Book review: #Tata stories by Harish Bhat

*I can call this week a lucky one as I get to finish this book in a week!*

The Tatas have a legacy of nation-building for over 150 years. Dancing across this long arc of time are thousands of beautiful, astonishing stories, many of which can inspire and provoke us, even move us to do meaningful acts in our own lives.

As someone said it right, the book can be an ideal textbook for a course on “conscious capitalism.

While the book is well written, I think the editing could have been a little better. It seemed as though each of the 40 stories was written separately and just clubbed together. As a result of this, there are many repetitions throughout the book. A better edited version of this book can make it a lot more than what it is!

Regardless, Some of the interesting insights from the book:

Tata’s focus on employee welfare

• Empress Mills, one of the very first enterprises of the Tata Group, opened in 1877. In those distant days, Empress Mills provided crèches for babies, primary schools for employees' children, maternity leave and allowance, and the very first pension and provident fund for employees as early as 1886, along with accident compensation in 1895.?
• The story of the Jubilee Diamond, twice the size of the Kohinoor, being mortgaged to save Tata Steel from collapsing and to ensure timely salaries for employees, underscores the boldness and innovation that characterizes the Tata ethos.

The boldness and innovation that characterized the Tata’s

• The legacy of Titan, defying odds to create world-class watches when skepticism surrounded Indian watch companies.
• The establishment of Air India and the commercial aviation sector in India. In 1982, J.R.D Tata (Aged 78) piloted the flight commemorating the 50th anniversary of India’s first commercial flight, which he had himself flown in 1932 from Karachi to Mumbai. This left a lasting impression on Kalpana Chawala, who took the photograph of J.R.D Tata’s inaugural mail flight with her into space, on her very first mission.
• It was in the early 1990s, that Mr. Ratan Tata had the vision to develop, design and produce India’s first completely indigenous car - Tata Indica. It was interesting to know that to set up the plant, they found a disused Nissan plant in Australia at 1/5th of the cost of a new plant. They carefully dismantled the plant brick-by-brick and carried it overseas to Pune in just 6 months. At one point, Tata Indica indeed became the fastest selling automobile in Indian history.
• The fascinating story of the creation of Taj Hotels.
• The story of Eka - India’s first Indian machine to feature among the ten fastest supercomputers in the work, again a Tata product
• Bobby Kooka - the man behind the lovely Maharaja mascot of Air India. Bobby Kooka was constantly reinventing the Maharaja - as a lover boy in Paris, a sumo wrestler in Tokyo, a Romeo in Rome, and a guru of transcendental meditation in Rishikesh. It was always funny, irreverent, up to antics and always full of India.

The Love for the India and far-sight for its growth

• Jamshedji’s Contributions to research and development in India, including the formation of Indian Institute of Science in 1909 and other Tata institutes.– Tata’s pivotal role in shaping the roadmap for a new India before and after India’s Independence
• J.R.D Tata’s vision that steel was essential for the development of our country - for building bridges, railways buildings and other infrastructure. An interesting anecdote here is how he attracts and convinces the world’s best consulting engineer (Charles Page Perin) from New York to the jungles of eastern India to set up a steel plant in an unknown location, all in his very first meeting.
• An interesting anecdote from the book was when he personally goes to attend and check the placement of every toilet roll in the Air India plane to see if everything was in perfect order. - “.. one must strive for excellence or even perfection in any task however small, and never be satisfied with the second best”
• Instances of his punctually to the accuracy of a minute help us to define true characteristics of a leader.

In conclusion, 'Tata Stories: 40 Timeless Tales to Inspire You' by Harish Bhat paints a vivid portrait of a conglomerate that has not only shaped industries but also contributed significantly to India's growth and development. It celebrates the Tata Group's unwavering commitment to excellence, innovation, and social responsibility. Despite its minor editing flaws, the book stands as a testament to the enduring values that continue to inspire and guide us toward a more conscientious approach to business and life.