An evening with Mr Harish Bhat
On July 12th , we had our 12th webinar in the ICFAI Online WiseViews series featuring Mr. Harish Bhat a senior executive of the Tata group. The session was moderated by our Prof R Prasad and Prof Sudhakar Rao.
Mr Bhat is an alumnus of BITS Pilani and IIM Ahmedabad. He has also won the prestigious ------ scholarship from the British government. Mr Bhat joined the Tata administrative service in 1987. He is the chairman of Tata Coffee and the brand custodian of Tata Sons.
Mr Bhat is on the board of several Tata group companies including Trent Infinity , Tata Starbucks, Tata Unistore and Tata AIA Life Insurance. He was earlier the managing director of Tata Global Beverages and COO at Titan. Mr Bhat is a prolific writer and has written 4 books, The Curious Marketer, Tata Stories, An extreme love of coffee and The Tata Collection.
As the brand custodian, Mr Bhat ensures that the values and the character of the 153-year-old brand are safeguarded. Some 100 companies use the Tata brand. They must abide by the Tata code of conduct and the Tata Business Excellence model. Mr Bhat also oversees some of the big promotional events of the Tata group like Tata Crucible Campus Quiz and the Tata Mumbai Marathon.
Mr Bhat began by acknowledging that it was a privilege for him to speak at an ICFAI event. He expressed his gratitude to Mrs Shobha Rani for attending the webinar. He recalled that ICFAI founder Mr N J Yasaswy had taught him corporate finance when he was a student of IIM Ahmedabad. Moreover, his wife Leena Bhat was a faculty at ICFAI Bangalore for over a decade before they relocated to Bombay.
JN Tata
The founder of the Tata group Mr JN Tata was born in Navasari, Gujarat in 1839. He moved to Bombay with his family at the age of 13. Mr Tata was fond of reading the books of famous authors like Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. He joined his father’s trading business and founded Tata sons in 1868. It was initially a trading operation.
The Empress Mills at Nagpur, one of the very first enterprises of the Tata Group, was opened on 1st January 1877. This mill used high quality yarn and superior equipment to produce textiles of high quality and became the most important factory of its kind throughout India. The enterprise was so profitable that the shareholders’ wealth multiplied 50 times over 20 years. But the greatest contribution of the Empress Mills was the visionary standards that it set for worker welfare.
In the factory, there were excellent sanitary arrangements, and humidifiers and air circulators to provide clean, fresh air. There were two creches for the babies of the women employees. Girls who worked part time in this mill could attend classes in reading, writing and needlework. Interestingly, a primary school was established by the Mill to provide education to the small boys who brought meals to their mothers, who were working in the Mill.
That was not all. For older children, JN Tata established two factory schools. In 1921, the Jamsetji Tata Girls’ High School was established in Nagpur, with a generous grant from the Empress Mills and its Directors. Seven night schools were established, where languages were taught.
Four gymnasiums were also set up, for exercise and good health. Employees enjoyed free medical facilities, with separate dispensaries for men and women. There was also an old movie projector to provide entertainment to the employees.
Women who had been employed for eleven months or more were provided two months paid maternity leave. The Empress Mills was the first Institution in India to set up a Pension Fund in 1887, an Accident compensation scheme in 1895 and a Provident Fund in 1901.
Mr Tata did not rest on his laurels. He went on to achieve many great things for India. By 1903, Mr Tata had already laid the foundations for several enterprises of national importance. He had put in place the blueprint for a world-class integrated steel plant for India and for the Indian Institute of Science. For setting up IISc, Mr Tata contributed 50% of his wealth. To provide clean electric energy for Mumbai, he embarked on an ambitious hydro-electric project. In 1892, he founded an endowment for the education abroad of promising Indian students, the first of its kind. And, in 1903, the famous Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, opened in Mumbai. Among the other institutions he set up were Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tata Memorial Hospital, in Mumbai and Tata Medical Centre, Calcutta.
Mr Tata decided that 66% of Tata Sons would be held by charitable trusts. These trusts to this day undertake various initiatives for the benefit of society: disaster relief, education, water, Covid relief.
What can we learn from the life of Mr JN Tata? Our life should be driven by a purpose. Only purpose can make our life fulfilling.
JRD Tata
JRD Tata, the founder of Tata Airlines and father of civil aviation in India, was once travelling on an Air India flight. Seated next to him on the flight was L.K. Jha, one of the country’s top bureaucrats. JRD suddenly left his seat, and Mr Jha wondered where he had gone. In fact, JRD was missing from his seat for nearly an hour.
When JRD returned, Mr Jha asked him where he had been for more than an hour. It turned out that JRD had gone to each of the several toilets on that Boeing aircraft, and personally corrected whatever was wrong. Mr Jha recalled later that it was this kind of attention to detail and concern for customer service which made Air India one of the finest airlines globally. Of course, today under government ownership, it is a different story!
Once, a young economist working with the Tata Group, D.R. Pendse, was invited to speak at an International Conference in London, in 1979. JRD Tata heard of this invitation, called Pendse to his office, and asked for the text of his speech.
