Mr. Sunil Mittal, Chairman and CEO of Bharti Group and Bharti Airtel, was kind enough to respond regarding the article on his father.
Whenever I visited Senator Mittal in India, I would also visit Sunil and his wife Nyna. They hosted me so graciously. I remember when Sunil accompanied his father at the Moscow Conference, hosted by President Gorbachev at the Kremlin. Senator Mittal made a memorable speech at the closing ceremony. Many eminent leaders at the Moscow Conference were impressed with young Sunil, recognizing in him the qualities of a diplomat and a leader.
To me, Sunil is the model case of the remarkable generational transition from parent to child. I would like to commend him for the approach he has taken to his business practices and laud his outstanding success. Sunil has proven the advantages of a truly global vision—we must now encourage the next generation of emerging leaders to follow the example he has set.
I am pleased to introduce his response here.
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Dear Akio,
Thank you for forwarding me the beautifully written piece. I really enjoyed reading it and laughed at the piece on my father.
I am reminded of an event. Once a Japanese team of two engineers from Suzuki Motor Co. had come to impart training to my staff on portable generators. I per chance visited the workshop and stood in a corner when I noticed the team leader going over and over again on some point and I sensed the confusion amongst the trainer and trainee. I went up to the Japanese and asked why is he going on repeating himself? He said every time I ask have you understood and they say no, so I start again. I asked the local staff and they said this man just goes on repeating and is not moving ahead. You, by now, must have understood the humour. Every time he asked OK, all shook their head left to right and he thought it means not understood. I too had such a laugh.
Hope you are well. All my best.
Regards,
Sunil