There’s more than just a bit of steel in Sanjay Singh’s life. And a capacity for learning that has seen the chief of corporate communications at Tata Steel blossom professionally and personally

Sanjay Singh has been a Tata Steel man for 24 years, a period during which he has seen the company transform itself from an old-world colossus into the lean, mean and mighty entity it is today.

Currently the chief of corporate communications at the company, Mr Singh has worked under three outstanding managing directors, Russi Mody, Dr J. J. Irani and now B. Muthuraman. The experience has served him well enough to understand Tata Steel’s past, track the pulse of its present, and comprehend the challenges of the future.

Mr Singh, born and brought up in Patna, was a lecturer at Deshbandhu College, New Delhi, before moving to Tata Steel as a management trainee in 1974. He has since been deeply involved with the company and the city of Jamshedpur, which to him are two sides of the same coin.

In this interview with Sujata Agrawal, he talks about his commitment to Tata Steel, his affection for Jamshedpur, and more.

The early years
In the early 1970s there was little thought given to studying for a particular career. Every field was open and there was no specialisation required. All you needed was an open mind, and drive.

I wanted to work in industry and get an MBA. Jamshedpur was ideal since this was where XLRI [one of India’s best MBA institutes] was located, as also Tata Steel and Tata Engineering. I was fortunate to meet Mr Russi Mody at a golf tournament in Patna through mutual friends. I spoke to him about joining Tata Steel, and within three weeks I received my appointment letter.

Tata Steel is a people-oriented company. My first year was very enjoyable. I spent this time meeting people and networking, but there was practical learning on the job too. This paid off, because my first assignment was as executive assistant to the general superintendent of the steel plant. Tata Steel is a production-based business and the steel works is its bread and butter, so there was an enormous amount of learning involved.

The importance of an MBA
I joined XLRI two years after coming to Tata Steel. The quality of its MBA programme was excellent, and the knowledge I gained there has stood me in good stead. I feel an MBA education erases the erroneous notions and ideas one may have about business. My father was an IPS officer, and growing up in Patna hardly gives you an insight into this field. I had no clue about business.

My third year at Tata Steel was the most difficult. I had by then joined Dr Irani’s office and had to balance office work with class projects. I seriously thought about taking a year off from the job, but Dr Irani encouraged me to stay on and complete the course on schedule. In fact, he would insist on my leaving the office at 6 pm.

The hands-on experience I gained at Tata Steel and the theoretical inputs I imbibed from the classroom proved to be a great combination. When you learn from books, you wonder what it’s like on the shop floor, and vice versa. Taken together, the learning is much more.

Learning on the job
I learnt a lot from Dr Irani — perhaps more than from XLRI — about career enhancement. To Dr Irani relaxation meant hard word. It was tough, but I enjoyed the challenges. I was his executive assistant for three years and later the divisional manger in charge of his office. To me the greatest learning was sitting in at his meetings with Tata Steel unions, observing him handle various issues, and seeing the respect he commanded because of his leadership qualities.

When Dr Irani became the managing director he asked me to head corporate communications. He had clear-cut plans, and he used communications as the driver for bringing about change in Tata Steel. He was a man with a vision, and I was privy to that vision. I knew and understood his way of working, his thought process, and was therefore able to help in better and faster implementation of his plans.

Another period of tremendous learning for me was the two years I spent as chief administrator at the Tata hospital. It changed me as a person. The experience taught me a lot about developing people relations at the grass-roots level. As a hospital administrator you have to make people feel as comfortable as possible during their times of distress. It strengthens you as human being and makes you a more caring person.

On my first visit to the operation theatre, I fainted. But towards the end of my two years at the hospital I was able to withstand much worse scenes and situations. You learn to help people in their tragedies without letting it affect you. This is not something that is taught in management institutes or in a company; it changes you as a person.

On managerial styles in Tata Steel
Tata Steel has been extremely fortunate to have the right kind of people at the helm at the right time. When it needed a tribal chief, there was Mr Mody; when it needed a change manager, there was Dr Irani. And now, when the company is embarking on a long-term, sustainable evolution, where the old economy must give way to new realities, we have Mr Muthuraman.

Mr Russi Mody was born to enjoy life, and this he did to the hilt. India was a closed economy then, Tata Steel was on top, and Mr Mody essayed the role of glamorous chieftain extremely well. The onset of liberalisation coincided with the change in management that saw Dr Irani taking over as managing director.

Dr Irani had immense clarity in his vision for Tata Steel. The company had to become market savvy, understand its customers, realise that shareholders were the ultimate owners of the company, explain ‘rightsizing’ to the union, and achieve capacity utilisation for its projects before schedule and under budget — and all this at one go. Dr Irani achieved these objectives while delivering visionary leadership.

Mr Muthuraman is a mature leader. He understands that tomorrow’s industry will run only on consensus. He believes in motivating people through his dreams for the company, in taking the first step and knowing that some will follow and others will walk alongside. His excitement lies in exciting others, and in his silence he lets his people do the talking.

There is an interesting story about Mr Muthuraman. Last year he attended a leadership-training course at INSEAD, France, where 64 CEOs fought for time to be heard. Mr Muthuraman spoke the least (everyone thought he was shy), but when they ranked the participants on a leadership suitability scale, he was top of the heap by a large margin. Tomorrow’s leader does not have to shout to be heard.

Tata Steel has always been a conscientious company. Caring about the community and being true to its stakeholders are values that have not changed since the company’s inception. To be a leader at Tata Steel, you have to firstly be a social leader. The company has shaped the community that it operates in through its ideals and values.

Up until 1992 Jamshedpur’s culture was predominantly Tata Steel culture. With only one newspaper and little television or radio, the city had very few external influences. But even with the onslaught of independent views and perceptions through multiple media, we have been able to communicate and retain the Tata values. We have been able to do this by being transparent in our functioning, and by playing a vital and visible role in all areas of civic life.

The media and the wider community have supported us because we have always taken them into confidence, sharing our plans and ambitions before they are implemented. It is almost like getting the community’s endorsement. Tata Steel has shed 31,000 jobs in recent times (from a peak of 78,000 employees to the present 47,000), but there was been no social fallout of this change.

Jamshedpur is in many ways a prototype of the society of the future — it’s cosmopolitan, achievement oriented, industrious, and the people here have a tremendous amount of pride in themselves. In many ways, this is what I would like to see the rest of India become.

On the Tata Group
The Tata Group has built its equity in terms of image and respect, and respect only comes when you have earned it over a period of time. I consider working in the Tata Group as more of a social responsibility than anything else. There is a moral and social imperative that goes beyond the job contract. It becomes far more important than monetary rewards, and you look beyond that for challenges. You don’t find this in other business groups.

I am proud of the fact that the Tata management has reposed trust in me to deliver results, some of them difficult, some impossible. I’ve tried my best and managed to satisfy some expectations. I would like this trust to continue as long as I am with the group.

I am happy at Tata Steel, but if there is an opportunity for change I will take it. If I have to move out of communications, I would like to take up a job that involves networking and building relationships. But it has to be within the group — I cannot imagine moving out of the Tata family.

Personal hobbies
Flying is a passion; I find it most relaxing and a great stress buster. Unfortunately, the local flying club closed down two years back and I have not done much flying since. I used to go for a short spin every weekend, about 15 to 20 minutes. I have flown single-propeller planes — Pushpak, Swati, Cessna 172 and 152 — but my favourite is the Cessna 152; it’s like the Maruti 800, simple and safe.

I was always a keen follower of cricket and am currently the president of the Bihar Cricket Association (I spend a lot of time organising cricket matches). My only real hobby now is taking long walks every day.