Pendse responded that he normally spoke extempore. JRD exclaimed: "You mean you will address an international audience of 500 people without an address in your pocket. Have you rehearsed your speech?"
Pendse admitted that he had not rehearsed his speech either but was proposing to do it in the London hotel the day before the event. JRD advised the young Pendse that he might be an expert in Economics, but he should nonetheless prepare rigorously. Then, because Pendse did not own a tape-recorder, JRD picked up his own tape-recorder, and lent it to him.
Pendse promptly changed tack and practiced his speech. He then delivered a brilliant address at the London conference, which was met with a standing ovation. As Pendse sat down acknowledging the applause, he could almost feel the Chairman smiling at him.
What do we learn from these two stories? We must pay attention to detail in whatever we do. Irrespective of the field in which we work, we must strive for excellence.
Ratan Tata
By the early 1990s, India had launched spacecraft and missiles, but it still did not have a car that had been developed and produced within the country. A vibrant car industry promotes engineering excellence and triggers off the growth of various ancillary industries.
Ratan Tata, who was then Chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Motors, stood up in 1995 to express his ambitions for the nation: "We’ll have a car with the Zen’s size, the Ambassador’s internal dimensions, the price of a Maruti 800 and with the running cost of diesel." There were many sceptics who ruled out the possibility of an Indian car. But Mr. Tata was determined and the result was the Tata Indica. Indeed, the name of this car, Indica, spelt pride in the nation.
If the Indica had to be world-class, its features and performance had to be comparable with the best in its league. Engineers from the Engineering Research Centre of Tata Motors, Pune, undertook this exciting voyage of engineering development and design. The Turin based design house, I.DE.A. was contracted to finalise the design. The car had to be futuristic, but it also had to rise to the challenge, of providing space large enough for an Indian family. The transmission system was developed entirely in-house, adding new capabilities to a company that had no background in cars. As many as 3,885 discrete designed components of the car were locally developed and manufactured, either by Tata Motors or by indigenous vendors.
When the prototype for the Tata Indica was eventually unveiled, it produced euphoric reactions. The car looked very distinctive compared to other cars of that period, was very spacious, and had appealing features.
But when it came to manufacturing at scale, the project ran into a wall. A new manufacturing unit could have cost more than US$ 2 bn making the project unviable. Ratan Tata and his team searched around the world, and found a disused Nissan plant in Australia, which was offered to them for sale, at barely one-fifth the cost of a new plant. Tata engineers carefully dismantled this plant, brick by brick, carried it across the seas, and rebuilt it in Pune. This herculean task was accomplished within six months!
Ratan Tata used to visit the Indica manufacturing facilities quite often. Once, he noticed operators fixing the rear strut of the car manually. They would bend up and down 600 times to complete this operation, on 300 cars each day. Ratan Tata insisted on an automation solution, on priority. The engineering department rose to the occasion and quickly developed a fixture to semi-automate the operation. Operators remember this fondly, until today. The first car took 8 days to assemble but today it can be done in 54 seconds.
The Tata Indica was launched in December 1998, with an overwhelming response. But it soon attracted a lot of criticism due to several engineering and quality problems. Ratan Tata led from the front, and ensured that the improvements were quickly made. A new, robust Indica was ready by 2001, with all the key quality problems having been eliminated. The Indica V2 became the fastest selling automobile in Indian history, achieving sales of 100,000 cars in less than eighteen months.
Why did Ratan Tata take on this challenge of making India’s own car? As he put it: "I had a strong conviction that our engineers, who could put a rocket into space, could produce our own car. And when we took up the challenge, we went out and got expertise wherever it was necessary. Everything we had in it was ours. So, to me, (the Indica) was a great feeling of national achievement."
What can we learn from Mr Ratan Tata? We cannot achieve important things in life without courage. Changing our role/job, persuading the boss or taking a new path in life all need courage.
Darbari Seth
In May 1995, Mr Bhat and his wife were blessed with a daughter. Mr Bhat wrote to Darbari Seth (He had once been Mr Seth’s Executive Assistant.), and he promptly wrote back, conveying his congratulations, and blessings to the baby. Mr Bhat thought the matter had ended there.
However, a few months later, he had a call from an executive in Tata Coffee. “Our Chairman is in our plantations at Coorg today, and he is driving down to Bangalore this morning. He is keen to see your daughter. Can he reach your home by around 3 pm.?”
Mr Bhat rushed home from office. At 3 pm, Mr Darbari Seth arrived, held the little girl in his arms, smiled at her, kissed her, and conveyed his blessings. He spent around half an hour in their home, also talking to Mr Bhat’s parents.
It was a moving experience. At the Age of 75, Mr Seth had chosen to do this gruelling drive of five hours from Coorg to Bangalore, and then move through the terrible traffic in Bangalore.
On his own experiences
Mr Bhat recalls with great pride his association with the Tatas. Not once during the last 34 years, he has thought of leaving the group. It is like a second home. He has never had to do anything against his conscience. As a result, he can go to sleep with a peaceful mind. This he feels is more important than anything else.
