Titan - Book Review

Titan - by Vinay Kamath - Book review

An EXTRAORDINARY book that MUST be bought and read

Why?

- The content is NOT (only) about watches, jewellery, consumer durables etc. It's about "Making the impossible possible".

First, the significant themes that play out:

- It's all about PEOPLE. The constant theme in the book is how the RIGHT people fall into the right grooves and make magic happen.

"Nobody, especially J.R.D., ever looked at the numbers."

- It's a LOT about luck but even more - GOOD Karma. For example, Xerxes Desai (founder) helps others without any expectations, only to be paid back with a dividend of lifetimes.

- The INTENSITY of detail, detail, detail AND micromanagement.

That is how it came to be that the successor to Nobel Laureate C.V. Raman helped us create a steel-plate plate sundial which was executed in brushed steel by a Bombay workshop.

- The role 'classic' ad agencies played (pre-Internet era) in conceptualising, fostering and sustaining immortal brands.

- The role of Mozart (my 3rd fav composer) in the success of Titan :)

- How HUBRIS and Over-Confidence spare no one, not even the Gods. The punishment of Xerces and Titan in Europe.

- The management's attitude to SELL... an obsession vs a 'function'.

The mental resolve to go ahead even though MOST founding directors of Tata Sons did not want to Launch Titan.

- Basically, a book that PROVES that you can achieve anything. As long as you can mentally and physically (work) commit to it.

Outstanding sections/quotes:

J.R.D. speaking in French and Gujarati simultaneously to close a critical negotiation :)

- "Xerxes was fond of saying that Titan was founded by sheer serendipity."

" One senior director, Mr Palkhivala, called me in and actually begged me to give up the project. He said that directors like me should not pursue or manage projects but focus on fortifying the reputation of the Tatas."

• The only significant Indian watchmaker was HMT. It made excellent watches but, as old-timers jocularly recall, HMT seemed to be not so much in the watch marketing business as in the watch rationing business, as demand greatly outstripped supply.
• "To put it straight, we aimed to raid H.M.T., and we did it."
• "Titan set up transit homes with foster mothers and fathers..."
• "The ability to let go of things that didn't work was a strong corporate ethic and helped create the brand that Titan became,"
• "A town curiously named Margherita in Assam had a Titan dealer!"

"The philosophy of the repair section: "Don't make a fortune of a customer's misfortune."

• "The success rate for jingles was under 5 per cent."

"Meera recalls bumping into friends in Mumbai many years later: one of them had named her daughter Tanishq and told her there were quite a few others with that name

• The story of the Karatmeter!

- How Narayan Murthy went into the micro details of the Infosys watch.

• ‘Whatever fee we paid McKinsey was paid back to us in full by that one question Gautam asked Mr Tata, because none of us would have had the guts to ask it!’

Fastrack had an ad that started with 'F**K', and Ronnie had people calling from Bombay House saying they were impacting Tata's brand image!?

• "Xerces inherited J.R.D Tata's "management by affection" philosophy."

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala told Titan Team that "eyewear was a 'halwa' (lucrative) business."

MUST must buy and MUST must must read!

Read 400+ notes -?https://bit.ly/dkb-titan

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