The trailblazers conclave I will not be wrong if I say has become India's best sports conclave now in the last 3 years and it will only be fair if I give credit where due it was Mr. Narendran who actually made it possible for us. I remember that phone call when I said sir I want to do something and he said not cricket I said no and he said tell me I said Olympics parolympics everything including women's cricket he said what do you want to do I said conclaves and do it that's how it actually happened in one zoom call and I'm not exaggerating today 3 years down the line we are into number four this year it's 3 days plus 35 plus athletes you made it possible thank you very much
thank you you're being very generous
no no that's how exactly it happened I exaggerate on this one but now that it's become a brand it's become a brand what is your expectation from the conclave why did you back it what was the thought that to bring together policy sport corporates athletes all under one roof what was your thought
I think uh what really got me interested is what you just described uh if it was another platform for cricket I would have said there are many of them and honestly Tatast steel uh tries to support who don't get much support you know in terms of sports in terms of sections of people who uh need that support and so when you talked about parolympics and you talked about women etc that really got me interested because that's something I could justify to myself and to tatasty to say that yes this is something worth supporting so you know your ambition was good your aspiration was good and hence we supported it
and that actually brings me to the Tatastel vision for sports if I see I see hockey I see parolympics, I see women, I see mountaineering, I see archery, I see everything and I I and that's something that kind of appeals to me having done Indian sport for the longest time from the Olympic movement Dorab Tata to now. Can you tell me a little bit more on that the Tatastel vision for sport?
So you know uh Tatast steel is uh supported sports because it finds it a very impactful way to bridge with the community to build a bridge with the community. uh so it's not just about corporate branding and uh building a brand name which we can do many other things to build a brand name or we can support sports differently if it was if the objective was just to build the brand name. So for us, sports is a way of helping the community, connecting with the community, giving opportunities to people who may not otherwise have those opportunities, working at the grassroots level, uh creating facilities in parts of the country which has not seen those facilities and hopefully making an impact on lives uh you know uh through the people that we touch. So it's it's to me a mix of uh the community work that we do plus the fact that we are passionate about sports and the fact that we want to support sports which traditionally don't get a lot of mileage or support
and just to let viewers know uh this is the launch of the trailblazers fourth edition with this interview this 50 days to go we are launching it with Mr. Narendraan's interview and uh the conclave will be between the 14th and the 17th of March one week after the world cup and uh ahead of the IPL once again this year it's the biggest and best trailblazers in terms of athletes the the whole whole number of people from across sport who will be here and I would be expecting Mr. Narendra to also be there but this is the launch that's why we are doing this very special interview coming to parolympic sport again I mean I remember ahead of Paris when we spoke and uh you had asked me what what do you predict how many medals etc etc and I said 25 uh four more 29 happened again you know I see a lot of corporates who wake up post the event that now it's time parolympic sport has come of age the difference with tatastel is tatastile does it from the grassroots Ankita bakut was with me the other day and she said look I've with Tataststeel for 11 years. I didn't I I they bought me a bow. I didn't have a so that for me is Tataststeel that when Parolympics was not 29 medals. It was one medal. Tatastile was still there. So thoughts.
No again exactly the same thing. If we were chasing branding, we would look for the successful athletes and gets associated with them. Uh whereas for us it's about the work that we do at the grassroots. Uh if you look at parolympics or if you look at parathletes, I think there's so much to learn from them. I mean to me we take so many things for granted and when you hear their stories and uh look at the resilience they've shown the perseverance they've shown despite the lack of support they've achieved all that they've done etc. So I think they certainly require more visibility, more support and I must compliment you. I mean I used to read all the newspaper reports which used to come which you and your team used to write because
uh that coverage was not there before.
You know and today I think as a country we celebrate it much more. Uh maybe because we've had success it doesn't matter but I think there's far more recognition there far more celebration of it. All of you played a great role and I think it's very important to do that.
Yes. I mean and that I think I I now think the prime minister's you know in in it uh commonwealth games Olympic games in 2036 if India does host obviously we are talking Olympics we got to be also talking parolympics because parolympics will be part of it it's it's all and and I I see change and I I think so with the effort that all of us have been able to put in we've seen that change the athletes say that
in fact so much so until told three world championships right more decorated than n he actually said Olympics par so he's coming this year again so coming to your own thing the one thing that I've seen in you I mean I've been doing the Tatastel Kolkata world 25k for the longest time you've been running you are an active athlete does that kind of help your understanding of sport
it helps me connect better I obviously have a maybe a greater respect for sports people and what they've achieved because I know how hard it is to do well in sports. it's uh easy to watch on television and uh you know give everyone advice on what they should be doing but I think uh if you even played a bit of sports you know how much of hard work it is how much of discipline is it it is and often times as uh I don't remember who one famous sports person said I worked hard for 10 years and I was called an overnight success right so that hard work is not visible right so so I think if you played sports and uh I've always played some sport or the other uh not been exceptionally good at anything but reasonably good to be able to play it. Uh I've always appreciated it. So I maybe that helps you uh respect them more. I I don't say that if you don't play sport you don't respect them but I think uh it helps you respect them and the efforts much more. And Tatastel has a rich history of supporting sport. So I'm just carrying forward that legacy. You know I'm not doing anything which has not been done before. Maybe doing it differently etc. But uh we have a as you mentioned Drap Tata sponsored the first Indian Olympics delegation in 1920.
