We were both karma yogis in the sense that we had joined and worked in the operations of companies and wanted to write a book that was experiential rather than pedagogical. Perhaps this is the first book about the philosophy of the Tatas which is not written by academicians, historians, journalists or biographers, but by two guys with no such claims but who were pilgrims on the path of the company’s journeys,” R Gopalakrishnan, once an executive director of Tata Sons Ltd tells us. Gopalakrishnan also served on the boards of Tata Technologies and Tata Chemicals.

The new book, Jamsetji Tata: Powerful Learnings for Corporate Success (Penguin Random House), is co-authored by Harish Bhat who has held several roles in the group over 35 years, including managing director of Tata Global Beverages and chief operating officer of Titan Company Ltd. It combines essays and stories drawn from the group’s early, middle and contemporary periods arranged into chapters with overarching themes such Pioneering, People and Persistence. Presented below is a selection of five stories with the authors’ takeaways.