Today, talent from across the world finds voice at the Tata Group in a way that was not the case before Ratan Tata took over.
As an interested outsider - educator, researcher, entrepreneur - I have been trying to identify what most impressed me about the group over the past two decades under Mr Tata's stewardship.
I concluded that it was the group's reinvigorated commitment to talent. It is the foundation of the group, and the enabler of the ambitious course on which it has embarked, and on which Mr. Mistry must now build.
There are, of course, other business leaders who have comparably exhorted their people to exceed the self-imposed limitations of their own minds.
I can think of Eli Hurvitz at Teva in Israel who converted a small, generics company into a world-class contender in pharma, pioneering a new way to marry generic drugs and new drug discovery. Or the Samsung group leadership.
Like Teva and Samsung, the long-run focus on talent has had an effect.
Today, talent from across the world - whether interns from Harvard and other leading universities of the world, or CEOs of the major Tata companies - finds voice at the Tata Group in a way that was not the case before Mr. Tata took office, and managers find their way to leadership positions earlier in their careers.
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