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Frontlist | New book offers insight into Tata Group: The Learning Factory

Frontlist | New book offers insight into Tata Group: The Learning Factory
on Oct 28, 2020

From high-velocity practices to old-fashioned principles, a new book through people-centric episodes gives a peek-into the values that made the Tata Group the giant it is today. The book, The Learning Factory: How The Leaders of Tata Became National Leaders, is written by Arun Maira. He was part of the Tata Administrative Service (TAS) for 25 years and has worked at various important positions in the Tata Group till 1989. Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, the Tata group is a global enterprise, headquartered in India, comprising 30 companies across ten verticals. The group operates in more than 100 countries across six continents and collectively employs over 720,000 people. In 2018-19, the revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was Rs 7,92,710 crore.

“I would like to share my stories of what I learned from these masters. This book is not a history of the Tata Group: many fine books have been written about it. These are first-hand stories, with insights I gained into the arts of value-driven leadership, and the building of values-based institutions,” said Maira.

According to publishing house Penguin, the book is a blueprint for the individual as well as the business that seeks success through its community of leaders, workers and thinkers. “Its companies were headed by legendary chairpersons, all of whom firmly believed in the importance of continuously learning and growing. What can we learn from the individual stories that come together to form this inspiring narrative? Like all great successes, this isn’t one story — it is many accounts that are so powerful that the whole is much greater than the sum of all its parts,” it said. The book also got high praises from chairman emeritus of Tata Sons Ratan Tata who described it as a “first hand narration of interactions and incidents with Tata leaders” which helps better understand its value-driven business. “The Learning Factory is a book full of anecdotal stories that offers different teachings and lessons for students, business professionals, as well as those curious about the Tata way of business,” he added. The book is available at offline and online stores.