The life principles of India’s two most successful industrialists: Gautam Adani and Ratan Tata
“Principles are concepts that can be applied over and over again in similar circumstances as distinct from narrow answers to specific questions. Every game has principles that successful players master to achieve winning results. So does life. Principles are ways of successfully dealing with the laws of nature or the laws of life,” writes Ray Dalio in his book ‘Principles’.
As I was reading Dalio’s fascinating book, I thought about what were the fundamental life principles of India’s two greatest industrialists of all time — Gautam Adani and Ratan Tata. (Both Adani and Tata like to call themselves as industrialists, and not as businessmen)
There are several enriching books on the Tata Group and its Emeritus Chairman Ratan Tata.
RNT’s most fundamental principles can be distilled into the following seven categories:
1) TVC (Trust, Values, and Commitment)
2) Success in Listening
3) Emotions for Success
4) Teamwork
5) Believe in Your Decisions
6) Take Chances
7) Give To Receive
Unfortunately there is not much literature on Gautam Adani and his entrepreneurial journey. But there are valuable nuggets of insights scattered across different news stories.
In a recent interview Gautam Adani’s son spoke about three business lessons he had received from his father: Humility, Simplicity and Scalability.
Business lessons are not the same thing as life principles, but there are certainly some parallels to be drawn.
Humility, whether at the workplace or in personal life, is certainly a great trait. Like Ratan Tata, Gautam Adani comes across as a very modest, down-to-earth, humble person. I managed to speak to a few people close to him and they all swore about his earthy humility. Those who work with him adore him. For his 60th birthday, he received almost a rock-star reception from his employees at the Adani corporate house in Ahmedabad.
Adani is also known to help people quietly and anonymously. He once read in the papers about a young Muslim girl from Ahmedabad who had passed the Chartered Accountant exams. Her father was a rickshaw puller, and the newspaper story was about the hardships the girl had endured on her way to becoming a graduate. Adani immediately asked his HR Department to get in touch with the girl and offer her a job. That was six years ago. Since then, the girl has risen through the ranks and is now at a mid-level executive position in the Adani finance department.
Simplicity is another key attribute that is evident in Adani’s lifestyle. Not for him Antilia like grotesque display of wealth. He still lives and operates out of Ahmedabad. He has a decent sized-bungalow in the heart of Ahmedabad, and when he is not travelling he commutes to his corporate office on the outskirts of the city every day.
Sometime last year when a story ran on social media of a tribal girl from Jharkhand who due to poverty was forced to assist her father at his cycle repair shop, Adani immediately asked his personal staff to get in touch with the girl’s family. Since then, Adani has taken full responsibility of the girl’s school education.
Scalability is another idea that animates Adani’s way of doing things. Scale is what you see in most of his businesses — ports, airports, logistics and energy.
He’s adopting the same principle to his social and philanthropic outreach. Hence, he has committed Rs. 60,000 crore to fund education, health and skill development in the country. Again, he is looking for solutions that are scalable. Despite being a college drop-out he has a keen mind for technology and innovations. He has apparently told his close aids to look for scalable technology driven models for addressing the gaps in the education, health and skilling sectors.
There is another key life principle of Gautam Adani — family first. If he is in town, he ensures that all the male family members involved in the different group businesses, have lunch together. He firmly believes that by staying together, the Adani family can face any storm and overcome any obstacle that comes their way.
There will be more insights into Adani’s mind when his biography written by Prof RN Bhaskar is released later this year. One can’t wait to get hold of a copy of that book. It will be a treasure for every budding entrepreneur and business management student.
