What strikes you most about the soft-spoken managing director of Tata Chemicals is the complete lack of airs that most CEOs have. Rarely do you get to see the humility that Homi Khusrokhan displays. For a man who has been at the helm of a large multinational company Glaxo for several years, Homi is far too down-to-earth and likes to maintain a low profile unlike most of his contemporaries. He believes, ?Humility is one virtue that allows one to be close to the ground. It ensures damage is the least when one stumbles.?
A man of few words, Homi likes to work hard. ?As you grow older you become more and more of a workaholic. You tend to wonder what you will do when you have no work!? As a result, he ends up working from the wee hours of the morning to late in the evenings. His colleagues say that they receive mails from him as early as 4.30 in the morning! ?For any manager, managing change is a highly challenging job. It is always better to seek change as a managed process rather than something that just happens,? he offers.
Being happy at the workplace tops his list of priorities. Little wonder then that he has declared this year as the Year of the People. Fridays are no email days and Tata Chemicals officials are expected to go up and have a face-to-face interaction with colleagues on those days. ?These little things go a long way to create a sense of bliss,? he says.
Just as he believes in making office a fun place, Homi likes to enjoy life. For those who know him less, it might be even difficult to believe that this soft-spoken and unassuming leader, who is also a qualified chartered accountant, is known as the ?Singing MD?. ?He sportingly breaks into a ballad in almost all office gatherings and is really very good at it,? confesses one of his colleagues. Music is in his genes, discloses Homi. ?My mother had inclination towards music and used to play the piano, and my family is one in which music was played on the gramophone ten hours a day.?
Encouraged by his mother?s influence, it wasn?t long before he found himself instinctively reacting to the call of the strings and the keys, playing by ear, letting his sense of rhythm guide him onward. ?I started fiddling with the piano,? he says. ?I also began to strum on the guitar and play around on an old violin, which a friend had given me. I liked to sing too.?
His children have inherited his ear for music. ?Both of them took to music very naturally. My daughter Behnaz is trained in classical ballet and she still dances and my son Shirzad, who is employed in the US, plays for a band called Mickanick. He started playing the violin and then moved to the guitar. He also composes and writes his own songs,? he reveals and you don?t miss the glint of pride in his eyes.
His busy schedule has meant that he only manages to keep in touch with his music through attending music concerts and listening to music on his sound system. He also looks forward to his quarterly dates with other like-minded music enthusiasts. He says, ?Three to four times a year, my friends and I get together for a jam session. We have great fun, singing and playing together. Some of those guys are great musicians and play different musical instruments.? Amongst his list of favourites are Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Simon and Garfunkel, Joan Baez, Frank Sinatra and Cat Stevens. ?I also like to listen to western classical and violin is my all time favourite.?
Homi?s love for music is equally matched by his love for the mountains. ?Both me and my wife prefer the mountains compared to beach holidays.? His wife is, in fact, trained at the Western Himalayan Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports at Manali. ?Once we all went on a family trek to the Pindari Glacier in the Himalayas and spent nearly 15 days trekking in the Gharwal mountains.?
The Khusrokhans who have been college sweethearts have also trekked extensively along the Sayhadri hills, while still in college. His love for the lofty ranges also takes him to Mahabaleshwar, a hill station close to Mumbai, at least twice every year. ?I am a part of the Mahabaleshwar committee and take an active interest in the affairs of this town.?
Despite ?a 26-hour day?, Homi manages to squeeze time to work out at the gym every morning. This helps him to stay healthy. Tennis is one passion that he has had to forego. A broken Achilles tendon, while playing in Goa in 2000 has kept him away from the court since then. A regular at the Maharashtra Lawn Tennis Association grounds since childhood, he regrets that he is not able to continue with the game.
However, not everything about his last day on the tennis court is unpleasant. ?I have wonderful memories of a brief knock with Bjorn Borg at the Leela Hotel in Goa in 2000, just before I wrecked my leg,? he says.
The busy manager has, however, always been a doting father. At one time, his wife was posted in Hong Kong for four years. ?I looked after the kids during that time. My son was nearly 16 then and my daughter 12. I was also running a company at the same time. I remember working on school projects till past midnight and then waking up at 4 am to work on my company presentations. I spoilt them silly but it was fun,? he smiles.
Homi?s first job was with the Ford Motor Company in the UK, soon after he completed his masters from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). A big brand and an ultra glam industry were not good enough to hold him back for more than three years. He took up a job with Glaxo and moved to India.
?I always wanted to come back to my country,? he smiles. He went on to work for Glaxo for 29 years, and retired as the managing director of the company in 2000.
Soon after, the Tata group roped in Homi for his skill in handling mergers. Group company Tata Tea had just acquired Tetley and needed a specialist to handle the integration of the second largest Tea company globally with itself. Homi joined Tata Chemicals again when the company is on the verge of transitioning from a capital intensive heavy inorganic chemicals company to a modern chemicals company. ?Every time I move to another industry, I have sought out similarities rather than differences. I also enjoyed the excitement of learning about a new industry. I think it was the LSE education, which enabled me to be open to new experiences and to learn through questioning.? Homi still credits his first stint as head of the pharmaceuticals division as the most enjoyable experience in his work life. ?It was the first experience of managing large chunks of people, with line responsibilities.?
?I have always tried to do every job in a different manner. I guess that has helped make me the person I am,? he says. Right now all his efforts are driven towards bringing about a chemical change in his company.
