October 9th 2024, will go down in Indian Industry as not a
day of mourning but one of immortalizing a legend who was an embodiment of humility, business acumen, philanthropy and integrity. As soon as the news was
broken at around midnight there was a huge out pouring of emotions on the
social media leaving many Indians with welled up eyes and lump throats across
generations from boomers to Gen Alpha! Such emotions are normally reserved for
celluloid heroes and politicians in India.
This is not a requiem to the great Mr. Ratan Naval Tata, as
the Social media is flooded with tributes by people who have worked for / with
/ along him and also people who have met him in an elevator, hotels, airports,
events, exhibitions etc. I don’t fall under any of the above categories. I felt
I should write this from a common man’s perspective growing up hearing this
household name the last 50 odd years. Salt to Steel conglomerate they call the
empire, that’s how a Gen X would remember and also, for Titan that replaced the
boring HMT’s on the wrists of the bride and bridegrooms of the 90’s, the Gen Z
would remember them for the jewelry and sarees from Tanishq and Taniera, while
Gen Alpha would remember them for Starbucks and Jaguar.
The story of Ratan Tata is not one of rags to riches, but
one of humility in entitlement. He was handed over the baton of a thriving
century old empire and one in which the surname was a household brand, what
more could one ask for, taking over a business. Many a brands and great
business surnames have fallen by the wayside while Tata remained and continued
to make an impact on the common man’s lives across generations. That is not
just due to the brand recognition / recall value the name carried but solely
due to the bearer of the baton who carried that brand name, in this case, the
man, Ratan Naval Tata. The timing was also right for him as he took over the reins
of the Tata group in 1991, a significant year in Indian corporate history as
that was the year the seeds of liberalization was sown by the Dr. Manmohan
Singh and Mr. P V Narasimha Rao and yours truly was in the sophomore year in
Engineering hoping for a better future is a few years. TELCO / TISCO / TCS /
TCE where the names that did rounds in any aspiring Mechanical Engineer’s minds
in the 90’s.
India is a country where sycophancy rules the roost and paid
mourners and crowds are mobilized for the final journey of a politician or a
celluloid celebrity, and the journey to the final resting place takes multiple
detours and is delayed by several hours and even days to gain maximum public
empathy. However, this was not the case with Mr. Ratan Tata’s final journey.
He was laid to rest within 18 hours of his breathing his last breath. But
the crowd that lined his final journey route and the millions watching it on
television or on social media sites with moist eyes were a testimony to the man
he was, and the culture he had created in an organization.
Tatas were an epitome of corporate culture and the words
that are used these days more as fad or simply for ticking the governance boxes
were the bywords at the Tatas. The emphasis on Compliance,
Ethics, Integrity, Equality etc. look good on governance posters in canteens
and board rooms in corporates these days, but that was the way of life and
business that Ratan Tata preached and practiced.
Many stories on Ratan Tata’s benevolence to the society has
been written about in the last couple of days, I would like to highlight one
from my side too. Tata Chemicals dropped a 500 Mio USD (in 2008) Soda Ash Plant
close to a potentially large soda ash reserve in Lake Natron in Tanzania which
was a popular breeding ground for Flamingos, on the instructions of Ratan Tata,
yes, there were a few objections raised by environmental activists, but Ratan
Tata was willing to give an ear and react. I cannot imagine any of the
present-day industrial power houses willing to lend a ear or compromise on a
750 Mio USD deal today to save a breeding ground for flamingos.
The political parties were up in arms even before he was
laid to rest on who will be the first to recommend a Bharat Ratna (the highest
Indian Civilian award) for him. The same award was given to a cricketer who is
just as old as Mr. Ratan Tata’s contribution to the Indian society at large and
yet politicians are debating on if and when one should bestow him with this
honor. He definitely would not be turning in his graves thinking of this, as
his very name embodies the most precious gem and for his work, 1.3 Billion
people of Bharath have already adopted him as their RATNA.
Ratan was well and truly the Ratna that Bharath had or will ever have and for optimism sake, wish more Ratans come up in corporate India following his legacy of humility in governance which is lacking in the new age valuation driven business leaders
