Everybody and their uncle are playing the guessing game of who will occupy the Tata Sons chair when the music stops. I shan’t root here for individual favourites but I would like to enter the list of uncles opining on what the selectors should be looking for.
A few reasons why I have a slight advantage over some of the other opinionated uncles. I spent over 24 years with Tatas after joining it through the Tata Administrative Service in 1973. Almost all of those years were spent in human resources (HR) and for the majority of them I was in the corporate headquarters of Telco (subsequently renamed Tata Motors) at Bombay House. This gave me an opportunity to observe the conglomerate integrating systems operated by Tatas at first hand.
Though the group HR function hadn’t been created by the time I left, I did observe its functioning as an external consultant in later years, when Ratan Tata as well as Cyrus Mistry were at the helm of Tata Sons.
Most importantly, I had the privilege of seeing how a powerful (and legendary) business leader like Sumant Moolgaokar performed wonders, partly because he was given near-total autonomy as well as enormous trust and respect by (the even more legendary) JRD Tata.
My subsequent career gave me many opportunities to be involved in the evaluation and selection of chief executive officers (CEOs) (though none for a conglomerate on the scale of the Tata group). I hope this combination prompts a more than cursory reading of the short table that is at the heart of this column.
Some Exclusions
To pare the list of capabilities an individual must bring to the job down to the barest minimum, the following contributions that can be made by others (whether they be trusted lieutenants, a well-organised support office or highly competent external advisors and consultants) or can be assumed for anyone experienced enough to make the shortlist, are kept aside:
- In-depth knowledge of individual industries/ sectors or expert knowledge in particular functions.
- Immersion in particular technologies or trends that are the flavour of the times.
- Standard managerial abilities for planning, execution, monitoring and control.
Individuals bring their own charisma, flair as well as intellectual, verbal and executional artistry to any job. These are as unique and different from person to person as the façade of Rashtrapati Bhavan is from that of Buckingham Palace. Our concern here is with the essential foundations, structural integrity and functional delivery minima. Personal wizardry is welcome but variable and non-prescribable.
I have had a communication challenge in dealing with the unique philosophy of Tatas in the context of choosing its head. While I’ve made generic references to pioneering and concern for people in the following tabulation, I felt it necessary to elaborate briefly on what lay behind those bland words for people unfamiliar with the group. To my mind, there could be no better way of doing so than by quoting Russi Lala who I knew well in my Bombay House days and whose biography of JRD Tata is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand this great conglomerate. “It was Jamsetji who gave the House of Tatas its unique position in the nation. …[He] did not ask ‘What enterprise is the most profitable?’ but, ‘What does the nation need?’ If the answer was steel, hydro-electric energy or a university of science, Jamsetji would make best efforts to fulfil that need. JRD did likewise. ‘What does India need?’ I have heard this question asked by him at meetings of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and I am sure his fellow directors have heard the same question at company board meetings.
Alfred Sloan said, ‘What is good for General Motors is good for America.’ JRD thinks the other way round. ‘What is good for India is good for Tatas.’ …During the course of a discussion, JRD explained why Jamsetji meant so much to him. Said he: ‘Jamsetji was a man of great intelligence, a man of extraordinary vision… His vision of the future gave him a sense of what needed to be done for the country. And then he had integrity. Not only money-related integrity. Jamsetji had integrity of thought and mind. The final attribute was his great humanity – the way he thought about workers nobody in India or abroad thought at that time.’
The first draft of the tabulation that follows had a column for leadership of the Tata Trusts as well. It was apparent that the bent of mind and values needed for the Tata Trusts role had considerable overlap with those needed to steward Tata Sons. Though I still believe having the same person as the chair of Tata Trusts and of Tata Sons would obviate many of the frictions and contradictions that have occurred in the last dozen years, that debate would distract from the key thrust of this column, which is to identify 10 irreducible minima for the Tata Sons chair.
Finally, the need for focus and brevity left no room for explaining what it would take to evaluate these capabilities. Any competent search firm should be able to provide a methodology – or they can take my help!
Capability Checklist
To Be Brief
Those used to crawl through my multi-thousand-word columns will be stunned (and delighted) with this tiny table. I assumed the attention spans of people who are in a position to influence this selection decision will necessarily be short.
Enjoy the brevity while it lasts!
(Visty Banaji is the founder and CEO of Banner Global Consulting (BGC))
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