Ratan Tata calls Tata employees inheritors and custodians of Tata Trusts

There are so many things that one can learn from Ratan Tata, and the art of keeping employees motivated is one of them. On Friday, the chairman of Tata Trusts called all employees of the Tata group "inheritors and custodians of the Trusts" and of its "belief in making a sustainable change" in society.

The charitable trust owns 66% of Tata Sons, which is the holding entity of all companies controlled by the conglomerate that deals in a variety of interests, ranging from salt, cars, technology and steel.

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"You bring your zeal, your vigor, your integrity and most importantly your hard work. It is because of you that we can derive and obtain the opportunity and the privilege to serve our community and through that, our nation," Tata wrote in a letter on the occasion of the 178th birth anniversary of Tata Trusts founder Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. It’s also the 125th year of the philanthropic organization.

It was in 1892 that Tata Trusts was set up, in the form of the JN Tata Endowment, followed by Sir Ratan Tata trust in 1919, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust in 1932, the JRD Tata Trust in 1944, the Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust Jamsetji Tata Trust in 1974 and lastly, the Tata Education and Development Trust in 2008.

The trust deals in healthcare, water, rural upliftment, energy, education, relief, rehabilitation and individual grants, and boasts of the creation of institutes such as the Indian Institute of Science, Tata Memorial Hospital, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and the National Centre for the Performing Arts, all reputed names in their respective fields.

However, only recently it was in the news because of former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry questioning its governance structure and ambit of power. It was October 24, 2016 that Mystry was ousted from his post, which led to the feud.

Four months later, on February 21 2017, N. Chandrasekaran was appointed the new chairman of the Tata group. Chandrasekaran had earlier served as the CEO of TCS.

Chandrasekaran also wrote a letter of encouragement to his employees, saying that higher shareholder value and business performance can be achieved if the conglomerate focuses relentlessly on customers and use innovation to reinvent its businesses.

(Image source: Garavi Gujarat)