COMPASSIONATE CAPITALIST

 

DEATH, often, is described as celebrating life. For, when she comes, she reminds us of the immense eminence of life and living. But when she takes away some person of the special eminence of Mr. Ratan Tata, she must be grieving. Up there -- where Death has whisked Mr. Ratan Tata away, gods must be reprimanding her for her overture ! But in death, Mr. Ratan Tata -- already immortalised in India’s national memory -- has earned eternality beyond definition ! Such was the position of primacy he occupied in the mind of every Indian person -- beyond politics, beyond race, beyond religion, beyond confining walls. Until he lived, Mr. Ratan Tata symbolised every Tata value -- all of those collectively proving the epithet to the Group’s culture intellectually and spiritually known as compassionate capitalism. Mr. Ratan Tata was the doyen of that culture -- a true compassionate capitalist. He was a living legend. Now, he has become an eternal legend. Physically, he is no more. Spiritually, he will live -- forever ! That is Mr. Ratan Naval Tata -- who breathed his last late October 9, 2024 evening, at a Mumbai hospital, where he had been admitted for what was officially described as a ‘routine check up’ a few days earlier. Everybody believed those words. For, at 86 years of age, Mr. Ratan Tata had slowed down a bit, all right, but the charm on his extremely handsome face was fully intact, his aura emblazoning the Tata empire.

 

His shoulders had dipped and carriage bent a little, all right, but the man never gave even a hint of illness. And suddenly, he chose to leave -- in the manner and method of Bhishma Pitamah of the yore. Every detail of Mr. Ratan Tata’s life has a legend woven into the fabric. From early childhood, when he faced his parents’ split marriage, the young man could have had every legitimate reason to grieve. But such mundane dimensions do not affect greatness that Mr. Ratan Tata was born to symbolise. Each story of each moment of his long and illustrious life needs to be told separately and specially. Each moment of his professional career also needs a similar treatment. But all those may be left for chronological detailing of Mr. Ratan Tata’s life. For the moment, it is time to take a dip in the spirit that he stood for -- of entrepreneurship, of leadership, of kinship -- and bask in its glory ... and feel good that such a person lived in our times. Of course, the corporate world would never forget those golden words his outgoing predecessor Mr. J.R.D.Tata uttered on March 25, 1991when he ushered Mr. Ratan Tata into the office of Chairman of Tata Sons -- “Mr. Chairman, please !” as he gestured his successor to the coveted chair. History changed its course on that day from when Mr. Ratan Tata led the Tata Group into an altogether different zone. Until then, Tata was an undoubtedly big name in global industry -- representing ethical culture dedicated to doing good to the larger society. Yet, it had not become a ‘Brand’ per se. It was under Mr. Ratan Tata’s leadership that ‘Tata’ became a brand in every which the sense -- thanks to his conscious effort and leadership on that count. Mr. J.R.D. Tata lived on for well over two years after Mr. Ratan Tata took over as Tata Chairman, and often expressed a deep satisfaction over the right choice he led the Tata Sons Board of Directors to make. There was internal acrimony over the issue of Mr J.R.D. Tata’s successorship, all right. Yet, Mr. J.R.D. Tata knew what kind of leadership the Group -- and Indian industry -- needed for the next quarter of a century.

 

So, he chose Mr. Ratan Tata over other much publicised claim by another Tata senior -- of great corporate eminence. The years to come were to prove much more in support of that momentous decision. For, as Mr. Ratan Tata led the Group to multiple international ventures -- such as acquisition of Tetley Tea of England, or Jaguar-Land-Rover of England, for example, he also restructured several group companies and made the corporate burden lighter, adding at the same time heftily to the corporate revenues. But entrepreneurship alone was not the lone pursuit of Mr. Ratan Tata. He kept up the Tata tradition of donating generously for philanthropy whose total value during his tenure possibly crossed the collective national budgets of several small countries. Steeped in the Zoroastrian tradition, the Tatas often made extremely generous donations to public causes and Mr. Ratan Tata, too, kept up the tradition. The most important aspect of Tata’s corporate method is that the group is run by two Trusts -- Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust (carved out with the idea of making the enterprise socially useful beyond the temptation of personalised earnings of the owners). Mr. Ratan Naval Tata understood the philosophy well, and led the Group from the front and by example -- of rare philanthropy and altruism.

 

Taking over from Mr. J.R.D. Tata was not an easy burden to handle, but Mr. RatanTata tackled the challenge with aplomb, so to say. In the process, he kept creating different and high standards of leadership and entrepreneurial conduct, thus becoming a role model for generations of young and aspiring entrepreneurs. But it is important to note that Mr. Ratan Tata earned an epithet for himself beyond his corporate image -- of a sage. This was because of his steadfast faith in the values of Zoroastrianism’s basic tenets. Mr. Ratan Tata was one man who did not fit in any one definition. Such a man is no more ! -- having slipped behind Time’s curtain, having said a quiet goodbye to the world, having left behind his mark on the story of humanity !