On the evening of January 1, 2023, my ex-boss (can a boss ever be an ex really?) Rayaroth Kuttambally Krishna Kumar passed on. And in his passing, has left a big void and a whole host of memories in many of us. A man who most of us worshipped as the very epitome of a puritanical Tata soul has moved on. KK, as he was known in crisp corporate corridor banter will be missed.
To me, RKKM was always a “Sir” and always will be. Can’t think of addressing him as anything but that. I first met him when I was all of 28, when he called me in for an interview as a marketing manager at what was then Tata Tea Ltd. As someone who was on the other side of the Unilever fence, I had walked into this interview casually but had walked out totally besotted with the vision of a man called KK by the rest of the world. When the world was yet to hear the globalisation word, RKKM was actually making business plans basis just that. When globalisation to me meant overseas companies taking over Indian companies, RKKM represented the right opposed and opposite. When corporate originations were still grappling with items such as “targets” and “vision” statements, RKKM was in “mission” and “purpose” mode. All this possibly 25 years before any of this became fashionable corporate-speak. Something we take for granted as part of daily jargon today.
RKKM was, therefore, always a man before his time. His thoughts were always that many steps ahead. What’s more, not only did he think those many steps ahead, but actually took those steps boldly as well. Many looked audacious at that time. His acquisition of Tetley in the UK, Eight O’clock coffee in the US and Grand Tea & Coffee in Russia were all seen to be audacious moves by many critics. Every one of these critics is today possibly among his biggest fans.
When RKKM moved, he moved fast and big. I still remember the day he announced that he had decided to buy into not one but three hotel properties in a relatively sleepy city called Hyderabad. Or, the months when he relentlessly kept the chase behind a relationship with Starbucks in India. Or, that quick buy and quicker sell of Glaceau to Coca-Cola.
In the days he did all this, no one ever did what he did. And, that was his difference as a business mind on the forever prowl to make it bigger and better. He was a Tata soul to the core and imbued his infectious enthusiasm across the Tata group with vigour, whether it be in beverages, hospitality or at the level of the Tata Trusts he steered till his last days here. In him, I did always see a man who lived by the Tata ethos day in and day out. Not to step out of it for a moment, even in thought.
RKKM has been a thought leader and more importantly a leader factory in himself. The many people he has impacted in Corporate India are no small measure of his success. If there was one thing that was non-negotiable with him, it was the rather important subject of ethics. For RKKM, it was not excellence. It was ethics first. And, excellence came later. Even if it didn’t, it did not bother him as much.
In my 8 years of working with RKKM as my boss, I have stories and stories to narrate, but none I will. I can be gushy about every one of them. But I will not. I am sure my boss wouldn’t approve of my washing ‘clean linen in public’. And, I will not.
Just one parting story though. I had just moved on from Tata Tea. I was at the Taj Mumbai hotel to meet a friend for lunch. I walked towards the restaurant, and right there was RKKM. He saw me come by, stopped talking to the person he was with, and much to my embarrassment, held open the door for me to move in. I looked at him sheepishly, literally saying, “Why sir?” And so, in his completely disarming manner, he said, “Harish, I am in hospitality now, and you are my guest! Welcome to the Taj!” And, at that point of time, RKKM was the managing director at IHCL!
Sir, I will miss you. As many of us will.
Harish Bijoor is a brand guru and founder, Harish Bijoor Consults.Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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