Ratan Tata – A Grounded Business Tycoon Ratan
Tata is one of the most respected and revered business tycoons in the country. His visionary skills and thought leadership gave the Tata group a global identity and made it the country’s largest industrial conglomerate.
He is respected for his humility and compassionate attitude towards the general public. Besides being amazingly intuitive about business prospects, this gentle business tycoon has won the hearts of millions of Indians with his kind heartedness. Here are some of the highlights of his personality and his career.
Ratan Naval Tata, also known as RNT, was born on December 28, 1937. His father Naval Tata was the adoptive son of the founder of the Tata Group Jamshedji Tata.
He did his schooling from the Campion School in Mumbai and Cathedral and John Connon School. He graduated in architecture from Cornell University and went on to do an advanced management programme from Harvard Business School in 1975.
Ratan Tata joined his grandfather’s organization in 1962. His first job at the company was shoveling limestone into the blast furnace.
Through sheer hard work he grew within the ranks of the company and was named as the successor of JRD Tata in 1991.
Since then, Ratan Tata took firm hold of the reins of the company and chartered a victory path so unique and futuristic that it changed the identity of the 144 old company and gave it a new face and identity.
Ratan Tata brought all the loosely tied organizations of the group under one umbrella and promoted the group as a brand. He was also one of the few visionaries who went ahead and acquired properties in foreign lands giving the company and the country a new identity.
The acquisition of Tetley Tea, Jaguar Land Rover and Corus established the fact that India Inc was a force to reckon with.
Ratan Tata has shown great emotions of compassion and strength during adverse situations. After the 26/11 attacks on the Taj Palace, which is a property of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata personally went and met the family members of the staff who were killed in the attack. While most companies just do with releasing a compensation amount to the bereaved families, this gentle giant went all the way to personally offer his condolences and console them during their grief.
Disturbed with the sight of a family sitting cramped on a scooter on a rainy day, Ratan Tata decided to make a car that every middle class family could afford. The technological wonder called ‘Tata Nano’ was unveiled. Although, the initial model couldn’t take off so well, the design has been upgraded and re-introduced in the market at a slightly higher price and has found acceptance among the masses.
As a businessman, he is respected world-wide for his business acumen and leadership. Personally he is known to be a soft spoken person who likes to indulge in the simple pleasures of life.
Unlike other business tycoons, he lives in a simple flat. His indulgences include a trip to Alibaug with his two German Shepherd dogs once in a while.
