‘Will Miss You, Boss.’ Former Tata group CHRO N.S. Rajan’s transferring tribute to the inspirational Cyrus Mistry

It has been my luck and privilege to serve the Tata group and have the wonderful alternative of working very carefully with the then Group Chairman, Cyrus Mistry, over a span of 4 years. Cyrus was an inspirational chief and an actual gentleman whom I’ve grown to admire, whose sense of values, dedication to goal, compassionate methods and readability of thought stood out in his each phrase and motion. I have to confess, although, that he was simple to admire however unattainable to emulate.

On my first day at work in 2013, once I joined the Tata group because the Group CHRO and member of the Group Government Council (GEC), I requested the Chairman about his expectations from Group HR. He stated that every one of us are however momentary trustees of this exceptional establishment and that our position is to serve, to not rule. Cyrus emphasised that individuals are the whole lot and that our philosophy have to be to make sure wellbeing of each worker, throughout the group, at each stage. We have to be a house for the perfect and the brightest, and concentrate on their growth and development, to proceed the Tata legacy. His ideas formed our endeavours in Group HR, at each step.

On the folks entrance, a key initiative was conceptualising and implementing a High quality-of-Life framework primarily based on worker wellbeing and fulfilment at work. As well as, a refreshed management competency mannequin for creating future-ready leaders was applied. We additionally considerably invested in enhancing range and drove affirmative motion, which earned recognition and a nationwide award from the Prime Minister. Efficient succession planning was foremost on Cyrus’s thoughts. He added over 60 CEO/CXOs throughout group firms, with Group HR supporting him. The primary desire was home-grown expertise, and a search train exterior the place mandatory. This infusion of such best-in-class expertise was like an Archimedean lever that considerably enhanced the long run readiness potential of the group.

Company governance was accorded nice significance and have become a key agenda. Cyrus would usually emphasise that “good governance is the conscience of an enterprise”. Enhancing board effectiveness, together with architecting a governance guide, which set requirements above the authorized necessities in keeping with Tata ethos, was initiated. As well as, Cyrus focussed on making certain each range and a well-balanced illustration of all key capabilities in board compositions. Within the 4 years he was on the helm, as a part of an elaborate succession planning train, about 40 administrators with various practical experience had been added to the Tata boards, 1 / 4 of which had been ladies.

He met the senior management often and listened to them diligently and inspired dissenting views. I recall that some CEOs of a specific sector got here to fulfill him and expressed that they had been dealing with enterprise challenges owing to some rivals’ questionable practices. His steerage to them was easy: adhere to a “zero tolerance coverage” in the direction of moral transgressions, no matter market challenges. His mild rejoinder was that credibility have to be earned, not simply inherited. He underscored the necessity to safeguard the Tata ethos, its abiding values and guarantee integrity in our actions. Cyrus shared that it was essential to do issues proper, however much more important to do the appropriate issues.

One of many attention-grabbing points I noticed was Cyrus’s velocity of response to any message you despatched him, be it on WhatsApp or e-mail. I’d get a reply in seconds and when it doesn’t come as shortly, you might be assured that he’s on a flight or that he hasn’t seen your message. I skilled this not solely throughout my 4 years of working with him however even the six years thereafter, throughout which I stayed in fixed contact with him. This made you’re feeling that he’s at all times there and reachable whenever you want him.

Over dinner at Pune Lakehouse a few years after he assumed the position of Chairman, I requested him what he felt concerning the time passed by. It was future, he stated, that handed him the accountability of main such a venerable establishment, and that he noticed every single day as an obligation to fulfil. He had two regrets, although, and lamented that availability of time was the most important constraint. On one hand, he felt that the standard time he may spend along with his loving household, which he was dedicated to, and his expensive pals has been significantly decreased. His different remorse was that the time he needed to steer the group was grossly inadequate, provided that there was a lot to do.

It was his nature to say little and imply a lot. In a foreword that he gracefully penned for my guide, he underscored the necessity for minimalism and brevity: “I’ve been accused of preserving speeches fairly brief. In my thoughts, the facility to make an affect lies within the context and content material, fairly than size, which can be a poor substitute”.

Cyrus had an ideal sense of humour and was a voracious reader. Primarily taken with non-fiction, he would say in a lighter vein that there’s sufficient fiction on this planet round us. Nearly each different weekend, he would end a brand new enterprise guide and would wish to see the way it utilized to our work readily available. He beloved cars and when he assumed operational cost of Tata Motors Restricted (TML) for 2 years within the absence of a CEO, he spent appreciable time within the design store and engineering, creating new fashions for the long run. His work dedication in addition to his joie de vivre was infectious. He touched many lives in his personal distinctive method. So many owed a lot to him and all he anticipated in flip was their dedication to a goal, bigger than themselves.

Cyrus adored his father. After I shared my condolences on his father’s demise, he wrote again sharing the affect his father had in shaping his thought course of: “Whereas at college in London, I by no means missed coming again to Mumbai each alternative I acquired. Most of these days had been spent in workplace sitting beside my father, studying and absorbing the numerous points of our enterprise, however extra so experiencing first-hand the best way he handled folks and the values he lived by. Light, humble but robust, empathetic but truthful. He taught that our phrase means greater than any doc. I used to be fortunate. These classes in life are laborious to come back by… Whereas the world will rightly keep in mind him for the gentleman he was and the Legacy he constructed… we are going to equally keep in mind for the energy he exuded and the battles he fought, at all times silently, at all times sustaining his dignity.”

As I replicate on my affiliation with Cyrus over the previous decade, all that he expressed about his father is equally relevant to Cyrus, too, and befittingly so.

Cyrus was an incredible boss, an expensive good friend, and a relentless information. It’s a deep private loss for me to see him go, leaving us behind. Gone too quickly. Will miss you, boss.

Views are private. N.S. Rajan was the Group Chief Human Assets Officer at Tata Sons and erstwhile member of the Group Government Council arrange by former Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry. He was conferred the “Distinguished Alumnus Award” by XLRI and serves on its Board of Governors, and is at present authoring a guide on happiness at work.