DOWN MEMORY LANE... - BHARAT DOSHI

On the eve of the 60th year celebration of Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, I feel proud as I reflect on my journey with Mahindras over the last 32 years, which is more than half the age of the company and much more than half of my life so far.

I often feel that my identity has merged with M&M's identity and the core purpose and core values of M&M have become an integral part of my life. I thought the best way to convey my thoughts would be to share two stories which reflect two of the elements of our core values - "Professionalism" and "Dignity of the Individual".

The first story led me to join Mahindras 32 years ago and the second one constantly reminds me to go an extra mile for my colleagues irrespective of where they are in the hierarchy.

PROFFESIONAL TO THE CORE

Immediately after I passed my Chartered Accountancy examination in 1973 and as a rank holder amongst top 10, I got several interview calls from large and reputed companies. I ultimately zeroed in on two companies - one was Mahindra & Mahindra and one other which I will not name, but quite reputed. The salary offered by Mahindras was Rs.1000/- per month and the offer by the unnamed company was Rs.1200/- per month.

Belonging to a low middle income family, it was very difficult to ignore the second offer which was 20% higher. When I discussed the dilemma with my father, he asked me to bring to him the Annual Reports, corporate literature and brochures etc. of the two companies. I kept on wondering as to what my father (he had studied only upto First Year Science) would look at which I could not do myself with my sound professional education.

After a quick perusal of the Annual Reports and brochures, he just turned to the pages with the list of directors and top management teams and said to me, "Look at the top management team at M&M - Mr. Keshub Mahindra is from Punjab and yet look at his team below, Mr. I. Chatterji, from Bengal, Mr. B.R. Sule, a Maharashtrian, Mr. Baptist De Souza, a Goan, Mr. Sardesai, a Maharashtrian and Mr. R.K. Pitamber, definitely not from Punjab". Then he added, "Now look at the other company, the Chairman of the company and the directors and senior executives below him are all from Gujarat. Mahindra obviously is a professional company and if and when you rise there, you will know it will be strictly on merit, while if you rise in the other company, it may be because you are a Gujarati".

I was struck by my father's wisdom and instantly followed his advice. I am glad I joined Mahindras and embraced its professionalism and became part of its culture over the last 32 years. My only regret is that my father was not around when I joined the Board of Directors of Mahindra & Mahindra Limited at the age of 43.

CONCERN FOR THE EMPLOYEE

This is a story from the late 80s about our Chairman, Mr. Keshub Mahindra... a story which touched me the most and I make it a point to narrate it whenever I speak on Core Values at M&M and about our Chairman's concern for people.
Modi, a very junior officer in our finance department had been unwell for quite some time and one day his wife and son came to see me at our Head Office. They told me that Modi's kidneys had failed and a surgery was planned at Jaslok Hospital where the son would donate one of his kidneys.

Modi's wife said she would have to attend simultaneously to both Modi and her son at the hospital. They were staying at Ghatkopar and it would be a great inconvenience for her to travel everyday from Ghatkopar to Jaslok Hospital. She indicated that they had located a charitable sanatorium near Mahalaxmi temple where rooms were given to families for short lease of a month, but these were heavily booked and whether there was any way we could help to get the facility. I located the names of the trustees of the sanatorium and found that Mr.Nalin Vissanji, the then President of IMC was one of the trustees. I immediately contacted Villoo Mehta (our Chairman's Secretary) and requested her for a time slot for a very short meeting with the Chairman. She conveyed that the Chairman was very busy in a meeting with a foreign delegation from Otis Elevators and would continue to be busy with the same delegation over the next two days.

I then decided to take a chance and wrote a note to him giving the background and requested Villoo to keep it on his table hoping that he would notice the message even while the delegation was with him. Within five minutes, while Modi's relatives were still with me, I got the note back with his comments that he had seen the note and that he had talked to Nalin Vissanji and that I should contact him immediately. I did and Mr.Vissanji said Keshub only told me "do what you would do if Modi was your employee, then how can I say no to Keshub's request. Your work is done". Modi's wife and son left my room very pleased. I kept on looking at the Chairman's remarks on my note. It had one more line - "Keep me informed about Modi's condition from time to time".

All this in just five minutes - even though he was extremely busy with a foreign delegation. His choice amongst priorities, his willingness to help and his compassion touched me and taught me a lot.

Epilogue: When Modi had fully recovered, he came to see me and I showed him the Chairman's remarks on my note. His eyes were full of tears and he asked me if he could keep the note as a souvenir. I, of course, gave the note to him.