From "JRD Letters"

While reading thru’ the book “JRD Letters” by Rupa & Co, I was struck by the vision, sense and sensitivity of JRD that came thru’his letters to several people from all walks of life-such as the one to Indira Gandhi on her wedding,to a school boy chiding him for his outrageous grammar, to his competitor in hotel industry Mr Oberoi on healthy competition, to his neighbour who reprimands him on his road rage ( that one is a real charmer). On the whole the compilation helps us understand the industrialist, heir to an empire,a visionary,a management guru(sorry, today anyone is called a guru) who managed money, material and men really well and a great human being behind the formidable initials and is an amazing lesson in communication skills. I have on several occasions used these letters as fine examples of business communication in my training sessions. The following one is written after nationalization of Air India that he had founded on pilots being transferred from Indian Airlines (domestic airline) to Air India (Intl. airline), based on seniority:-

26.04.54
To
Operations Manager,Air India Intl.
“Every pilot transferred as first officer under training should be considered as one who’ll eventually become a commander. The amount of technical, navigational and other specialised knowledge are much greater for trans-continental services – more so because they can’t be closely and constantly supervised – there are PR functions attached as well, on and off duty, as a representative of the Corpn. and as an Indian abroad. Therefore adequate weightage should be given in assessing the merits of a recruit to Ait India International”.