Moral voice of Indian business

“Culture,” Peter Drucker once said, “eats strategy for breakfast.” Culture was one of two things that made the Tata group, first under JRD and then under Ratan Tata, unique. Across companies and geographies — for the Tata group was an early mover in globalisation, acquiring not just companies but storied ones with strong brands — the conglomerate that has always been run more like a federation, boasts of an institutionalised Tata way that spans everything. It is a culture that evokes fealty among employees, trust among customers and consumers, and respect among competitors and other stakeholders. It is a culture that believes it is possible to be firm, without being aggressive; efficient, without being heartless; and classy, without being flashy.

Few companies and conglomerates have managed to do this — and the benchmark here is not nurturing a culture like the Tata Group’s, but simply nurturing a culture, any culture at all. Some have achieved it, albeit at a much smaller scale; others have flirted with it briefly, for nurturing a culture across years, and generations of employees and leaders is no easy task.

Nor is the Tata way restricted to the softer aspects of business: Innovation and quality are as much a part of it as social consciousness and plain old decency. And Ratan Tata, who passed on to the great boardroom in the sky late Wednesday night, was as much a product of this culture as he was its keeper

The second thing that made the Tata Group unique was the morality of its leaders, and this is a direct result of the kind of leaders it has had — JRD, first, then Ratan Tata (the current chairman N Chandrasekaran has been in his current role since only 2017). All leaders have to serve as moral compasses, not just for their companies, but for society (or at least the segment of it they represent). That’s just what Ratan Tata did, not just for the Tata Group of companies, but Indian industry itself. He may not have spoken much, but Ratan Tata was the voice of Indian business, a man whose approval was craved by heads of governments as well as entrepreneurs just starting out on their journey, and a man who was trusted by the man on the street and the farmer in his field. Of all the holes he leaves behind, this will likely be the toughest to fill.

For Ratan Tata, petrolhead, philanthropist, dog and music lover, was, to borrow from Kipling, a man who could “talk with crowds and keep his virtue, and walk with Kings without losing the common touch”.