An Indian founder from Boston has been talking up the kind of ethos the Tata name is known for. She let on how she let a personal invitation from Ratan Tata and a phone call go to waste. You can read the regret in her post, and it’s striking a chord: this is the sort of leadership that still has a way of moving people and markets.
A leadership brand moment with market impact
When it comes to where to put down roots or who to support, culture is often the tie-breaker. This is one of those stories. Back in 2020, as an intern at Tata Steel, Biswas put pen to paper for Ratan Tata and got a response. Even now, it’s the benchmark for how she sees a leader.
Biswas will tell you it was the intent behind it. He made the effort to get back to an intern, which, in her view, is more than some in their 50s would do. He was 82 at the time and still had the inclination to make contact.
Inside the exchange and the missed window
You can see it in the email she put out there. Two lines in particular have taken on a life of their own. “I have noted your request for a meeting… and will endeavour to meet you,” he wrote. Then: “Let me take this opportunity to wish you success in your endeavours.”
It wasn’t just an email. His office phoned to find a day that worked, as he was keen to see her. But she was heading to Boston that very day and figured it could wait. “I thought no worries, next time,” is how she puts it. There was no next time, though.
She put down in the U.S. to focus on her business and before you know it, years were gone. Mr. Tata died in 2024, and what was put off is now a hard pill to swallow. "Some regrets stay with you forever,” she says. A good reason not to put off the things that count.
Why LinkedIn reacted: signals that outlast statements
You don’t have to look far to see the reaction on LinkedIn. It’s not about being wistful; it’s about a type of leadership that actually pays attention. A Jamshedpur native put it best in the comments: what makes for a Tata is the way you make people feel. He pointed to the 82-year-old’s answer to an intern as no-nonsense, real leadership.
Then there were the ones who could put a face to the name. They wrote in about the kind of leaders in the Group who are all ears, ask the right questions and have a lot of heart. You see a lot of good words for Ratan Tata’s unpretentiousness. Some even made a case for how the group’s history of building up the country has been a part of their own lives and livelihoods, with one email becoming something of a shared story.
What this means for those in charge
Biswas sees the email as a small-scale model for how to do things. In a startup or a big firm, being on top of your messages is the first thing to go when you’re swamped. She’d have it the other way around: you earn trust by writing back, particularly to the ones at the bottom of the totem pole.
So for the next wave of leaders, she has a few things to consider:
– Do it because you mean it, not for show
– Treat an up-and-comer like you would an equal
– Make room for the people, not just the work
– Be warm; it will come back to you
Down the line, if she ever gets to run things on a large scale, she wants to hold on to the kind of authenticity she was shown. And it shouldn’t be just for the in-crowd; it should be for anyone, as it was for her.
The rest of the story
To Biswas, that email is filed away as a guide. It’s not some soundbite for a cocktail party but a standard. When you’re open, your team is with you, and the right people want to be where you are.
You can see the trend in the replies. No one was talking numbers; they were talking about being seen. Whether it’s a hark back to Jamshedpur or the old ways of leading, the feeling is that values matter. The market is watching, even if it’s over a quiet note.
That missed meeting was a day-changer for her, and now it’s a new way of looking at a boss. In a world of startups that puts a premium on moving fast and raising money, this is a reminder that having some class is what sets you apart. A couple of lines in 2020 will have more legs than any well-oiled pitch.
Now it’s on us. A founder might see this and hit reply to an unsolicited message. An exec can make it a rule that your title doesn’t put you out of reach. The point is to pass on some of that goodwill, because in the end, the titles don’t last.
But let the facts speak for themselves. An intern made a note. An 82-year-old got back to him. Then the phone rang, a plane had to be caught and that was it. But in a way, the gesture has gone much further than a face-to-face ever could, and it’s redefining what we think of as a true leader.
