MAKING THE CASE FOR A RETURN TO CORPORATE TIME TRAVEL IN A PANDEMIC

A long sought after flurry of corporate biographies has filled a gaping hole in India’s entrepreneurial history in recent times. Often, these success stories outline the inexorable rise of early owner-entrepreneurs that result in their enterprises today. Rarely however, do we revisit the pivotal moments  that helped further the cause of nationhood. The dilemmas, disappointments, and detours that lead to untrodden paths are usually glossed over in recreating a linear and flattering narrative. Finally, there are forty stories that seek to go behind the scenes and pierce the veil of corporate hagiography. 

In #Tata Stories  - 40 Timeless Tales to Inspire You, author Harish Bhat brings corporate biographies into the digital age.  

Served as a series of memorable episodes, the book is less a historical tome, and more a device for time travel. A sweeping scan over a 150 + years of industry by the nations most recognised conglomerate. Tracing episodes from its founding to its various endeavours, it travels back and forth, allowing the reader to sample a variety of instances when the seeds of Indian industry were painstakingly planted. 

We revisit the  foundational pieces of the steel, power, and hospitality hospitality industry that served as the fulcrum of India’s industrial self-reliance. Before long, we are gliding towards the more advanced ventures of software services, automobiles, and consumer products.  All the while, we are given a time traveller’s ringside seat to the ideas and actions espoused by the group’s legendary founding fathers and  professionals whose endeavours are full of  instructive lessons. 

This marks an important departure from your regular issue corporate biography. By delving into the specific moments in time, Bhat, himself a Tata veteran, uses a historian’s lens. In doing so, he doesn’t merely revisit the past as a matter of record. Instead, we are treated to more than hindsight. In each compact story, we find ourselves sharing the protagonist’s anxieties and excitement. While it is all too easy to imagine corporate leaders are Promethean figures striding relentlessly towards achievement, these stories are different. They give readers a sense of the various imponderables the managers of large enterprises face, and how they can navigate them with a rare mix of temperance and conviction.  

Of course, the Tata group’s history is not without its own existing chronicling. The group’s own reputed historian, R.M.Lala’s excellent works detail the life and times of its founding fathers. Somewhat lesser known however, are the tales of the corporate leaders that were inspired by the group’s founders. In creating a chronological bridge between the two, Bhat provides a timely snapshot of the travails that precede triumph in the corporate world. Each story is independent and not imprisoned in a chronological order, nor are they unduly lengthy.

This snappy approach to an anthology of stories is a timely injection of inspiration in a pandemic-anguished world. If anything, several of the stories leave you wanting more. Whether it is the quirky advertising that made Air India ignite international skies, or whether it is the images of TCS’ pioneering super-computing innovation. The stories leave one with the itch to ‘see’ what it all looked like. Fortunately, the internet and its various archives are the invisible treasure that this book nudges you towards.  

By acting as a portal of discovery to similarly momentous points in time, it has the potential to serve as both, tour guide and time-machine, illustrating how we might tackle the challenges of the current moment. Not only because it outlines game changing leadership strategies but also because it details one oft overlooked aspect of corporate reminiscing. By unearthing the various smaller stories of human connection and camaraderie, it manages to color in the emotional depth in these recollections. It is this attention to detail in each story that elevates it from readable prose to insightful parables.