Ratan Tata (file photo)
Ratan Tata, one of the most respected figures of Indian industry, turned 86 on Wednesday. Even at this age, he leads a very active and simple life. There are many such stories from his life which not only reveal the secrets of his being a successful businessman, but have also become a ‘life time experience lesson’ for many people today. One such incident is from 2008, which can teach you the skill of ‘cooling down the kheer’ i.e. ‘keeping patience and waiting for the right time’.
The year 2008 is the most important year in Ratan Tata’s life. This year the world got the cheapest car Tata Nano. This car was not only Ratan Tata’s dream project. Rather, for this he also endured many difficulties, in which the ‘Singur Movement’ of Bengal is important. However, this was the year when he took revenge for his 10 years old insult.
Revenge for 10 years old insult
In the year 2008, the world was facing economic recession. Its impact was less in India, but many companies in western countries reached the verge of bankruptcy. One of these was Ford, the world’s leading car company, which reached the verge of bankruptcy. Then Ratan Tata, in a way, seeing the ‘opportunity in disaster’, bought the company’s luxury car brand ‘Jaguar Land Rover’. This was his nearly 10 year old vendetta against Ford. The circumstances were that Bill Ford, the owner of Ford Company, had come to India and his words were that Tata had done a big ‘favor’ to his company by purchasing JLR.
What happened 10 years ago?
Actually, this story started in 1999 when Ratan Tata was facing huge losses in his car company Tata Motors. At that time he decided to sell his passenger car unit to Ford. When he met Ford chief Bill Ford regarding this, Bill Ford asked Ratan Tata – If he did not know anything about the car then why did he start making it. Ford is going to do a big ‘favor’ by buying Tata’s car business. At that time Ratan Tata took this insult to heart, but he remained patient and waited for the right time.
Ratan Tata did not sell his car business, but revived it by giving it a new shape. He did the same with ‘Jaguar Land Rover’, turning ‘stone’ into ‘gold’.