Rajiv Bajaj on what they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School

Rajiv Bajaj is an interviewer's delight, more so for us business journalists who often have to engage with serious people who only use abbreviations like GDP, PPP, PPOP, EBIDTAR or PAT.

But not Rajiv Bajaj!

Sample one of his statements to me: "Mark Twain said, don't let your schooling interfere with your education; we say don’t let your business interfere with your entrepreneurship." A statement at once flippant, funny and yet steeped in deep business wisdom.

In my latest interview for Moneycontrol, Rajiv Bajaj revealed to me that his father had insisted he go to Harvard, but "I resisted" he said. "I am the only one in my family who hasn't gone to a business school," he said. And yet the interview oozed with brilliant lessons in business management.

Firstly, he said he set out to build not the biggest motorcycle company, or the most profitable, but the most versatile. And why? "As Charles Darwin said, it's not the strongest or the most intelligent species that survives, but the most adaptable," he explained. And proof of the versatility of the company is the two-and-half transitions it has made, he said. First, from scooters to EV, then from being a domestic manufacturer to becoming a global seller to 100 countries. "We are now in the midst of our third transition- from ICE to EV," he said adding, "My job in Bajaj is to ensure the company remains versatile; no matter what the challenge, Bajaj will adapt!"

Most would have thought, such decisions emanate from studying in management schools. But clearly Rajiv Bajaj appears to have done a better job learning from life and on-the-job.

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Entrepreneurship and business acumen are embedded in the way he derives his company's financials, or so it seems. Bajaj Auto has consistently kept its margins above 20%. When nudged on this he said, "Bajaj is actually a 21-22% EBIDTA company. The 1% or 2% is set aside for experimentation. That way we always have a start-up within the legacy company" - another great management lesson.

Asked whether he would go for premiumization given the K-shaped recovery of the economy, Bajaj said premiumzation is a cliche. He would call it differentiation. Each company chooses its differentiation, its segments. "Focus and fragmentation are two sides of the same coin", another pithy management truth from him. "My go-to market strategy is go-to-brand" he said explaining that "brands don't travel inter-segment as much as managements would like them to" a profound lesson that one would pay thousands of dollars to learn from a Kellogg School, or Wharton School or even Sloan School at MIT.

And then there are those delightfully witty statements in previous interviews. "We are the Champions people who BET, with BET standing for Bajaj-Enfield-TVS; and we champions eat OATS - meaning Ola, Ather, Tork, SmartE, the start-up EV brigade!

But this is an exception. Rajiv Bajaj's wit is usually not laughing at others, as much as laughing with others or laughing at himself- an admirable trait to criticize himself or generously give credit to others. "The launch of the Discover 100cc- is my biggest blunder", he once said.

And here, on the other hand is some generous credit to his parents and his family: "My father told me -do what you think is best, but be the best in it!"

And again sample this: "My parents are Mumbaikars, but when dad put up a factory in Akurdi, we all moved to that small village. Father said he does not believe in absentee landlordism" - again a wise lesson for leaders.

"It was my mother who insisted we go to the same school as the rest of the Bajaj Auto staff, and that gave us our values: it's all about meritocracy, not aristocracy," he said.

There was also generous praise for his uncles. "My father got all the limelight; my uncles, younger to him by over 10 years, always lived in his shadows. But there was never any ill-feeling, and not even from the aunts" he said.

A one-hour interview turned out to be a masterclass in management and in humaneness and yet we were laughing all the way.