As a communications professional, much of my day-to-day work involves perspective. As the bridge between brands and their intended audiences, our job, put most simply, is to tell stories that both represent the brand and resonate with audiences. Perspective, in our case, is more than just a point of view – it encapsulates an understanding of the brand DNA, what it stands for, what it can speak about and perhaps most importantly, how it responds to the changes happening in the world around us.

It was daunting at first as a fresh graduate, having to learn both the skills of communicating effectively and getting myself acquainted with the depth of industry knowledge required to form the very basis of my stories. It didn’t help that most of my clients were in the business-to-business (B2B) sector, cutting across industries that were completely foreign to me as a linguistics major – think semiconductors, low-code software and even private equity!

While it was definitely a steep learning curve, I realised quickly that I saw this more as an opportunity than a challenge. I found it exciting to dip my toes into subject matters that I was completely unfamiliar with and emerging at the end with a somewhat proficient understanding of how these industries worked made me feel incredibly accomplished – after all, this was what I loved about my time at NTU-USP.

Module offerings like psychology-based Error and Bias allowed me to delve deep into the human mind, while Science, Culture, and Society – one of my favourite modules to date – illustrated the intersections between scientific developments, the arts and the transformation of society throughout history. Of course, no NTU-USP experience can be complete without the mention of the Travel Overseas Programme for Scholars (TOPS), where my friends and I investigated the perceptions of war tourism in Vietnam, touching on concepts across politics, history and the economics of war.

What I learnt then and what I know now is that effective communication doesn’t happen in silos, and it is informed by different perspectives across the spokesperson, brand, audience, and within the wider context of the industry. This is essentially an interdisciplinary approach.

At the same time, defining the interdisciplinary approach as having a wealth of knowledge from across various fields of work and applying that knowledge gives less credit to the beauty of an interdisciplinary education than I would like. I think it’s also very much about developing an open, exploratory and probing mindset, coupled with a curiosity to find connections in and within things that may seem at first glance completely unrelated.

This is a mindset I’ve taken with me into my work, as I strive to tell stories that are grounded in perspective. As the world grows increasingly interconnected, disciplines will only converge and not stay ringfenced. We’ll start talking about ethics in the global disruption of semiconductor supply chains, or have politics make their way into tech – the ability to see these connections and respond to them in a respectful, precise manner will be key to being an effective communicator in the 21st century.

Submission by:

Lim Jia Yi, Class of 2021, LMS