Over time, Mr Bhat has learnt that it is important to move out of our comfort zone. Only then we can discover ourselves. He was well settled as the Head of Marketing at Tata Tea. When the Titan opportunity came, he was not so sure about whether he should take it up. But he joined Titan and learnt new facets of marketing. He also discovered his passion for consumer behaviour. He realized that some marketing principles were common to tea and watches. Mr Bhat also had a great learning experience when turning around Titan Watches. Later, he discovered his interest in writing.
Mr Bhat emphasised that it is important for us to identify what is important to us. That is when life will really blossom.
From Darbari Seth (and the story narrated earlier), Mr Bhat learnt the importance of being a people oriented leader.
Q&A
On the role of leadership during the pandemic
Two leadership qualities have become particularly important during the pandemic: Courage, Empathy. Courage is needed to move in the right direction and take difficult decisions despite the uncertainties involved. The pandemic has caused severe mental, emotional, and economic hardship to people. So, we must be kind to them. We must have a “people first” mindset and try to protect jobs to the extent that we can.
During the pandemic, things have been tough. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Some companies have dealt with the situation with courage while others have gone on the backfoot. In this WFH environment, it is a challenge to keep people motivated.
Companies must also take a long-term view despite the uncertainty. While making short term adjustments, we must do whatever is necessary, keeping the long term good in mind. Thus, Tata Motors has decided to invest in electric vehicles.
In these tough times, it is also important to think of the community and the nation. The Tatas announced on March 28, 2020 that they would contribute Rs 1500 crores to support various pandemic related initiatives.
On WFH
WFH has caused a lot of mental stress. It is not easy to work from home all the time, looking at screens. Mr Bhat suggested that we should try to develop a daily routine and stick to it as far as possible. We should learn to take a break from time to time. Physical exercise and yoga can help to refresh our body and mind and recharge ourselves. Mr Bhat tries to stick to a regular routine. He has a leadership update meeting in the morning. He has lunch at a specified time. He also does yoga daily.
While productivity is important, we should also demonstrate empathy while leading people. We should help people to prioritize and stay focused as trying to do too many things in this environment is difficult.
Responding to another question, Mr Bhat mentioned that empowerment is particularly important in this pandemic environment. The kind of people we recruit today should be those who enjoy feeling empowered. They can use this empowerment to serve customers more effectively. Digital skills are also important.
On his biggest accomplishments
Mr Bhat mentioned a few: competing with Lipton and Brook Bond, how Tata Tea became the market leader; how he turned around Tanishq, how as the COO of Titan Watches, he strengthened the brand. These accomplishments have taught him the importance of facing challenges head on and trying to find a solution even if it is not obvious. We must not hold ourselves back due to the fear of failure.
On reskilling and upskilling
The main challenge is to overcome self-doubt. We are often not confident whether we can do it. This is quite understandable. But we must remember that as human beings, we have the capability to learn anything at any age. The trick is to get started. Once we get started, things will start falling in place. Mr Bhat narrated his own personal experience. Till about 4 years back, he was not active on the social media. So, he approached a younger person Arun Bijli for reverse mentoring. He got tips on what to post, what works and what does not work. Within 2 years, Mr Bhat had mastered the use of the LinkedIn platform and was rated as the top voice in 2019.
On being socially responsible
World over, companies are realizing that they must go beyond profits and take care of customers, employees, and the larger community. Today, sustainability has become an important theme. The younger generation wants companies to be socially responsible. One problem is that when taking important business decisions, the other stakeholders are often absent. So, an interesting practice pioneered by Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks is to leave two empty chairs in the room during any senior leadership or board meeting. These chairs represent the customers and the employees.
On teaching leadership in BSchools
Probably the best way to teach leadership is to narrate inspiring stories of great leaders like Gandhiji, JRD Tata, JN Tata, etc. From their biographies students will be able to learn the importance of courage, humility, strategic thinking, focus, excellence, and execution. Students should understand why these attributes are important. During internships, students can practise what they have learnt in the classroom.
On building our career.
There are many opportunities today: MNCs, Indian companies, start- ups, etc and in a wide range of functions. We should select the career that excites us the most. But the key insight from Mr Bhat is that most of us do not know what we want to do when we graduate from college. There is nothing wrong in spending the first 5-7 years (and even longer if needed) meandering a little, trying to understand ourselves and finding our zone of joy. Then we can settle down in the job that we want to do.
On the Tata brand
The core values of the brand have not changed. They remain: do what is good for the country and community, be pioneers and do things not done before and strive for excellence and quality in what we do. What has changed is the way the brand connects to the customer. Digital channels have become far more important. The customer’s voice has become powerful. So, it is important to engage with the customer
regularly. Agility has also become important. To gain and protect market share is not easy in today’s competitive environment. Another change is that the Tata brand has been extended to many more product categories compared to the time when the group began operations.
A great session by one of India’s most thoughtful and grounded leaders. Great moderation by Prasad and Sudhakar.
We thank Dr. Vedpuriswar for bringing out the highlights in the form of this note
