The born-again Maharajah

The Maharajah of Air India Ltd has been AIL-ing for years. Quite like many of the erstwhile princes who had been stripped of their privy purses in 1971, Air India’s Maharaja has been shrinking into a shadow of his former glorious self. Many pundits have been predicting his death for years. The latest predictions came recently when the national carrier couldn’t even pay salaries to its employees on time. Air India has been a perfect example of a white elephant maintained with taxpayers’ money to give joy rides to politicians and bureaucrats and their acolytes.

Let me make a prediction in an entirely different direction.  This terminally ill loser is going to be born again.

I am no civil aviation expert. On what basis, then, can I make this prediction?

Well, an interesting news report in the Times of India of August 27. Entitled, ‘Air India’s new boss turns down Rs 70 lakh club membership,’ the report by Saurabh Sinha says that Rohit Nandan, the new chairman and managing director of Air India has decided not to renew his and his top aide’s membership (about USD 75,000 each annually) of the “ultra-prestigious” Willingdon Club of Mumbai. Air India’s top guns have nearly always been members of this club. 

Nandan is doing other crazy things too. On his first visit to Mumbai as the chairman and managing director of Air India, he chose to stay in a company-owned guesthouse rather than at a five-star hotel. The report also says that he has asked his office not to block a business class seat for him when he travels on business. He would travel in the economy class and move into the business class only if unsold seats were available.

Nandan is giving up some of the perks of office which his predecessors enjoyed as a matter of routine. No one would criticise him for enjoying the perks he is entitled to. But by voluntarily giving up some of these goodies because of the financial mess the company is in, he is clearly sending out a new and authentic message of change to several stakeholders. When he tries to persuade thousands of employees of this emaciated company to make sacrifices and to work differently, he will have Hazare-like credibility leading to tremendous persuasive power. If he can match his credibility with brilliant ideas, the Maharajah is bound to rule the skies again.

Giving up privileges in difficult times is not something that occurs to many leaders. It was, for example, widely reported in newspapers that on November 19, 2008 the CEOs of Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors (Robert L Nardelli, Alan R Mulally, and Rick Wagoner) flew into Washington, each in his own luxury corporate jet. Their mission was to beg the House Committee on Financial Services for an additional $25 billion to save their companies from bankruptcy. The members of the committee were furious although there was nothing irregular about CEOs of such global companies using corporate jets rather than commercial airlines. The three auto companies did get money from the House Committee not because those CEOs were persuasive but because their bankruptcy would have had serious consequences for American automobile industry.

Coming back to Air India, if there ever was a chance in recent years for the Maharajah to be born again, to get back the royal robes, the time is now. Rohit Nandan is shaping himself into a super persuader. If he can’t manage the transformation, let’s build a mausoleum for the best loved Maharajah.