"FOR RATAN TATA, IT WAS ALWAYS NATION FIRST"

Thomas Matthew, former IAS officer, on his new biography of Ratan Tata, the late Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons

- SIDDHARTH ZARABI

THOMAS MATTHEW (pictured), a former Indian Administrative Service officer, is the author of a new biography—Ratan N. Tata: A Life—on Ratan Tata (RNT), the former Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, who passed away recently. In an interview, he discusses the life of RNT and what CEOs and managers can learn from the late industry captain. Edited excerpts:

Can Ratan Tata’s ability to speak truth to power be replicated in today’s era by ordinary managers? Somebody could say that Tata was able to do it because he had the surname.