Don’t want my shadow hanging over the group: Ratan Tata

Mumbai: Ratan Naval Tata, who will step down as Tata Group chairman later this month after he turns 75, does not want his “shadow hanging over the group” once he hangs up his boots.

add_main_image“I am very conscious that I don’t want to have my shadow hanging over the group, a ghost walking the corridors, someone giving unsolicited suggestions or expressing an unsolicited viewpoint,” Tata said in an interview published on the conglomerate’s website on Thursday where he speaks about his journey so far, post-retirement plans, and his expectations from his successor.

Tata would be happy to offer his counsel, if needed by the group, but doesn’t consider himself “playing the role of mentor to Cyrus” in the coming years, he said.NextMAds

In November 2011, after a year-long global search for Tata’s successor, a five-member selection committee zeroed in on 44-year-old Cyrus Mistry, whose father, Pallonji Mistry, is Tata Sons’ largest individual shareholder. Tata Sons is the flagship holding company of the Tata Group.

Commenting on Mistry’s capabilities, Tata said that having watched the group’s chairman-designate from close quarters, he found him to “possess the ability to analyse businesses”.

“I consider myself to be more of a numbers person than JRD (J.R.D. Tata, the group’s chairman before Ratan Tata) was. I believe Cyrus is more of a numbers man than I am,” Tata said.

A Tata Group official used the adjectives “solid, detail-oriented, well-prepared, engaged and hands-on”, to describe Mistry’s style of leadership.

“He takes a lot of time and effort to understand what the value drivers for the group companies are,” this official said. “With the analytical vigour he possesses, he could well be a partner in a private equity firm.” The official did not want to be named.

Tata also mentioned that the greatest challenge that Mistry and his set of chieftains will face in the coming years would be “staying faithful to the Tata code of ethics”. They would have to stay away from compromising and surrendering to a “venal system”, Tata said, rating this challenge higher than the ability to run the business prudently.sixthMAds

“I am quite certain of this now that I have worked with him for a year—Cyrus’ values and principles are not different from ours, and he does have the strength of character to manage this critical aspect,” Tata said.

Having mentored Mistry till now, Tata seems to be keen on allowing Mistry a free hand in leading the conglomerate that recently became the first to cross $100 billion in revenue in India, and not letting his own legacy come in the way.

There has been speculation that despite stepping down as chairman, Tata may continue to remain associated with the group’s operations by virtue of heading the charitable trusts that own a majority stake in Tata Sons.

“I would like to make a clean break. I will be available if called upon in any way to help,” Tata said. “I could never do anything to hurt the group. I want to see Cyrus and his team succeed.”

Though Tata is preparing to retire from daily duties at the Tata Group and spend more time pursuing flying, learning music, and spending time with his pet dogs, the septuagenarian industrialist doesn’t seem too keen to dissociate himself with his pet project—the Tata Nano—just yet. Tata said he believed that with a different marketing plan, the world’s cheapest car could be relaunched to serve its originally intended purpose of being an affordable family car.

“Unfortunately, it has come to be perceived as a low-priced car and various stigmas have been attached to it. It has been marketed like other cars, but as a minimal automobile at a low price,” Tata said. “I think that is the wrong way to go, and I would love to have a chance to implement a new marketing plan for the product, if that were possible.”

This is not his stated wish, but something Tata “would gladly devote time to”, if called upon, he said.

Tata was also candid in admitting that he had failed in creating a flat organization within the Tata Group where hierarchy was downplayed and a culture of rewarding performance monetarily and through placing the meritorious in positions of importance was fostered.

“Designations would have been flat in such a system. I have found the reactions to such an idea absolutely contrary to what people want,” Tata said. “To that extent, I think we have failed—I have failed—in creating a flat organization.”