JRD has been an icon for me

Azim Premji
02 September 2005

"The best tribute one can give to a person like JRD is not just remembering him but by building on the foundation he created. For some people like JRD, a lifetime is just too short. But his dreams live on forever. Let us all join hands in the journey of transforming our nation."

Few people have made such an enormous impact as Jehangir Ratanji Dadbhoy Tata on the economic and social fabric of India. He preferred to be addressed as JRD, which not only symbolised his inner humility but also his love for being simple and uncomplicated.

Some people follow the beaten path. Few take the road less travelled. Yet others choose to create their own path. In the case of JRD, the path became a runway not only because of his love for flying, but also because of the cockpit vision of the world he carried. Yet, his feet were always on the ground. That is why he left so many foot prints of inspiration for others to follow. It will be impossible to cover all of them here. I can only dwell on those few that have made a significant impact on my own thinking. JRD has been an icon for me, like many other people of my generation.

The first quality I really admired in JRD was his ability to manage a very complex business portfolio with a rare clarity of mind. The Tata's were into many businesses, some of them unconventional — including airlines, hotels, trucks, locomotives, soda ash, heavy chemicals, pharmaceuticals, financial services, tea, air conditioning, lipsticks, cologne… JRD strengthened existing businesses such as steel, power and hotels. He also exited a few businesses. But JRD always dreamt big. He always looked beyond the national border, while many Indian entrepreneurs allowed themselves to be encircled by it. This helped JRD place not only the Tata group but also the Indian industry on to the international map.

The second quality I admired in him is his obsession with quality. The only thing that triggered his short temper was carelessness of others. He stressed, "If you want excellence, you must aim at perfection. I know that aiming at perfection has its drawbacks. It makes you go into detail that you can avoid. It takes a lot of energy out of you but that's the only way you finally actually achieve excellence. So, in that sense, being finicky is essential."

The third quality I admired was his ability to mange different kinds of individuals according to their ways and characteristics. He relied a lot on self discipline, including the need to suppress one self when required. He created the right environment for the people from diverse backgrounds to grow within the group. Since there was a continual shortage of mangers, JRD was proactive when it came to developing future leaders. JRD was fascinated by the functioning of the 'civil services', where exceptional talent could be spotted early and then groomed in a systematic manner. He formed the Tata Administrative Service and then the Tata Management Training Centre at Pune. This commitment to professionalism served the group well. In 1971, for example, when the coal industry was nationalised, Mohan Kumaramangalam, the then industry minister, left Tata Steel's coal mines untouched on the ground that these efficiently run mines would provide a model for the nationalised mines.