Tata’s Timeless Stories

When a long-time employee of an institution synonymous with nation-building decides to bring alive heartwarming stories of assorted greats who scripted history, the result is a memorable book called ‘Tata Stories: 40 Timeless Tales to Inspire You’. In conversation with author Harish Bhat, also presently, a brand custodian of one of its companies, at the virtual launch of the book at Tata Literature Live! Business Shastras were bigwigs like scientist-educationist National Research Professor and Science and Innovation Leader, Dr Raghunath Mashelkar and R Gopalakrishnan, Corporate Advisor and Former Executive Director, Tata Sons. Read on to find out more as to why every Indian ought to read the book

There’s nobody quite like the Tatas in the world businessmen who built not just a diverse corporate empire but also a nation. And even as patriarch JRD Tata demonstrated indeed as to how free enterprise & social engineering can very much co-exist-famously stating that the community was not just a stakeholder in business but its very purpose history was scripted in the form of a group whose very name is a buzzword for integrity, innovation and home-grown pride.

Sure, the story has been told over and over again by authors of mettle at that.

But when an insider brings alive all of the above in vignette after vignette and anecdote after anecdote, the result is an unputdownable book and a non-preachy, lucid reiteration of the group’s philosophy in the form of stories.

And who doesn’t love stories?

A wedding of vision and execution

Describing author Harish Bhat as a geologist and Dr Mashelkar as an astronomer on a planet called Tata, R Gopalakrishnan said that while the former would examine the soil, the latter would reach for the sky. A fine blend of the left and right brain, so to speak. And for anyone who thought that a leader could either be a visionary or an executioner the vignettes would prove otherwise.

Anecdotes read out by Bhat from the book would attest to the above. So whether it was JRD Tata-inarguably the Father of Indian Civil Aviation-going from toilet to toilet on an international flight-righting the wrongly positioned toilet paper rolls or the eagle eye of Sumant Moolgaonkar, founder director of Telco (now Tata Motors), noticing every last detail about the hydraulic pipes designed by his engineers the book shows over and over again as to how vision and execution can and do make for compatible partners.

Other nuggets include the story of how Jamsetji Tata managed to get famous consulting engineer Charles Page Perin to start a steel factory, how a flying competition led to a life-long association Aspy Engineer and JRD, how Dorabji and Meherbai’s ‘jubilee diamond’ saved the Tata Group, how Ratan Tata overcame assorted hurdles to make his long-promised Rs.1 lakh car-The Tata Nano and more.

"The Tatas have a legacy of nation-building for over 150 years. Dancing across this long arc of time are thousands of beautiful, astonishing stories, many of which can inspire and provoke us, even move us to do meaningful acts in our own live"

Short and sweet stories dedicated to the human spirit

What fundamentally works in the book’s favour is that it captures the flavour of all things Tata in the form of readable and short stories that are any day more effective than a dissertation. Importantly, it humanises the corporation and the people who built it ever so seamlessly. Short, succinct and adhering to ‘the six-minute read’ that modern-day readers seem to demand with their short attention span, the challenge, according to Bhat, was to tell unforgettable tales in a few words and more.

Most importantly, each story is memorable for it reflects a life truth. And that’s why this work is true as, it claims, timeless. Be it love or loss, passion and perseverance, dream versus reality-each story traverses diverse territory. “It also sheds interesting light on the eternal question: should a leader lead from head or heart? Is the effective business leader the steely-eyed, hard-bitten personality from Americanised folklore and perception? “The work conclusively answers that to be a memorable leader, a businessman can neither lead from head or heart; he/she must lead from head and heart,” observed R Gopalakrishnan.

Again the anecdotes attest to that. For instance, when Xerxes Desai, founder of Titan chose to set up the first Titan retail outlet dedicated to watches, it was most certainly a hardcore business decision. ( He founded Titan as a joint venture with JRD Tata in 1986, with support from the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation.)

