Doing the Right Thing: Learnings from Ratan Tata | Leadership, Life Lessons and Vision | By the Bestselling Author of Tata Log and #Tatastories, Harish Bhat
When Ratan Tata died in 2024, the grief that swept across India was striking in its intimacy. This wasn't the cold mourning of a public figure. It felt personal. He had, over decades, become something closer to a moral compass for an entire nation's business conscience. Harish Bhat, a Tata veteran and author of the popular Tata Log and #Tatastories, has written what amounts to a quiet but searching examination of the principles that drove this singular man. The central thread running through the book is deceptively simple: Ratan Tata's instinct to always do the right thing. But Bhat is wise enough to know that simplicity on the surface often conceals considerable depth beneath it. What makes this book absorbing is its grounding in real stories. Why did Tata press ahead with the Indica, a car many thought was a commercial gamble? What possessed him to ring the managing director of Tata Steel a second time, when once would have sufficed? How did he choose integrity over profit in a significant Tata Chemicals decision? How did he respond, both humanly and institutionally, to the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai? Each of these episodes carries its own weight, and Bhat draws lessons from them without resorting to hollow moralising. Several of the stories here are told publicly for the first time, which gives the book a welcome freshness. It's not hagiography. It's something more honest, and ultimately more useful: a portrait of ethical leadership rooted in specific, verifiable moments. Readers looking for both inspiration and practical guidance will find plenty to take away.
- Author: Harish Bhat
- Publisher: Penguin Business
- Genre: Economics
- ISBN: 978-0143479857
- Pages: 288 pages