to come to life in the corporate environment.

Emotion and trust, pillars of communication

Fabio Josgrilberg, a journalist and professor at FGV EAESP, led an interactive discussion with the students and argued that effective communication is based on two essential pillars: trust and emotion. “Mastering communication means knowing how to balance these two factors in any situation,” explained Josgrilberg, who encouraged the students to think about how these two dimensions influence the effectiveness of their daily interactions.

Larissa Santana, the founder of communication school CALOR and a student on the Professional Master’s in Administration, also led a practical exercise, sparking thought-provoking reflection. Divided into pairs, the participants had to write a convincing request for their colleague to pay their next month’s master’s tuition fee. The exercise included a comparison between a request written by a human and one generated by an artificial intelligence tool. The results were surprising: the AI tool scored higher than humans on all the criteria of greater credibility, connection and people’s willingness to accept the request.

The exercise generated a rich discussion among the students about the challenges of communicating effectively in a world where AI is increasingly present. “Could it be that, in the future, communication involving leaders and teams will all be done by AI?” asked Santana, leaving the class wondering about the implications of this possibility. “If that happens, what will we miss out on?”

The power of storytelling

To cap off the event, Bruno Mano, an entrepreneur and professor, took to the stage to talk about the power of storytelling in corporate communication. He emphasized the importance of conveying trust, emotion and interest in addition to information. “AI can be a powerful tool, but it still can’t connect emotionally with the public in the same way that a human being can,” he said. He stressed the importance of understanding the audience’s pain and desire in order to create effective and engaging communication.

According to Mano, the secret of successful communication lies in telling stories in a way that is clear and adapted to the audience, using what he called “narrative transportation.” He explained that “the key is to make the audience feel inside the story.” He concluded by highlighting the importance of investment, positioning and processes for successful communication.

For more information about the Professional Master’s in Administration program at FGV EAESP, click here.