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He has not only interacted closely with several corporate dons but also written about them. R.M. Lala's association with the Tatas, as the biographer of Jamsethji Tata and J.R.D. Tata, as a director of the Tata Trust etc, is well known.

But in his recent book A Touch of Greatness: Encounters with the Eminent, he has written about his interaction with several other corporate leaders such as Infosys's N. Narayana Murthy and Wipro's Azim Premji.

It is with a glow of admiration that he talks about JRD, when you ask him how different he was from today's corporate leaders. "Very different. He had great humanity and kindness. He liked people; was extremely understanding and caring. He was like a father to me towards the last five years of his life. Among the people in top positions in our country today, very few have humility; of course Murthy and Premji are exceptions. But the one I knew best... is JRD Tata."

He goes ahead to recall how in 1991, while undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, "he came to visit me in the hospital after a full day's work. He was 86, drove through the traffic of the worst area of Bombay to arrive unannounced at the Tata Memorial. Chemotherapy is an unpleasant experience and you don't like to meet people. I was shivering under the blanket and with one hand on the machine, I stretched out the other hand and said: `Thank you for coming, Sir, it makes all the difference to see you.' And he said: `Why, I've just come to see an old friend'.

That was the kind of touch JRD had, after all I was not the only officer in the Tatas; there were at least 2,000 of any consequence."

These are the kind of things the corporate world needs to realise... that management is about people and it doesn't come through books, it comes from love for people, says Lala, adding, "Towards the end of his life JRD used to say, `The trouble with us is that we don't smile enough. When I'm driving in a car, and people recognise me, I smile at them. It costs me nothing and it makes them happy'."

In his book that features 26 people, from Bhave to M.S. Swaminathan to Narayana Murthy; "at least 20 of them, I can honestly say, were wonderful humble people."

Ethics

Coming to Lala's book, In Search of Ethical Leadership, he says ethics is not confined to not giving or taking a bribe. It covers the entire spectrum of human conduct.

"If you are in an industry, ethics involves how you conduct yourself with customers, staff, shareholders, etc. The first page of the book defines the business ethics of JRD. You can't say I don't give or take bribes, so I'm an ethical man. Ethics means love and gratitude for the staff. They, and not you, say it. When he (JRD) stepped down as chairman of Tata & Sons, one of my colleagues, a 55-year-old lady said: `He will always be my chairman.' That is the kind of loyalty he inspired."

So how different is Ratan Tata from JRD, who had groomed him?

"Ratan, you must concede, is a different person. Your own children are not like you. Ethical leadership is very much there in Ratan. But he exists in a different environment. I think the disease of the modern corporate world is over-busyness. There is very little time or space given to a man for his own life, his own thinking, and for silence. And it is in silence that great thoughts are born," he says.

He thinks, however busy a corporate leader might be, he/she needs a "quiet time every morning; and to read something inspiring... the Gita, Bible, or Stanley Jones or Norman Vincent Peale. People need space and time for themselves. They have a right to it... and not to be slaves to their work," says Lala.

He relates the story of a cousin who sold his company for $ 400 million. When asked about it he said: `I've lost my wife and my child; they've left me because I had no time for them. So what is the company's worth to me now.'

Asked to comment on India's booming economy resulting in young people zipping to the top, earning huge salaries, and often ending up either in a burnout or being arrogant, Lala says, "All this gives them an exaggerated notion about their own importance. Most of them I would think are not worth the salaries they're getting... if we compare them to the poverty that is there in India. But of course this is boom time. For instance, the students who pass out of IIMs begin with annual salaries above Rs 5 lakh. I'm sure their professors won't be getting much more. Have we ever thought how they feel?"

He adds that now there is a move to create more IITs and IIMs; "good idea. But money is not going to make such institutions. The teachers will be very difficult to find; their salaries are not that attractive. It is the consultancies that make money."

Finding inner strength

His book Celebration of the Cells is about his fight against cancer, which he self-diagnosed in 1989, at the age of 60. Riding an elevator, he noticed the growth in his neck, consulted doctors and "before I knew it, I was on chemotherapy. In those days it was far more drastic; today there are antidotes."

On his initial reaction he says, he was "dim enough" not to realise its gravity, which hit him only after the first dose of chemotherapy.

So how did he cope?

"I had to summon my faith and my sense of purpose, which may seem strange to people today. When I look back at the age of 77, when I was having my last radiation two years ago, it dawned on me that the only worthwhile thing to do is to bring people closer to god and have some spiritual input in your life."

The book itself is divided into two parts; his experience with cancer and the sources of strength he kept finding to cope with the malady. It is highly recommended not only for cancer patients but everybody with an ailment, physical or otherwise.

His ailment taught him to "listen to my inner voice. I decided to put my life on honesty, purity, unselfishness and love. I don't say I've achieved it, but if you try to go there, you may get somewhere."

Next on the list of this prolific writer is his autobiography, "on the suggestion of Rajmohan Gandhi, who is a dear friend."

So when is it likely to come out? "You must ask when is it likely to finish... depends on how much my wife chooses to disturb me," he says with a chuckle.

Lala-speak

His lucid style: That's because I'm not very learned. Had I been a Ph.D in philosophy, I would have confused everybody. I met an Oxford Fellow 25 years ago... and till today he still says stuff like... `the osmos of the cosmos'. That kind of language is alien to me; my mind doesn't work like that.

What keeps him going: Cultivating joy, laughter and humour. Sometimes I laugh so heartily, that my wife has to say `Shhhh'.

His dream for India: Till the privileged concentrate on feathering their own nests, the future is not very bright. But the moment people feel compassion for others, things will change. The candle of compassion has to be lit in the human heart; at one time Gandhi did it.

The non-profit sector: There's a myth that corporates are much more effective than the non-profit sector. Peter Drucker, the greatest expert on management, found that the most efficient organisation in America was the YMCA.

Philanthropy: As a director of Tata Trust for 18 years, I'd give money not for the grandeur of the project but the commitment and dedication of the people. The person before you, and not the paper he puts on your table, is important. Some people are not articulate... and I can easily catch the glib talkers!

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

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