?Enterprise has been in our genes?

Ever since he joined Tata Sons in 1998, R Gopalakrishnan, has been one of the best-known members of the team. He has been responsible for steering the Tata group out of its traditional command-and-control type of leadership to a more shared leadership. It is an approach that has worked wonders for the Group in the past few years, helping it scale new heights globally.

For a man with a lively disposition and a quick wit, Gopal, as he prefers to be referred to, is in many ways, almost boring. Imagine a twenty-something in the psychedelic ?60s reading books only on philosophy and management. Despite being a product of the Woodstock generation, Gopal was always interested in a white-collared corporate career, with practically no interest in liberal arts. The idea of wearing a coat and a tie and traveling to office in a car (inspired by his father, a company executive in Kolkata) appealed to him. But, unlike his father, Gopal did not pursue a degree in commerce. After studying Physics at St Xaviers College, Kolkata, he went on to join the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur to graduate in electronics and computer science. However, his summer training stints at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and subsequently in Nelco (ironically a Tata enterprise) was far from satisfactory. ?A career in engineering just did not match up to the imagery of my father as a manager,? he says, admitting that in reality he did not have much of a clue about the nature of his father?s work.

Naturally, a job as a management trainee in the computer department of Hindustan Lever in 1967 was a prized catch, as far as Gopal was concerned. This was the first step to the suited-booted life he had dreamt for himself. It was only when he was asked to go and sell soaps in the villages, in and around Nashik, did he realize what it takes to build organizations like Levers. ?It taught me the value and dignity of human beings who are doers. I realized that if you have not done what you expect your team members to do, you can never earn their respect,? says Gopal.

Very early on, he was influenced by thought leaders. ?I started reading a lot, on account of a little more time, inclination and money in my purse.? Ling Yutang?s discourses on how to live well influenced his thought processes immensely. An eclectic mixture of books like Theodore Levitt?s Marketing Myopia, Prakash Tandon?s Punjabi Century, The Brahminical Traditions in Indian Management, shaped his mind. ?I somehow never took to fiction or poetry,? he confesses.

Gopal believes that much of what he has achieved today is because he is part of that blessed generation that has been the bridge between two very farway islands ? two generations that are poles apart. ?We were a part of the one that embraced socialism to abolish poverty, one that was focussed only on distribution of wealth and not wealth creation. Then we moulded ourselves along with the generation created post 1991 that saw the rise of capitalism in India. We are the midnight?s children and we have seen the transitions. I believe ours is the only country where a first full-franchised democracy has preceded capitalism. Enterprise has been in our genes, aptly illustrated by the Gujaratis who settled in East Africa, Tamilians in Malaysia and the Keralites in Dubai. Enterprise was suppressed in our youth, and that is why we see such an urgency to grow now,? he adds. So how has the Tata honcho coped with the changing times? From a middle class upbringing in communist Calcutta to the materialism mania in Mumbai, has the transition been easy? ?Just as a fish learns to swim, I too have adapted. Nature does things with the least effort and this is one of the lessons I have learnt from Nature.?

Gopal is very clear that you must know exactly what you don?t want. For him, even amidst changes, there are certain core values that have remain unaltered. There are certain representations of middle-class values ? respect for money, elders and humanity, that cannot be compromised.

He doesn?t believe in strict rituals, but a Vishnusahastranam reading, accompanied with a small puja, followed by a family lunch is a must on Sundays. ?It?s a family event and everyone within the larger family knows that the place to head for on Sunday mornings is Gopal chitappa?s house, it?s almost like an item number,? he laughs. ?My children know that they are expected to be at home on Sunday afternoons, and for them there is no other way to spend Sundays,? he says.

Just as he is rigid on spending quality time with his family, what is also non-negotiable for Gopal is a game or two of tennis at the Bombay Gym every alternate morning. ?Apart from keeping oneself fit, locker room conversations allow me to indulge in crazy men-talk and utter words without the fear of being judged. It allows us to behave like children,? he says candidly. Tennis is a passion that has stayed on. As a boy of eight, Gopal took to a tennis racket at the Bengal Lawn Tennis Association grounds, at the South Club in Kolkata. Recently, Gopal was invited by the members of South Club to join them for a game of tennis. It is a moment he cherishes. Interestingly, more than the tennis courts, where he played after 40-long years, it was the entry into the men?s dressing room in South Club that gave him a greater kick! That?s but natural, he exclaims. In the eight years that he spent in South Club, children were strictly kept out of the dressing rooms! Gopal is also very keen on golf, though he rues that ?his interest in golf is inversely proportional to his skills?. It is perhaps his interest in sports that has allowed him to have a practical approach to most things in life. He has a rather pragmatic attitude towards spirituality.

?A human being needs four kinds of spaces ? material, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. Your life becomes unbalanced when you don?t seek spiritual and intellectual space.? Gopal learnt Sanskrit from a Belgian priest while in St Xavier?s School and as a matter of habit still reads the Ramayana – this at the time of the year when he goes off alcohol completely. ?I don?t make a ritual out of it, I read it whenever I get time, I carry it when I am traveling in the airplane. I don?t need to take off my shoes or wear a dhoti.

This is something I do entirely for myself.? Ask him if he has a very personal relationship with God, ?God does not tell me about his relationship with other people, so my claim might sound too lofty!? he laughs and then quickly changes the mood to add, ?The more science and philosophy you read, the more you realize how little you know. The gap of ignorance is much bigger than the land of knowledge,? says Gopal who recently published his first book, The Case of the Bonsai Manager. He is now working on another book that traces his family history. ?My work has allowed me to interact with a cross-section of people, helping me cultivate an interest in history and sociology,? he says. One of the few regrets in his life is not having been introduced to liberal arts earlier in life. ?When life is done, something must remain undone!? he signs off.