"The full circle comes": the Ratan Tata assistant gets the best role in Tata Motors

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Shantanu Naidu has become General Manager and Head of Strategic Initiatives at Tata Motors. Mr Naidu shared an emotional post on LinkedIn about the new position. 


He wrote on LinkedIn, "I'm happy to share that I'm starting a new position as General Manager, Head - Strategic Initiatives at Tata Motors! I remember when my father used to walk home from the Tata Motors plant in his white shirt and navy pants, and I would wait for him in the window. It comes full circle now."

See the post here:

As per Mr Naidu's LinkedIn profile, he earned his engineering degree from Savitribai Phule Pune University in 2014 and completed his MBA at Cornell University in 2016.


In 2018, he began working as Ratan Tata's assistant, and their close friendship soon captured public attention. A video of Mr Naidu singing a birthday song for Mr Tata went viral, highlighting their special bond.


A design engineer by profession, Mr Naidu developed an innovation in 2014 aimed at protecting homeless dogs from speeding vehicles. His work caught the attention of Ratan Tata, a well-known animal lover, who invested in the project and later became Mr Naidu's mentor, employer, and close friend.


In his book, 'I Came Upon a Lighthouse', Mr Naidu offers a personal and light-hearted perspective on their unlikely friendship, focusing on shared adventures and Tata's lesser-known personality traits, rather than just his business achievements. When Mr Naidu expressed his desire to write about their journey, Mr Tata agreed, remarking that no single book could truly capture his life.


In 2021, Mr Naidu founded Goodfellows, a startup dedicated to helping elderly people living alone in India. Ratan Tata reportedly gave up ownership in the company and, as a final gesture of generosity, waived Mr Naidu's education loan in his will.


On October 9, 2024, Ratan Tata died at the age of 86. Following his mentor's demise, Mr Naidu shared an emotional tribute on LinkedIn:


"The hole that this friendship has now left with me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to fill. Grief is the price to pay for love. Goodbye, my dear lighthouse."