‘Make Believers Part of Your Team’

When the going gets tough, set clear, even bold, targets, and align people’s efforts to transform the organisation.

It is unbelievable the things you can achieve with an uncluttered mind. In 1979, when I stepped up to the task of managing my father’s long-distance tyre business in Kerala, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My father, who managed his business interests in Delhi, had little time to oversee the venture down South – Apollo Tyres. Perhaps as a consequence, operations at the Kerala factory ran into trouble, escalating to a point where the company had wiped out its net worth three times over. I volunteered to go and have a look and resolve matters if need be. My father agreed. It was an assignment that would set the course of my professional life.

Upon reaching the factory, I realised the enormity of the task ahead. I was greeted with anti-management slogans. In terms of business, things did not look promising. People had stopped working on the factory floor; tyres were being returned faster than we could manufacture them and on a capital base of ` 80 million, losses mounted to ` 300 million.

I was young and determined then. With hindsight, I think what