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What is legacy? Is it your place on a Forbes list? Is it your name on a billboard, or maybe it’s a government honor or Award? Sure all of it counts but Legacy is a lot more than just that. It’s how people remember you after you’re gone, how they talk about you, how they narrate stories about you, and that is why Ratan Tata stood out.
I’m sure you’ve read about what happened. Mr Ratan Tata had been hospitalized for a medical checkup this week, and then last night, the news came in that Ratan Tata had passed away at the age of 86. What happens next rarely happens. The whole country came together: politicians, athletes, actors, business leaders, all of them came together to mourn the passing of Mr. Tata.
Analysing PM Modi’s Tweet and The Words Mentioned about Ratan Tata
Take a look at their messages, and you will notice something—a few common words used to describe him. For example, PM Modi’s tweet mentions words like Visionary, philanthropist, compassionate, and nationalist. It’s a lot of heavy adjectives for one man, but Ratan Tata carried them with ease.
Today his last rites were held in Mumbai, the Maharashtra government had declared a day of mourning, and they also ordered a state funeral for him just look at how many people turned up to pay their respects.
Such is the Legacy Tata carried with him. Talk about celebrities, politicians, and ordinary citizens, all of them lined up for a final goodbye. It’s a testament to his career and to what he did for his company and his country.
His Life Story
So tonight we’re looking at the life of India’s most respected business leader starting with his last name. Every child in India knows about Tata. Tata Group is a business conglomerate(group of multiple companies) involved in just about everything Vehicles, food, hotels, weapons, software, you name it Tata makes it.
The TATA group consists of 30 different companies and their principal promoter is an entity called Tata Sons, whoever leads TATA Sons is the top boss. That’s who Ratan Tata was. But his journey to reach that point was interesting. Ratan Tata was born in 1937 by then the company was a giant in Indian business.
The Earlier Life
When Ratan was 10 years old his parents separated, after that young Ratan lived with his grandmother. In 1962 he graduated from America’s Cornell University his subject was Architecture. Mr Tata was taken in by the American West Coast he wanted to settle down in Los Angeles but fate had other plans, his grandmother convinced Ratan to return to India.
Not like he walked straight into the boardroom though he had to prove himself first. Back then another legendary businessman was running the company JRD TATA. A distant relative of Ratan Tata, apparently there was hostility JRD was not initially found of Ratan to be his successor. Ratan was posted on the shop floor of Tata Steel and shuttled between departments.
Things improved as JRD Tata became older and when he retired in 1991 Ratan took over as chairperson of the Tata Sons. What a time it was for both Ratan and India. India was liberalized to open up its economy in 1991, and on the concept of the free market, different policies were being rolled out. So Ratan Tata had his work cut out. He inherited a solid group of companies but they lagged a common vision. In 1991 when Ratan Tata took over the company it was like a federation of different companies. Ratan Tata went about fixing that.
During this time time, he also announced a major goal, a homegrown car, he set up a new engineering team to design it. He was personally involved in creating the assembly line thus in 1998 the Tata Indica was born. The decision to develop a homemade car and make a dedicated unit to achieve his dream car project also revealed his compassionate side.
Story Time: The Boss Leading from the Front
I’ll narrate a story for you once a fine day Ratan Tata visited his car factory and he saw that his workers had to bend twice to assemble a part and that meant bending some 600 times per day, Do you know what he did? he ordered a robot to be brought in, He said his workers cannot be doing such backbreaking work. That is the leader leading from the front the boss Ratan Tata always caring for his workers and their safety to ensure a healthy productivity from their employees.
By the turn of the 21st century Ratan Tata had consolidated different Tata companies so he eyed his next target – a foreign footprint. In the year 2000 he led the acquisition of Tetley tea, In 2007 he bought steel maker Chorus, and in 2008 he made his biggest splash when Tata Group bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford.
The Story with FORD
Please read the above paragraph to understand this story in depth.
Again there’s a story behind it Tata’s Indica was not a success at first so Ratan Tata considered selling the auto business and Ford was keen on buying it. So Ratan Tata and his team flew out to Detroit but the meeting went bad the Ford CEO humiliated Ratan and he said to him you don’t know anything about it so why did you start the passenger car division.
The deal never went through but it lit a fire in Ratan. He got his Redemption years later in 2008 the Great Recession had hurt Ford’s business they could not hold on to Jaguar and Land Rover. Here enters Ratan Tata he bought them off for 2.3 billion dollars he bailed out the company that humiliated him.
Of course not all of this was seen positively, some people questioned this acquisition spree. The reason was genuine Tata was taking loans to buy loss-making foreign companies and a lot of experts wondered why but Ratan Tata proved them all wrong he retired as chairman in 2012 and by then 2-third tata’s revenue came from abroad. It was truly a multinational company and that’s his business Legacy.
THE TATA NANO ORIGIN
Ratan took Tata to the world all the while keeping his feet on Indian soil he tried to understand what the Indian consumer wanted and that is why he made the world’s most affordable car for Indians The Tata Nano. It was supposed to be the cheapest passenger vehicle in the world just about 1 lakh rupees for the base model, again his assumption was right Indians did want a car of their own but perhaps a bigger model would have worked better.
It’s business at the end of the day you win some you lose some and Ratan Tata won a lot more than he lost but outside business, he only won Ratan Tata became synonymous with philanthropy he wasn’t one for flashy cars or palatial houses his Mumbai house did not even have cars and he did not have to learn philanthropy it’s how he was brought up.
The Philanthropy
The Tata’s have always emphasized giving back to the community. Please read what their founder Jamseth Ji said: “The community is not just another stakeholder in business but is, in fact, the very purpose of its existence“. Ratan Tata lived by these words, you see 66% of Tata Sons’ equity was held by Tata Trusts.
All the dividend money went straight to the trust to charity. Under Ratan Tata’s leadership, 10 Cancer Centers were set up in India, thousands of students got scholarships and many universities received grants. When crisis struck Tata was first to help. During the pandemic, Tata Trust donated $270 million to the relief effort a huge sum for a single trust.
The 26/11 Attacks and Personal Loss
When the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks happened, Tata was personally affected. His Taj Hotel was among the targeted sites, where many employees and guests were killed. Ratan Tata paid lifelong salaries to the families of the slain staff and even built a memorial for them.
The Boss meets the ILL Employee.
A few years ago, he made a quiet trip to Pune with no cameras, no announcements, and no fanfare. Do you know why? He went to meet a former employee who was ill. Simply Imagine that—an 83-year-old man, one of the richest people in India with the most famous surname, driving down to see a former employee who is not doing good. It tells you a lot about who this man was, what he prioritized in life, and What was his role in bringing Tata to the level it is today. How he treated his employees and went to check on him, and how he saw the world.
His Legacy
You won’t find Ratan Tata on the billionaire’s list, but walk around the streets of India and ask about a man named Ratan Tata the replies will tell you his real wealth respect, and adoration. His legacy will not be forgotten in the coming years and what he has done to his motherland.
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