Yes. And and Indian Olympic movement owes to Tatastel. I mean there is there is so much uh which I have researched in Loausan myself. It owes to Tatast steel. And so the question that you said you're not exceptionally good at sport you're exceptionally good at what you need to be. So that's something that we need to put on record. Having said that, when you are in the boardroom, have you used sporting lessons? Like in my case, when I face adversity, I I kind of draw from sport in your case.
Well, I think there's a lot to learn from sports people. I mean, and sports persons in general uh even yesterday, I was talking to Kenny uh and he was talking about how to deal with failures for instance. I think sports people deal with this all the time and uh you know, and sports people are under much more public scrutiny. Yes. I mean uh my life as a corporate leader is much simpler than my life would have been if I was a captain of a team somewhere you know because I just tell people if you look at the even if you take cricket as an example if you look at the captains of the Indian cricket team the kind of scrutiny they are under at a very young age by millions of people by all their predecessors by experts and uh the criticism is out there the analysis out there not it's not just them their families have to deal with it So that kind of pressure when you're young and you're trying to make a mark of mark for yourself I think is incredible and for them to deal with it and focus on the game I think hats off to them. I I I tell people if all my predecessors of Tataststeel were to sit and analyze all my decisions every evening on public television uh I don't know how I would be able to run Tataststeel right I mean so I think we need to respect that and I think uh there are a lot of learnings from the boardroom perseverance hard work discipline uh the attitude to never give up I recently came across a quote uh of Nelson Mandela which uh in fact when I mentioned that to Kenny he kind of talked about how it resonated with him Nelson Mandela apparently said uh I never lose. I either win or I learn.
So I think sports people look at it like that, right? So I mean if you lose it's about okay take the learnings and move on. You cannot be expected to win 100% of the time. So I think there's so much for corporate leaders to learn from sports people.
Fascinating. And and that brings me to my next question. Actually Ankita Bhakat was here at Tata Center. I was hosting that event and one thing that struck me was she said look with Tatastel even when I lose there is no pressure on me there is no pressure that go and win yes we are under pressure but from if you if your main backer says there is no pressure that makes our life so much more more easier that's something
so we we as an organization I I keep telling people we invest in relationships you know we are we look at ourselves as a relationship organization ation with our partners, with our employees, with our customers, with our distributors. So I mean I'm sure you know in Tara Steel we have fifth and sixth generation employees. We have distributors who are third I'm myself dealing with some of them who are third generation because I've spent 37 years in TDS right I was just giving away the long service awards uh for uh colleagues in Kolkata and so many of them came and introduced themselves to me as sons and daughters of people I had worked with 30 years back right u you know suppliers vendor partners so we typically I mean of course the expectation is that you build trust and then you invest in the relationship so I think with Ankita and with many others We see the talent. We see the potential. We know that they work hard. Success cannot come every time. And uh we support them because we believe in their potential
and uh they don't fail us. And and the best part about someone like Ankita for example now that she won the Asian Achie gold and all I have covered her at her lowest when she shot that four in Paris and then to see that she's learned from there and now winning the Asian championship beating the Korean gold medalist and the silver medalist makes me very proud and I told her that I said look this is and that's when before even I said anything she said Tatast Steel made it possible because I said you that made me very proud sir I mean absolutely
we had so many over the years uh and Punima who's coach Donacherry awarded coach she's been again a wonderful person so we have a whole ecosystem uh you know which we've supported uh we've had successes we've had disappointments but uh we've tried our best to give them the exposure they need to do their bit they need to work hard and I think Akita is a great example like you said of not letting that disappointment
uh impact her you know her drive and her perseverance. True. So you you deal with corporate leadership and where where when you see a commonwealth games come to India right and India is going to bid for the Olympic games targeted dialogue should start in 27 the prime minister is championing it sport a soft power your take on this do mega events I mean you support mega events the marathons our event everything small big where do you stand on India wanting to host an Olympic games wanting to make a a statement on softpower
sure So to me uh soft power is one objective but to me the greater benefit or objective would be if it can help create a mass movement on sports. It can help build more sports infrastructure across the country. I think if those are the outcomes which come out of it then uh that to me is more impactful than a one-off event where India's on the world stage you know. So to me when people say we have 1.4 billion people why don't we win so many more medals etc. etc. It's largely because how many of that 1.4 4 billion have access
