Shantanu Naidu, the millennial manager of Ratan Tata, has revealed two qualities: an experienced business tycoon and a national icon whom he tries to emulate. The 30-year-old software engineer, managing director of former Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata’s office, spoke in a candid interview about two qualities of Ratan Tata that can help people become like the industrialist.

In an old Mindsetter video, Shantanu Naidu says, “One thing is, when you do acts of kindness, you should do it for people who can do nothing for you. You will always see him doing things for people who can do nothing for you .for him…who cannot return that in any form or favor.

“And the second I think would be the seriousness of promises. A very important thing about Mr. Tata is keeping his word or promise. There is no circumstance that I have seen him go back on that. No matter how difficult it becomes because of him because his changing circumstances, to fulfill a certain promise, he will always fulfill because he has given his word,” he said.

Naidu, who bonded with Ratan Tata over their mutual love for dogs, added that he is trying to take up these classes but it is very “challenging”. “But for him it comes so easily because he has practiced it all his life,” he said.READ ALSO: When Shantanu Naidu spent his ‘half salary’ to impress Ratan Tata

Shantanu Naidu-Ratan Tata friendship

Shantanu Naidu, in his 2021 memoir “I Came Upon a Lighthouse: A Short Memoir of Life with Ratan Tata,” described how he, a young software worker in Pune, became one of Ratan Tata’s best friends. The two bonded over their mutual love and concern for dogs and it was a letter from Shantanu Naidu to Ratan Tata that led to their first meeting.

The memoir also reveals how Naidu tried to imitate Ratan Tata and imbibed some of his best qualities during the time they spent together. In his memoir, Naidu also admitted that he had spent half his monthly salary buying items from luxury brand Brooks Brothers when Ratan Tata invited him for dinner. He specially bought a shirt from Brooks Brothers, a brand favored by Ratan Tata, a shirt he had seen Tata wearing during their previous meetings.

READ ALSO: Shantanu Naidu’s heartfelt message on the death of ‘lighthouse’ Ratan Tata: “Will spend the rest of my life…”

Hours after news of Ratan Tata’s death broke, Shantanu Naidu, an MBA from Cornell University and founder of the startup Goodfellows, wrote in a post on LinkedIn: “The hole this friendship has now left in me, I will make the rest spending my life trying to fulfill. Sadness is the price I have to pay for love.”

Shantanu Naidu and Ratan Tata became friends after Naidu wrote to the business icon to fund his start-up and Tata invited him to Mumbai to work together. Naidu became Ratan Tata’s assistant and the youngest manager at Tata Trust. Naidu also helped set up Ratan Tata’s Instagram account.