Ratan Tata: His Life & Leadership Lessons | A Tribute by MBAUniverse.com

Indeed, Ratan Tata’s life and work offers many business management and leadership lessons. MBAUniverse.com pays a humble tribute.

Ratan Tata (28 December 1937 – 9 October 2024): A Life of Contributions to Nation
Ratan Tata served as the chairman of Tata Group and Tata Sons from 1990 to 2012. He also served as the interim chairman from October 2016 through February 2017. Recognizing his contribution, the Government of India, in 2008, awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour in India to Ratan Tata. He had previously received the Padma Bhushan in 2000.

Ratan Tata graduated from the Cornell University College of Architecture with a bachelor's degree in architecture. He joined the Tata Group in 1961, where he worked on the shop floor of Tata Steel. He succeeded legendry J R D Tata as Chairman of Tata Sons in 1991. 

Perhaps the biggest legacy of Ratan Tata is the global foray of the Tata Group with acquisition of Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover, and Corus, which turn Tata from a largely India-centric group into a global business. Ratan Tata later turned into a big supporter of startup ecosystem in India and invested in over 30 start-ups, mostly in a personal capacity. 

The life of Ratan Tata offers many important lessons for management students and academics. Here are five of them. 

1. Have a Vision, and Courage to Act!
During the 21 years Ratan Tata led the Tata Group as Chairman, the revenue grew over 40 times, and profit over 50 times. To achieve this, Ratan Tata had a bold vision of the Tata Group. 

When Tata took over the company as Chairman, revenues were coming from commodity businesses. But at the end of his tenure, the majority of sales came from brands and services businesses like Titan, Tanish, TCS, Tata Motors and many others.

In Ratan Tata’s leadership, Tata Tea acquire Tetley, Tata Motors acquire Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Steel acquire Corus. These acquisitions shifted Tata from India-centric group into a global business. Today, over 65% of revenues coming from operations and sales internationally!

Indeed, in this journey, he faced a lot of obstacles and failures. But unafraid he continued to act on his vision.  

2. Believe in Innovation
Ratan Tata was a big believer in innovation. In an interview he said: “Innovation is what drives the business world today. Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon were all born in garages by founders who believed in Innovation.”

Ratan Tata first spearheaded the development of the Tata Indica, the first indigenously manufactured car in India. After initial hiccups, Indica became a big success. Later he led the development of Tata Nano. Tata Motors has since launched many successful car brands and is one of the top players in EV sector as well. Ratan Tata encouraged innovation in every company within his group. 

Ratan Tata also invested in many innovative companies including Snapdeal, Ola and many others. 

3. Don’t Fear Failures 
“When I had launched Indica, I had lost most of my friends, who started distancing as they thought it was foolhardy to launch an Indian Car,” said Ratan Tata in an interview. 

Initially Indica, and later Nano were not commercial successes. But Ratan Tata didn’t let their failure bother him and continued to invest in his vision. 

Similarly, Ratan Tata was criticised for Tata Motors’ acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Steel’s acquisition of Corus. These companies were in heavy losses and floundering. But, with persistence, Tatas turnaround these companies. It is known that Ratan Tata himself used to spend a day on the shop floors of Jaguar Land Rover plant to interact with workers and engineers. 

Today, these acquisitions are well run companies and have shifted Tata from India-centric group into a global business. 

Later, upon turning 75, Ratan Tata resigned his executive powers in the Tata group in 2012. Appointment of Cyrus Mistry as the new chairman led to differences and media battle. In 2016, Cyrus Mistry was removed as chairman of Tata Sons, and Ratan Tata was made interim chairman. He then appointed his trusted former colleague N. Chandrasekaran as the Chairman of Tata. This move was a great success with Tata group reaching new heights in last decade or so. 

4. Humility is Your Best Friend 
Ratan Tata often recommended humility as a key managerial attribute in his interactions with colleagues and students. “No Noble Laurate tells that he or she has won a Noble! So be humble. Humility is your best friend,” said Ratan Tata while addressing a group of students. 

As an individual, he practiced what he preached and was a true example of humble and dignified living.

5. Give Back 
Ratan Tata was a leading philanthropist in India. But he did his charity quietly. He supported education, medicine and rural development. He supported University of New South Wales Faculty of Engineering to develop capacitive deionization to provide improved water for challenged areas. Tata Hall at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) is a state-of-the-art research facility that was opened in 2018. Tata Education and Development Trust, a philanthropic affiliate of Tata Group, endowed a $28 million Tata Scholarship Fund that will allow Cornell University to provide financial aid to undergraduate students from India.

In 2014, Tata Trusts under the chairmanship of Ratan Tata provided a grant of ₹750 million to the Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science to study mechanisms underlying the cause of Alzheimer's disease and to evolve methods for its early diagnosis and treatment. 

Ratan Tata never married and had no children. 

In Ratan Tata, India has lost one of the greatest Ambassadors of India. May his Soul Rest in Peace…