Wit Wisdom and Whoop

I t seems as if the curtains have been rung down on the 1 st chapter of the Tata Group, Shapoorji Pallonji or SP Group saga that began centuries ago as fellow members of the Parsi community aiming to make a mark on the Indian business scene. For very long many even in business circles knew that the SP group was the single biggest shareholder of the Tata Group. A private joke some of us had when involved with the SP group and dealing with a Tata company as customer was – we are your biggest shareholder not your vendor. When Ratan Tata flagged off a massive exercise to find and appoint a successor to himself and we kept reading of some or the other high profile name being in contention and when Cyrus Mistry was selected, it was a anti climax. If you are going to find someone within the family why make such a hullaballoo was a question that was asked. The new Chairman was feted, greeted and introduced to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, Chief Minister Na...

I looked at him as he passed me by. It had been over 6 months since we had spoken. The pandemic had resulted in a breakup in our relationship. We know that we loved each other but then stuff happens. As I looked at him walking past without even looking at me, I felt a surge of memories come gushing out. We used to spend a lot of time together. He insisted that I accompany him whenever he travelled. It was not easy. The long flights, the waiting at airports, sleeping in a strange room each night and those taxi rides. I did not enjoy any of them but then he insisted, and I would agree. He enjoyed these trips and I loved him too much to object. The trips especially to USA were more tiring but then that was when we enjoyed ourselves the most. The walk all over those big beautiful airports, those colourful shops with all kinds of stuff that one would be tempted to buy. But luckily, I was one of those who didn’t buy much but preferred to see and enjoy. That way we were a perfect couple. Th...

Honestly I would be wrong if I said that I had worked closely with her since she was the CEO of a giant organisation and I was just the junior most lackey. But 2 incidents gave me an education that I have carried with me. The first was when we built a set of apartments and everybody from the head office designers to the architects had approved everything. Ready for occupancy she came for a visit. In the Kitchen she asked that we find something that could resemble in size to a typical vessel used for cooking at home. She asked us to try washing it under the sink tap and as we washed the water spilt all over the edges. She said – “Change every tap in every apartment. People can’t stay like this. This is common sense, not engineering and learn to use that more often to be successful.” The second I would actually say I should be personally indebted to her. In the initial stages of the project I just blindly did whatever any of the different big bosses told us. One such was purchasing a the...

Its been 6 months since I saw the inside of a plane, office, taxi, hotel or even for that matter shook hands, hugged a friend. Instead its been staring at laptop screens, switching from one MS Teams call to another Zoom call to even a Whatsapp video call at all times of the day or night. Instead of turning your head as you looked at different people and things in a room, swiveling in a chair, getting up, stretching, grabbing coffee, joking and arguing, using the white board and large screen for PPT meetings we now stare at one small screen, eyes flickering from one participant to the other. Life has changed so much and it doesn't seem like life as we knew it is coming back anytime soon. I am not pessimistic and know that things will be back to normal but then it would be the new normal. Many companies including even those in manufacturing are finding that business can indeed be done even when working at home. This is giving many the idea to make this system, even if partially, as a...

Sharing some thoughts on an issue that’s been going on in my head but first giving a background to give perspective to the issue. Mr. Nittur Srinivas Rao was the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, first chief of the Central Vigilance Commission of India and lived to be 101 – active and alert. You can read more about him at these links. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nittoor_Srinivasa_Rau https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/At-99-Nittur-still-breathes-fire-and-optimism/articleshow/19394353.cms https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/right-in-the-middle/unforgettable-memories-of-nittoor-775774.html Sometime in 2003 a school teacher gave an assignment to our daughters class to write about a person who was involved in the freedom movement of India. This made any target candidate at least 70+ yrs old and we were wondering who to find. An uncle said – “Go meet Nittur Srinivasa Rao, tell him your grandfathers name and he will surely talk to you. And by the way, he...

Working on the same project which in today’s terms would be worth many Millions, and that too in a government organisation, we finally managed to see the finishing line ahead of us. Yogesh Bhat referred to earlier worked in the head office. One of the Directors Mr. Behla, a boisterous, energetic Sardarji on a visit to the site asked us – “How long to finish the project?”. We said something like 4 months or so provided we had everything we need in terms of material, men, equipment etc. He just looked at us and said – “Beg, Borrow or Buy, get the project done” and fixed a date and was ready to depart leaving us staring since this involved spending lots of money, taking many decisions and we were too junior to even comprehend that. We mumbled something about how his office needed to help us get what we wanted. He just looked at us and said, “You are the Director” and left. Back again to Yogesh Bhat the crisis manager we were in sheer panic and highly agitated and recounted this conversati...

This is a series of blogs on Amazing bosses I have had the privilege of working with and all blogs are linked for serial reading. In practical terms my first formal job and as I was going through the “fun” of training I was summoned and told that I had been posted to be the “Site In-charge” of a prestigious project which was the first of its kind in India and I was taking over in absentia from the previous manager who had disappeared. At that age who thinks much. I reported and had a colleague Dinesh equally a green horn like me. The location was a crucible of new technology, products, processes for the dairy industry and the latest project was the first aseptic packaging plant in India. Soon I was aware of the challenges of this particular posting – I essentially reported to 2 plant heads, 2 Directors and the CEO of the organisation itself. Remember this was the crucible of new stuff and everybody had their finger in the pie. The level of responsibility, scope of work was far beyond o...

In 1947 as India attained freedom she inherited a robust railway transportation, irrigation and   education system amongst many others and on which India could have built an empire that could have been the envy of the world given that India was largely untouched by the world war and its attendant destruction and death. India also had a rich heritage that went back several centuries and a foundation of knowledge – even if by physical presence – that could have been leveraged by her as can be seen in this tweet. https://twitter.com/tskrishnan/status/1287571588414443520?s=20 India got in Nehru a PM who for all his faults was in office for 17 years literally unchallenged. He did promote a scientific temperament, called the Bhakra Nangal dam as one of the temples of modern India and definitely wanted such Indian “temples” to be built to integrate technology, modern thought, progress, development which would result in India leap frogging to the top given the human capital and marke...

Two hotly debated subjects – Dynastic politics and Bollywood - compelled me to share my thoughts. All humans wish their children to follow in their footsteps, become their inheritors (not just assets) and become bigger, better names than themselves.    Science talks of DNA, Genes etc and let us not fight that. History has seen musicians, sportsmen, scientists, academics, managers, etc - you name it and there are many who have followed their parents, built upon it, and grown.  It is the reality of life. A Tata progeny leading Tata’s, a Rishab Premji leading Wipro or a Roshni taking over HCL or an Amaan/Ayaan Ali Khan or Mohinder Amarnath, many others are often celebrated without question. In business, sports, music and such the progeny do get extra opportunities, but Bollywood and Politics get criticised for a reason. For those who want to quibble on this issue, please check these links – life is all about “nepotism” historically and globally in every field. http...

Ever since the Indian and Chinese army troops clashed in Ladakh area there has been a huge increase in anti-China sentiments and the Govt announced a ban on 59 Chinese apps. Predictably the opposition and many others educated taunted that the ban would have little or no effect on China economically. To clear the air on that before moving ahead. Here the focus is in not on some jingoistic or religious decisions but hard-core economics. Bans don’t achieve anything by direct correlation and cause little hurt to China. To understand this decision we need to get some leadership lessons. Watch his video. Leaders look ridiculous As rightly said – the leader should look ridiculous, but everybody hesitates to do something “stupid”. Once however the ball is tossed, its just a matter of time before others join in. THAT is when the hurting process begins. Several companies that are doing business with China will start de-risking their business and supply chains. This will take some time but will...