Ratan Tata ...In His Own Words !
āI had a happy childhood, but as my brother & I got older, we faced ragging because of our parentās divorce, which in those days wasnāt as common. My grandmom brought us up.
"Soon after, when my mother remarried, the boys at school started saying all kinds of things about us. But our grandmother taught us to retain dignity at all costs, a value thatās always stayed with me. It involved walking away from these situations instead of fighting back.
"And if it werenāt for grandmom, I wouldnāt be half the person I am today.
"My father and I couldnāt agree on the same thing ā I wanted to go to college in the US, he insisted on UK. I wanted to be an architect, he insisted on me becoming an engineer. If it werenāt for my grandmother, I wouldnāt have ended up at Cornell University in the US. It was because of her that even though I enrolled for mechanical engineering, I switched majors & graduated with a degree in architecture. My father was upset, but I was finally my own, independent person in college & it was my grandmother who taught me that courage to speak up can also be soft.
"After college, I landed a job at an architecture firm in LA, where I worked for 2 years. It was a great time ā the weather was beautiful & I loved my job. It was in LA that I fell in love & almost got married. But at the same time Iād made the decision to move back, at least temporarily, since grandmom wasnāt keeping too well. So I came back to visit her & thought that the person I wanted to marry would come to India with me, but because of the 1962 Indo-China war her parentās werenāt okay with her making the move anymore & the relationship fell apart.
"After the move, I did spend some time with my grandmom. Iād run with my dog, catch up with her & weād have long chats. Iām glad I got that time with her before she passed, because right after I moved to Jamshedpur for an internship at whatās known as Tata Motors now.
It was a waste of time ā I was moved from one department to another & since I was a family member, no one told me what to do ā I spent 6 months trying to be āusefulā.
"It was only after I moved to Tata Steel that I got specific work & my job got interesting. I started from the floor & understood the plight of those working there. So years later, when we downsized Tata Steel from 78,000 to 40,000, we ensured to pay them their present day wages until retirementāitās been in our DNA to serve those who serve us.
"Then, in 1991, JRD stepped down as the Chairman of Tata Industries and then from Tata Sons, there was vicious criticism.
There were other aspirants, who were vocal of him having made the wrong decision. I had been through this before, so I did what I knew bestāmaintained silence & focused on proving myself.
The criticism was personalāJRD got clubbed with nepotism & I, as the wrong choice. I was under scrutiny, but the time I spent on the floor served as a big plus ā I hadnāt gotten there from nowhere!
"All in all, it was a big move. I remember after I was appointed Chairman, I walked with JRD to his office, where he told his secretary that he had to move out. I said, āNo, J, donāt move out, this is your office for as long as you want.ā He said, āWhere will you sit?ā I said, āWhere Iām sitting todayāI have an office down the hall & thatās fine.ā
"I was lucky to have him there. He was my greatest mentor & the years that he was alive, I used to go into his office & say, āJ, I wish this had happened 10 years ago, we have such a great relationship.ā He was like a father & a brother to me & not enoughās been said about that.
"Ever since, my life has been for & about growing the company. When I was appointed Chairman, it was believed my surname got me the position, but my focus was on creating something bigger than us all & on giving back, which has been in the TATA DNA since the start.
