Failure is not a bad word: Tata Chemicals MD at IIM-A

AHMEDABAD: Students of the one-year full time MBA (post graduate programme in management for executives – PGPX) at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) hosted R Mukundan, managing director of Tata Chemicals as a speaker on campus. His address drew an audience that comprised IIM A’s highly experienced PGPX students, members of the industry, and students from other programmes at IIM-A.

Mukundan talked about the challenges faced by leaders in the industry, and commented on how the best management lessons are learnt during tough situations. He said that one of the main tasks of a leader is to identify new opportunities to grow businesses, or weak signals as he referred to them. He also said that knowledge of economic landscape, sustainability, human capital, technology, the changing social order and innovation was essential to run businesses today.

Talking about Tata Chemicals, he spoke about how a vision to make India self-sufficient in pulse production led to the creation of the company’s i-shakti brand of pulses. Mukundan also talked about Tata Salt’s promotion campaign and how it has brought about a turnaround in the brand’s fortunes.

Mukundan also commented on the importance of taking risks. “Failure is not a bad word anymore”, he said and spoke about how students in the country’s premier education institutes are now more inclined towards starting their own businesses rather than accepting plush job offers.

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