Two Men of Steel : HindustanTimes.com

Two Men of Steel : HindustanTimes.com: "Ratan had seen what other businessmen had not: the days of viceroys and emperors were over. To succeed in the 21st century, you needed a structure that depended more on teamwork than on charismatic leadership."

So it is with LN. Almost all the self-made businessmen I have interviewed tell war stories in which they are portrayed as Napoleonic figures winning a succession of battles to carve out their empires. LN is one of the few millionaires (and he is a billionaire 30 times over) I have met who actually plays down his own role in his success and attributes it to the management of his company. I asked him what his greatest ability was. He did not pick entrepreneurial skill, leadership, an ability to spot trends or any of the things that others brag about. “My success is that I can get along with people and make them work as a team,” he said. “Everybody has the same factories and the same access to information. It is your people that give you the edge. And my skill is that I hire the right people and give them the freedom to work to their full potential.”