Ratan Tata
“The greatest pleasure I’ve had is
trying to do something which everybody says ‘could not have been done”
~
Ratan Tata
When you and I ask a question, ‘why?’ he would ask ‘why not?’ That’s exactly how he proved himself by manufacturing the world’s smallest and cheapest car, The Tata Nano, for the Indian market in 2009. He is none other than Ratan Tata, a prominent Indian industrialist and one of the most successful business tycoons in the world who singlehandedly took the Tata Group to global heights.
On 28 December 1937, Ratan Tata was
born into Tata family, one of the wealthiest families in Bombay(Mumbai), India.
His parents Naval and Sonoo divorced when he was ten years old, and he was
raised by his grandmother. Ratan did his schooling at Campion School, Cathedral
and John Cannon School in Mumbai, and also studied at Bishop Cotton School in
Shimla. For further studies, he went to New York’s Cornell University in 1962,
and later earned a management degree from Harvard University.
On returning from America, Ratan
started working as an apprentice at Tata Steel Division, labouring alongside
blue-collar workers, shovelling stones and working with the furnaces. In 1971,
he was named Director-in-Charge of the National Radio and Electronics Company
Limited (NELCO) which was in desperate need of resuscitation, and he
successfully turned it around.
Ratan took over the leadership of Tata
Group in 1990, ushering in a slew of reforms to modernise the group’s business
operations in order to compete successfully in the new era. He had to face a
lot of opposition from other top Tata executives but he boldly face them
without succumbing to them.
“Take the stones people throw at you.
And use them to build a monument,” said Tata.
Under Tata’s supervision, Tata
Consultancy Services became more established, and the group acquired multiple
overseas brands to expand its reach. He merged all the Tata enterprises, purchased
numerous companies, notably Tetley and Jaguar-Land Rover, and listed Tata
Motors on the New York Stock Exchange, bringing the company international
recognition. He created new benchmarks for the company’s success and the
revenue grew over 40 times while its profits grew over 50 times. Today there
are 95 brands operating under the Tata umbrella, some of which are
world-renowned.
Ratan Tata has been an excellent leader, with sharp decisiveness, fairness, enthusiasm and integrity. He is a man of ideologies, ethics and values. He is involved in numerous philanthropic activities providing quality life and education in rural India. He donates 65% of his money to charitable causes. His love for animals, especially adopting stray dogs, is much appreciated.
A recipient of both the Padma Bhushan
and the Padma Vibhushan, even at the age of 84, Ratan Tata continues to inspire
many young people to become entrepreneurs. A lot can be learned from his
foresightedness which welcomes new ventures, potential technologies and a
value-driven life which puts a human face before commercial gains.