However, when he chose not to source his manpower from other companies, but instead, carve out his own team from the small towns of Tamil Nadu, he turned many lives around. “Those school children who had been collected from small towns like Krishnagiri had no idea what the offer was all about, but came along simply because Titan was a Tata company. In this way, people who would not have had such an opportunity went to prosper in their lives and career,” narrates Bhat. Little wonder then that when Xerxes Desai died, half of Bengaluru, the city he had lived in for over 30 years, turned up.

Similarly, Sir Dorabji Tata, the second chairman of The Tata Group, a famous taskmaster who supervised the expansion of Tata Steel amongst other things, was a classic case of a logical, left-brained individual. But when Tata Steel was on the verge of collapse due to decreased demand from Japan and there was little money to pay the wages, he and his brave wife Lady Meherbai committed their entire personal wealth-a whopping INR 1 crore back in the 1930s, including a diamond twice as large as the Kohinoor to secure a loan from the then Imperial Bank of India (now The State Bank of India) to save Tata Steel. “Such a decision could only come from the heart,” stresses Bhat. And a good thing too, considering Tata Steel went from strength to strength thereafter.

Is there a lesson for modern-day promotors? “Indeed there is,” says Bhat. “While legally the responsibility is limited to the share holding in the company, there is something called moral responsibility that goes beyond.”

The extent of the Tata contribution: far, wide and beyond

Despite the succinctness of the stories, each one explains the sheer extent of Tata’s vision. Facilities that modern-day employees take for granted, be it a Pension Fund or a Provident Fund were envisaged by Jamsetji Tata, the first ever chairman of the group in 1887 and 1901 respectively as he believed that the company’s duty was not just wealth creation for shareholders but also the health and welfare of its employees. This was a baton take forward by successive chairmen.

So, be it the country’s first cancer hospital in the form of the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital or its pioneering institutes dedicated to the pure sciences, namely the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research or the Indian Institute of Science or the fact that it was Tata Airlines which went onto be renamed Air India, it’s not just the men who served the nation but also the iconic institutions they nurtured to successful fruition.

“And that’s why,” said Bhat, “The Tatas are more than a respected company; they are a deeply loved one. Let me explain the distinction between the two. A company is respected when its products and services become iconic and its market capitalisation reaches a certain level. But to be loved is a completely different thing. From Jamsetji to JRD to Ratan, each chairman has given of himself unconditionally and that is why they are so loved.”

Creating leadership, nurturing greatness

Dr Raghunath Mashelkar particularly lauded the chapter dedicated to the Tata scholarships which have nurtured brilliance at all levels of society and created leaders of enduring value. “Whatever I am, I owe to the Tata Scholarship. I was born in a poor family in the village of Mashel. My father died when I was very young; my mother worked menial jobs. I studied under the street lamps and it was only due to that Rs.50 scholarship that I went on to become what I did. Perhaps, nothing illustrates the point better than that iconic moment in 2000, when both Ratan Tata and I, Tata scholars both, received our Padmabhushans at the hands of erstwhile President KR Narayan, also a Tata Scholar.”

To quote JRD Tata: “No success or achievement in material terms is worthwhile, unless it serves the needs or interests of the country and its people, and is achieved by fair and honest means.”

And no book is iconic until it touches a chord deep within. That is why #Tata Stories scores.

The Tatas and their stories

The Tatas have a legacy of nation-building for over 150 years. Dancing across this long arc of time are thousands of beautiful, astonishing stories, many of which can inspire and provoke us, even move us to do meaningful acts in our own lives. A diamond twice as large as the famous Kohinoor pledged to survive a financial crisis; a meeting with a ‘relatively unknown young monk’ who later went on to be known as Swami Vivekananda; the fascinating story of the first-ever Indian team at the Olympics; the making of India’s first commercial airline and first indigenous car; how ‘OK TATA’ made its way to the backs of millions of trucks on Indian highways; a famous race that was both lost and won; and many more.