The inside story of TCS

CHENNAI: It is mighty difficult to imagine the impeccable, dignified S Ramadorai, who retired as the CEO of TCS, as someone who would scratch a car just out of temptation. “My father then scratched my face,” he laughed in embarrassment. Read his newly launched book — The TCS Story…and beyond — to not only find out the inside story of TCS, but also a side to Ramadorai, that most of us couldn’t have imagined existed. He said he had always wanted to be a farmer. “Every time I see a farm, I begin thinking of ways to buy it,” he said. Having grown up with siblings and stern parents, Ramadorai believes that his childhood provided him with early lessons on “using management as a tool and outsourcing.” Throughout the book, he said he had drawn various parallels to his childhood. A fine example of it is remembering the shirts he had as a boy. The shirts were always stitched long and extended up to his knees because “his parents thought he was going to grow the next day”. He compared this anecdote with foreign engineers who always bought outsized suits because “they were so sure that they were going to get fat.” Ramadorai launched his book at Landmark, Nungambakkam and was in conversation with popular film maker and cinematographer Rajiv Menon. “It is not just a corporate book and isn’t about making money, but the  story of a human being traversing a very important period in our country — the 60s,” said Rajiv about the book. “Rajiv can now run TCS, considering the amount of reading he has done!” joked Ramadorai, as he patiently answered all the questions in detail. The audience, mostly employees of TCS trying to score some brownie points with their ex-boss, constantly interrupted by beeping Blackberrys, paid rapt attention to every word that the corporate guru said. As his advice to young entrepreneurs, he said, “Don’t blame others, blame yourself.” The royalties from the book will go to TCS Maitree’s skill initiatives for the physically challenged. Apart from fond anecdotes, his passion for his organisation also shines through immensely in his book. “The rise of TCS is a great story that has never been fully told,” explained the author. “But I never imagined it would fall upon me to tell the story,” he added. With persuasion from his family and close acquaintances, he decided that he would take up the challenge. “I hope that when you put down the book, you have travelled the last 40 years with me.” he said. Through the book, he said he had described how TCS took to electronic trading, the importance and essence of succession planning, which he explained as, “caring for institution building rather than worrying about upsetting individuals”, and how understanding and immersing in the culture of any locality is an important trick of globalisation. It catches our attentions how his brainstorming sessions were always held at the comfort of his house over steaming cups of filter coffee and thayir sadam, sometimes. “It was always easier to make decisions this way at the end of the day, even though there were disagreements,” he explained.