Extract published from Jamsetji Tata: Powerful Learnings for Corporate Success, by R Gopalakrishnan and Harish Bhat. This extract is from the chapter titled ‘Tata: a leader of leaders.’
JRD Tata was an outstanding leader of men. During his tenure as chairman of the Tata group, he built for the group the finest ensemble of corporate leadership India has seen. So many members of his leadership team were legends in their own right, yet JRD inspired them and earned their abiding respect and love.
Consider the galaxy of stars who worked with JRD across two generations. In the 1940s, his leadership team at Tata Sons consisted of towering stalwarts such as Sir Homi Mody, AD Shroff, Dr John Mathai, Ardershir Dalal and Naval Tata. Post the 1950s, a second generation of equally accomplished leaders were part of JRD’s core team. They included the likes of Sumant Moolgaokar, Darbari Seth, Nani Palkhivala, Russi Mody, JJ Bhabha and Ratan Tata.
JRD led these accomplished people on the strength of his principles, by empowering them and by building consensus where it was required. Most importantly, he inspired these leaders to stretch beyond themselves and often achieve the impossible.
Speaking of how he did this, JRD himself once revealed his secret sauce of leadership: ‘If I have any merit, it is getting along with individuals, according to their ways and characteristics. At times, it involves suppressing yourself. It is painful, but necessary. To be a leader you have got to lead human beings with affection.’
At the heart of JRD Tata’s ability to build and nurture a strong team was his eye for spotting exceptional talent. He would then convince them to join the Group.
Driving TELCO
Consider the story of Sumant Moolgaokar, the man who went on to build Tata Motors. During the 1940s, JRD Tata had been on a learning mission to the UK and the USA. Accompanying him was a young Moolgaokar, at that time a director of the Associated Cement Companies (ACC). During this visit, JRD saw how passionate this young man was about engineering and factories. He had already known about Moolgaokar’s brilliance in his existing role. JRD felt increasingly certain that this was the man to lead a new project that the Tatas were about to launch, the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO).
When they were back in India, JRD asked him, ‘How long are you going to make the glue that sticks the bricks together?’ He then approached the chairman of ACC, Sir Homi Mody, with a request that he release Moolgaokar to TELCO. JRD’s request was initially refused, because Sir Homi felt that ACC required the man. But JRD persisted. He approached Sir Homi Mody once again. Eventually, Sir Homi agreed. How long could he keep saying no to the chairman of the Tata group!
JRD then brought Sumant Moolgaokar on board as director-in-charge of TELCO. This was in 1949, when Moolgaokar was only 43 years old. For the next four decades, in most matters relating to TELCO, JRD deferred to Sumant Moolgaokar’s expertise and judgement, while providing guidance where required. He did this because he quickly understood Moolgaokar’s style of leadership. Many years later, JRD revealed this to his biographer RM Lala: ‘I realized early that Sumant was a lone wolf. If I let him run it his way he would deliver the goods. And he did.’
JRD was, however, a constant source of motivation and support, which kept Moolgaokar’s spirits high even during challenging times.
Chemicals foray
A second story illustrates how JRD Tata spotted extraordinary talent from within the group, providing highly capable employees a platform to make a big impact. In 1939, Tata Chemicals had been created. The Tatas had taken over an existing soda ash company which had collapsed, because they felt that there was a real opportunity to pioneer an inorganic chemicals industry.
However, soda ash manufacture was a closely guarded secret, and consultants began advising JRD to exit the industry. They said the location was not right and the business was destined for failure. The Tata Group was about to engage the services of a foreign firm to help, when JRD Tata, at a review meeting, met a young chemical engineer called Darbari Seth. Seth debunked the proposal of the foreign firm and presented with enthusiasm his dream idea for manufacture of soda ash at Tata Chemicals and the details of how he would go about making this happen.
His enthusiasm was infectious. JRD could feel the spark in this young man, though he could not understand all the technical details. Back in his office, JRD studied Seth’s background and found that the youngster was very well qualified. He had worked in Dow Chemicals in the USA and had also earlier designed a soda ash plant in Holland. However, at Tata Chemicals, Seth was still in a relatively junior role and his managers were unwilling to listen to his ideas.
JRD came to the considered conclusion that Darbari Seth, with his deep expertise, unbridled enthusiasm and lateral thinking, could make Tata Chemicals a success. Immediately, he instructed the management to put Seth in charge of the soda ash plant, notwithstanding his youth. Then, he provided Seth all the support required to navigate uncharted waters.
Darbari Seth went on to develop and implement the technology required, and he made Tata Chemicals a huge success. He led the company until his retirement in the 1990s and was recognized as a technocrat par excellence. Once again, JRD’s eye for talent had delivered results.
JRD was also keen to institutionalize the onboarding of exceptional leadership talent into the Tata group. To ensure this, he created the Tata Administrative Service (TAS) in 1956.
Over the years, many TAS officers have gone on to assume leadership positions in the Tata group. Some of them have also been pioneers. Two standout names from the early years of the TAS are worth mentioning here: Xerxes Desai, the man who created Titan, India’s most successful lifestyle company, and RK Krishna Kumar, the leader who built Tata Tea and led the acquisition of Tetley, the first ever foreign brand to be bought by an Indian company. JRD inspired both.
JRD Tata’s abiding focus on talent not just enhanced the Tata Group but also transformed its fortunes. Like King Arthur and his brave knights of the round table, JRD and his band of exceptional leaders will be talked about for a very long time.
Title: Jamsetji Tata: Powerful Learnings for Corporate Success
Authors: Harish Bhat and R Gopalakrishnan
Publisher: Penguin
Extracted with permission from Penguin