To the choosers of Mr Cyrus: Is it right for Tata?

Recently a report was published in ET on Mr Cyrus as a choice for Tata Grp: "How Cyrus Mistry is different from Ratan Tata". Or pick any report for that matter and check what it states. Culture, largest shareholder, full stop. Of this entire world filled with managers trying to prove their mettle, Mr Cyrus has been chosen for running $ 85 billion revenue company - straight after $ 1.5 b revenue Shapoorji. Not that I have any problems with that nor am I jealous. Ok, I am jealous. But on a serious note, risk averse-ness and scaled up complexity handling are important points against Mr Cyrus. 

Cultural fit is important to effectively lead the company. But lead the company to what? Growth comes at a premium and premium depends on the risks attached with it. Hence, it is not good idea to be risk averse beyond a point. 

So imagine, in his mind he demands huge premiums on risks. And of course, he is very conservative in a facebook world (Facebook: estimated market value $10-15 billion with unknown revenues, interesting). He has been in 'his family' owned business. His desired hurdle rate will be quite high and hence, lot of project proposals will go into dustbins. As it is there is always dearth of new stuff and on top of that Tata will have to be stagnant while other businesses will be becoming more aggressive in asset acquisition and investments in unknown territories, risky yet growing at whatever success rate. 

Overall this stability will be coming at the cost of growth. The question is whether tata grp is ready for that?

Thus, only having leadership is not important. I have seen people keen to lead without having worthy plans to execute. They take important positions and then do wrong things, more over, they convince others of these wrong things also because of their skills. Not that I think that Cyrus doesn't have any plans, but as a matter of fact, he is not perceived in the market as a great visionary, or a man who made a great difference. Moreover, his own company doesn't work in a very professional fashion and completely lacks succession planning. What exactly is he bringing to the table? Frankly I feel sorry about this decision.