Aptitude of sincerity pays rich dividends Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message: > From: R V Rao <rvrao...@gmail.com> > Date: April 27, 2020 at 9:42:28 PM CDT > To: society4servingseni...@googlegroups.com > Subject: [society4servingseniors] A long story - right thing to do ! > > > It was the year 1946. Germany stood devastated by the Second World War. The > Allies had won the war, and many German cities, including Munich, had been > severely damaged by the British Royal Air Force. Munich, the picturesque > capital of the Bavarian region of Germany, and centre of the country’s diesel > engine production, had suffered as many as 74 air-raids. More than half the > entire city had been damaged or destroyed. > > On one gloomy morning that year, at the Munich Railway station, stood the > Directors of Krauss Maffei, the reputed German engineering Company. They were > waiting for the arrival of their guests from India. Founded in 1838, Krauss > Maffei was a leading maker of locomotives of various types, and an > engineering company with a formidable reputation. Unfortunately, the Company > now stood devastated by the World War, since their factories had been > destroyed by the Allied Forces. > > The guests from India got down from their train. They were Directors from the > Tata Group in India. If you had been there, you would have seen JRD Tata, the > young, tall, lanky Chairman of the Group, get off the train. And accompanying > him was a forty-year old engineer, Sumant Moolgaonkar, representing TELCO > (now Tata Motors). They had come to Munich for discussions with Krauss > Maffei, regarding the manufacture of locomotives in India. What they found, > instead, were scenes of destruction and ruin. > > The Germans requested the Indians to take some of their unemployed engineers > to India, alongwith their families, and provide them jobs and shelter. The > Directors of Krauss Maffei are reported to have told the Tata Directors – > "They are very skilled people. They will do whatever you ask them if you take > care of them. They can also teach your people." > > This would have to be done without a formal contract, because the British, > who were still ruling India, had forbidden Indian Companies from having any > contracts with German Corporations, during those times of the World War. But > this request was urgent, and compelling. Because in that year, with factories > lying destroyed, unemployment in Germany was rampant, and the then German > currency, the Reichsmark, had become almost worthless. > > The Tata Directors agreed to this request, and assured the Germans that their > people would be well looked after. The German engineers from Krauss Maffei > then came to India, and they were provided good jobs and housing by the Tata > Group. They were well taken care of, and they also rendered great service to > Tata Motors. In 1945, Tata Motors had signed an agreement with the Indian > Railways for manufacture of steam locomotives, and this is where the German > engineers provided valuable technical expertise. They helped the Company > manufacture locomotives, which were amongst the Company’s very first products. > > In 1947, India became independent. In the 1950s, Tata Motors moved on to > manufacture trucks in collaboration with Daimler Benz. Many years had now > passed since that fateful meeting at the Munich Railway Station. Germany had > substantially recovered from the ravages of the war, and the reconstruction > effort had borne great fruit. In one of these happier years, the Board of > Directors of Krauss Maffei was surprised to suddenly receive a letter from > India. > > This letter was from the Tata Group. It offered grateful thanks for the > services of the German engineers, and it contained an offer of compensation > to Krauss Maffei for the skills which had been transferred by the Germans to > Tata Motors. Krauss Maffei was surprised, even taken aback at this offer. > There was no legal contract, and therefore no obligation for the Tata Group > to pay any compensation. In fact, I think, neither did this expectation > exist, because the Tata Group had helped by providing jobs and shelter to the > otherwise unemployed German engineers, during those dark days. So, the > Germans were astonished, as they read the Tata letter. > > This story was narrated many, many years later, in the 1970s, by Directors of > Krauss Maffei, to Arun Maira, then a senior Director of Tata Motors. Arun > Maira is one of India’s most respected and distinguished business thinkers > today. In a thoughtful article that he wrote for the Economic Times in 2005 > (thank you, Mr. Maira, for this wonderful piece), he recollects how two > elderly German gentlemen met him as part of a business transaction in > Malaysia, jumped up, shook his hands, and wanted to express their deepest > gratitude to him. They then narrated to him this fascinating story, which, > they said, is now part of their Company’s folklore. > > One interesting and unexpected sidelight of this story occurred when Tata > Motors was asked to provide a legally binding financial guarantee in the > 1970s, but this was rendered very difficult because of the Indian > Government’s regulations at that time. This matter was taken up to German > bankers, who said that a guarantee on a Tata letterhead, signed by the > Chairman, was more valuable than any banker’s guarantee. > > I do not know what exact thoughts ran through the minds of Tata Directors in > the 1950s before they sent that letter to Krauss Maffei, offering > compensation where none was agreed upon or expected. But I think the Tata > Group did this because it was the right thing to do. > > The right thing to do is never defined by formal agreements or legal > contracts alone. Neither is it defined by the expectations that others have > of us. What is right is defined by our own high expectations of ourselves, by > the culture of fairness and trust that we wish to establish. Are we being > truly fair to the people and the Companies we work with? We always know, if > we listen deeply enough to our inner voice, whether we are being totally fair > and right. The Krauss Maffei story holds such a beautiful lesson for all of > us. > > Harish Bhat > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "societyforservingseniors" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to society4servingseniors+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/society4servingseniors/CAPVuisVCp3hz%3DXcSx4pJ5AvEujBOxS_XQ1ekLpQ-%3D4gSf7%3DhjA%40mail.gmail.com. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to thatha_patty+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/32C287BB-B78B-4B63-A815-B5550E9CFCD0%40gmail.com.
