?The $13 billion Tata-Corus deal was based on pure gut feeling. It was not a strategy, nor was there any particular skill involved. Muthuraman, MD, Tata Steel, had ascribed the decision to a higher power and admitted that at some point we all lead our lives with a fair amount of intuition,? R Gopalakrishnan, executive director, Tata Sons said.
?This is what happened with the Tata-Corus deal. There comes a point where you can?t analyse any more. You don?t know how to value it now and there is no time left in the auction room. You go on intuition and it becomes very important,? Gopalakrishnan said. Revisiting the historic Tata-Corus deal and the auction room drama, Gopalakrishnan recollected how the small team with Ratan Tata and B Muthuraman in London seemed to have exhausted all options after 11 rounds of auctions.
?Why did we put that final number of 608 pence? Muthuraman was honest enough to admit that he had gone for the kill based on pure intuition. At the end of the day it was not technical analysis but intuition that won. But I am yet to meet a manager who is honest enough to admit that he gives in to his intuition,? he said.
Gopalakrishnan said that he was no intuition guru and added that managers are trained and grow up in an educational system, which says intuition is bad, and logic is good. ?Managers are taught not to be emotional. I am saying the opposite. Learn to enjoy emotions,? he advised. He had a piece of valuable advice for Indian managers. ?Go by your gut feel. Sharpen your intuitive skills. But never take a decision suspending analysis totally. Intuition is a winning overlay after exhausting analysis.?
Gopalakrishnan was in Pune for the launch of his book, ?The case of the Bonsai Manager – Lessons from nature on growing? at Landmark. the mysterious reasons why smart CEOs after years of great confidential reports were fired was what got him started on the book. He believes somewhere in their journey, these men had stopped using intuition and used rationale in business decisions. ?Intuition is as old as the Ramayana. It is possible to sharpen your intuitive skills. You appreciate the context in which something may have happened and train yourself to look for signals,? he said.