What does Indian Whisky have to teach us about the future of #InternalComms?

7 January 2026 Reading Time: 5 minutes

Mike Klein:

I need to tell you about Godawan.

It’s a single malt whisky from Rajasthan, India. And it’s the best single malt I’ve ever had.

I know what you’re thinking if you know whisky.

Indian single malt?

Best ever? Mike’s lost it.

Single malt means Scotland. 

Maybe Japan if you’re feeling adventurous. 

But India?

In my opinion, Godawan is seriously, remarkably good.

Not “good for Indian whisky” or “surprisingly decent given the conditions.” It’s straight-up excellent.

Smooth, complex, with caramel and fruit notes that hit you in waves instead of the peaty harshness that whisky purists insist is what “real” single malt should taste like.

And the more I think about why Godawan works, the more I realize it’s the perfect metaphor for what Ambuj Dixit and I are building through our India research – and why the internal communication world needs to pay attention.

The Conventional Wisdom About Where Good Whisky Comes From

Scottish whisky became the global standard because Scotland has ideal whisky-making conditions: cold climate for slow maturation, abundant water, specific barley varieties, centuries of accumulated craft knowledge. The logic became: if you want to make serious single malt, you replicate Scottish conditions as closely as possible.

Godawan’s makers could have followed that playbook. Import Scottish barley, build climate-controlled facilities to simulate Scottish cold, follow Scottish processes exactly, produce something that tastes as Scottish as possible.

Instead, they did something different. They asked: what if we use local six-row barley that thrives in Rajasthan’s water-scarce geography? What if we mature whisky in 100°F desert heat instead of fighting against it? What if we finish in casks with rare Indian botanicals instead of pretending we’re in the Highlands?

The result isn’t Scottish whisky made badly in India. It’s something fundamentally different – and in my judgment, fundamentally better. The harsh desert conditions don’t produce inferior imitation. They produce superior complexity through different chemistry.

The Parallel to Internal Communication

Western internal communication became the global standard the same way Scottish whisky did: accumulated practice in specific conditions created frameworks that seemed universal. Employee engagement models, sentiment measurement, line manager team briefs, HR-centric organizational positioning – these became “how serious IC is done.”

The assumption when IC practitioners in India, China, Latin America, anywhere outside the Western core looked to professionalize: replicate Western models. Import the frameworks, adapt them slightly for local culture, produce IC that looks as Western as possible.

When Ambuj Dixit and I started our India research, some colleagues worried we were doing exactly that – showing up to teach Indian IC practitioners how to do “real” internal communication the way it’s done in London, Palo Alto, Amsterdam. Treating India as a market that needs educating in Western best practices.

That completely misses what we’re actually doing.

Why India’s “Harsh Conditions” Produce Better Solutions

We’re researching in India for the same reason Godawan works: the conditions that seem like disadvantages are actually advantages for developing something better than the Western standard.

India operations often face a certain combination of operating conditions:

Hierarchical cultures colliding with velocity demands in ways Western flat-organizational myths can paper over

Increasing manager “spans of control” reducing the available oversight attention

Competitive Gen Z talent markets at scale while Western organizations still rely on legacy loyalty

A cocktail of cultures, languages, socio-economic hierarchy, religions, beliefs

IC practitioners unburdened by 20 years of engagement orthodoxy versus Western practitioners defending frameworks they’ve built careers around

These aren’t problems to overcome through better Western models. They’re revealing the inadequacy of existing Western models and creating conditions for fundamentally different – and better – approaches.

Just like 100°F desert heat doesn’t ruin whisky maturation – it creates different chemistry that produces caramel and fruit complexity instead of peaty harshness.

And here’s the crucial point: these aren’t uniquely Indian problems. They’re what Western organizations will face within 18 months as AI acceleration and generational shifts remove the cushioning that’s made gradualism possible.

What We’re Actually Building

The frameworks Ambuj and I are developing aren’t “Western IC adapted for India.” They’re solutions to problems that India is experiencing first but that will hit globally:

Decision-coordination infrastructure instead of engagement programming, because extreme spans make it obvious you can’t manage 50 direct reports through better town halls

IC embedded in operational workflows instead of centralized broadcast functions, because hierarchical escalation patterns combined with velocity demands force rethinking where communication capability sits

Effectiveness metrics instead of sentiment measurement, because competitive talent markets make it obvious that workers choose organizations that function well, not organizations with pumped-up engagement scores

Business literacy and systems design over communication theory and content creation, because the problems that need solving are operational, not messaging

We’re not extracting insights from India to commercialize globally while leaving Indian IC behind. We’re collaborating with Indian practitioners who see the same problems, want to crack them, and bring different perspectives precisely because they’re not invested in defending Western orthodoxies.

The receptivity and intellectual energy we’ve found in Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore isn’t “India grateful for Western expertise.” It’s practitioners eager to build something better than what the West has been exporting – and willing to experiment with each other and with their global peers to do it.

The Conservation Ethic

Here’s what makes Godawan truly remarkable beyond the whisky itself: it’s made in Rajasthan, one of the most water-scarce regions in India. The makers could have extracted resources to produce whisky and moved on. Instead, they’ve committed to water conservation initiatives that give back multifold what they take. They support preservation of the Great Indian Bustard, the endangered bird that’s their symbol, in partnership with the Rajasthan government.

The Rajasthani approach isn’t “make do with scarcity.” It’s “create exquisite beauty in complete harmony with the environment, enriching rather than depleting.”

That’s the model for what we’re building with India research. We’re not extracting insights to commercialize globally while depleting local IC capability. We’re developing frameworks collaboratively that work in India’s conditions and can be exported globally – because global conditions are heading toward what India is experiencing now.

When Western organizations hit 50+ employee manager spans, when Gen Z becomes the workforce majority in competitive talent markets, and when AI acceleration makes coordination velocity non-negotiable, they’ll need the frameworks we’re stress-testing in India’s pressure-cooker conditions.

Why This Matters Beyond Whisky Metaphors

The IC world has a choice similar to what Indian whisky makers faced:

Option One: Keep treating Western models as the universal standard. Indian IC, Latin American IC, Asian IC should mature by becoming more like Western IC. Success means replicating engagement frameworks, sentiment measurement, HR-centric positioning as closely as local conditions allow.

Option Two: Recognize that Western IC models are failing precisely when organizations need IC most – and that the solutions are emerging in conditions that make Western orthodoxy obviously inadequate. Learn from practitioners developing different approaches in response to different pressures. Build global frameworks from what works in India, not what worked in London in 2009.

I’m choosing Option Two. Not because I think Western IC has nothing to offer, but because the problems organizations globally will face require solutions that Western IC orthodoxy isn’t producing.

Godawan is the best single malt I’ve ever had not despite being made in Rajasthan’s desert heat – but because of it. The harsh conditions produce complexity the Scottish Highlands can’t replicate.

The frameworks Ambuj and I are developing won’t be the best IC approaches despite emerging from India’s organizational pressure – but because of it. The extreme conditions produce solutions Western organizational slack doesn’t force.

You can keep insisting that real single malt has to taste like Scottish peat. Or you can try Godawan and recognize that sometimes the best whisky comes from a desert.

Your choice. But the window for choosing is shorter than you think.

If you’re ready to explore what decision-support IC looks like in your organization – or want to understand whether you’re building strategic infrastructure or cultural cushioning – let’s talk: http://changingtheterms.youcanbook.me

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Mike Klein is Editor-in-Chief of Strategic and recently joined Ambuj Dixit in co-founding NextICShift, an initiative dedicated to connecting Indian #IC pros and the global #InternalComms conversation together more closely.

Written by: Editor