Leadership Lessons from Ratan Tata

From ground to air, Tata is a brand name that everyone spells. Tata is known for its commitment, loyalty, and trust. It is one of the successful organizations that not only generate huge profits in businesses but also aim to transform the lives of their employees, the communities in which they live, and the society at large. Mr. Ratan Tata, the Chairman of Tata Group, is a prominent industrialist and philanthropist in India. Due to his contribution to trade and industry, he was bestowed with Padma Vibhushan (2008) and Padma Bhushan (2000).

The leadership style and qualities of Ratan Tata were widely praised across the globe. He is an inspiration for business people and entrepreneurs. Let’s learn some innovative and inspirational lessons from Ratan Tata.

1- Trust and Commitment

It is suspected that the main reason for replacing Cyrus Mistry from the Chairman position is the breaking of the Company’s principles, i.e., trust, values, and commitment. According to the experts, there may be several other reasons, like focusing more on profits rather than the values and commitment of the Tata group.

There was a case in 2009 when a Japanese company NTT Docomo came to India, and they bought 26% stakes from Tata group for 13,000 crores. At the time of the deal, Tata promised Docomo that they could leave whenever they wanted, and at least half of the investment will be refunded as per the current market value of that time.

Later, due to some problems, Tata teleservices wasn’t working properly, so Docomo decided to leave. During that time, Cyrus Mistry was the Chairman. Docomo asked Tata to find a good buyer, but Tata failed to arrange, so Docomo reminded their earlier promise and asked them to buy their shares. Cyrus Mistry denied returning the money by using RBI’s guidelines against Docomo and filed legal cases against Docomo. Ratan Tata did not support this decision and removed him from the position.

2- Visionaries

To be a good leader or successful businessman, the person must be a visionary. Only a visionary perceives more possibilities of success, whereas a lack of this gets more chance of failure.

3- Innovators

A leader must tend to transform a crisis into an opportunity for growth. In 1995, Tanishq was launched, especially focussing on making 18k jewellery based on western designs, and it faced a huge loss of 150 crores rupees. Then under the leadership of Mr. Ratan Tata, a lot of market research was done, and once again, Tanishq introduced 22K traditional Indian designs in the market along with a device called Karatmeter to test the purity of the gold.

4- Courage to take risk

To become a successful leader, one must have the courage and confidence to take risks. For instance, obtaining Jaguar Land Rover, against much criticism, boosted TATA Motors’ profits.