Getting Candid with Pratap Bose
Get ready to be inspired by the incredible journey of Pratap Bose, Chief Design Officer at Mahindra Group!
With a background that includes winning a scholarship to study a Masters’ degree in Vehicle Design at the prestigious Royal College of Art, honing his skills at Mitsubishi Motors and Mercedes Benz, and leading the design efforts at Tata Motors, Pratap is a true master of design.
In his current role, he leads a team of over 100 design professionals at Mahindra’s India and UK design studios, creating cutting-edge products for the world-renowned Mahindra brand. From humble beginnings in a small design studio in India to receiving awards for outstanding design from the motoring press, Pratap’s story is one of perseverance and relentless pursuit of opportunity. His philosophy :
“Don’t wait for opportunities to come to you, go out and create them for yourself”
Join us as we explore the incredible journey of Pratap Bose — awarded the 2018 Chief Design Officer of the Year by the China Industrial Design Association and a true inspiration to us all!
Your Journey in Automobile Design has been phenomenal — having worked with Vespa, Mitsubishi Motors, Mercedes Benz, Tata Motors and now the Chief Design Officer at Mahindra Group. How did you first find your interest in Design and automobiles and how did you decide to pursue it?
My interest in design predates my interest in automobiles. I did my schooling in the 80s when design was not as popular or well-known as a career as it is today. My interest in design was sparked by a friend’s brother who was studying architecture at Sir J.J. College of Architecture. He would make incredible paper and 3D models, and I found it fascinating. I didn’t know there was a profession called automotive design at the time and in fact, in India, it wasn’t being taught or practised.
One evening, while standing by the sea in Colaba, near the Taj Mahal hotel, I saw a beautiful blue Mercedes and thought to myself that if there was a profession to design buildings, there must also be a profession to design cars. This was before the internet and I did as much research as I could, eventually discovering the field of automotive design abroad. This realization led me to eventually become an automotive designer. The image of that beautiful blue Mercedes in front of the Taj Mahal hotel was the catalyst for my career path.
I tried to find out as much as I could about architecture and design. I followed it in newspapers over the years and one day, I came across an advertisement for the Annual Design Degree Show of IDC (Industrial Design Centre) at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B). I went to see the show and saw various models of hand mixers, blenders, three-wheelers and bicycles. It was industrial design or product design, and it meant that someone was teaching it. I asked about getting into IDC and was told that I had to finish my graduation in engineering and then apply. However, I was too impatient and found out about the National Institute of Design (NID), and I was interested because I wanted to start immediately after finishing school.
The process of applying to NID in the early 90s was difficult. There was a tiny advertisement in the newspaper and if you missed it, you missed your chance! You had to make a demand draft from the bank to apply for the test. The process included a test, an interview and a three-day process. Eventually, I got into NID and started studying design formally.
Having worked across multiple companies, countries and cultures, what are some of the differences and similarities that you have seen in the work style?
I’ve worked for Indian companies in India and overseas, as well as a German company in Japan, a Japanese company in Japan, and an Italian company in Italy. It’s as diverse as you can get. I haven’t worked directly in the US, but I have many engineering colleagues there now.
The culture is always about what the group wants to achieve. For example, Japan has a very collective culture where everyone works together to achieve the best results and there are few individuals that stand out. Whereas, in some other parts of the world, the individual is larger than the team. These are the dynamics that need to be understood and managed.
Italy is very much about making things look and feel truly beautiful. They understand the importance of beauty over function more than anyone else. They have a style and elegance that is very inherent to their culture. I became most aware of this when I was working in Piaggio and saw how they can take a very ordinary thing and make it still very, very beautiful. They really imbibe design into their culture, and I think they do it the most with the most depth and width.
Whereas India is a mix of both strong individuals and expressive culture. The way we use colour and form is very different.
There’s a national culture and a corporate culture. So I think, as a designer, it’s important to be sensitive to that and to be able to fit in and make a difference. Trying not to fight the culture, but trying to be a part of it to make it better for everyone is important. I didn’t speak a word of Italian when I reached there in 1998, but if you make the effort to be understood and to understand people, they will make the effort back. The time I spent in all of these countries and companies in terms of life experience is unbeatable. And if young people can do that, they should take that opportunity without wondering about how they will be, how much they will be paid, where they will stay, what they will eat or how they will communicate. If you have confidence in your skill, you can overcome all of these barriers and be a part of the culture and see how you can enhance it by bringing something from the outside.
Reaching where you are today comes with a lot of hard work and dedication. What are some of the major challenges you faced in your journey and what was your mantra to keep moving forward?
In my profession, which is automotive design, starting a project takes at least four years for the car to come on the road. This is a minimum time frame and can be considered very long in today’s fast-paced world. In fact, Mahindra is one of the fastest companies in bringing cars on the road, between 40 to 48 months, which is globally competitive. However, it takes a significant amount of time and effort to push through one program, requiring resilience, patience, courage, strength, and stamina for four years. Losing energy for the project at any step can lead to the final product not being what was originally designed. This is because the design can change when it goes into other people’s hands, such as manufacturing or engineering. Therefore, it is important to keep at it for four years on every program, as Mahindra does with five, six, and seven programs at a time. This intensity of keeping energy levels high, love for the project, and profession can be a challenge. Another challenge is managing a team and dealing with their emotions and ambitions, which is a common aspect of leading any profession. Design is particularly emotion-oriented, and designers are emotional, thus requiring a different approach to managing them. The biggest challenge would be to maintain the integrity of what was designed on week one or year one, and ensure it reaches the customer in that same form in year four. It is important to keep in mind that once the product is launched, in this case, an automotive, it stays in the market for six to seven years. This means a ten-year cycle, where the product introduced today will be phased out of the market in 2034. It is essential to keep in mind the future-proofing of the design, as the company may not understand the need to push the limits. This is when it becomes necessary to convince them that the prototype, scale model or drawing is contemporary and will last for another ten or seven years. It is a challenge to communicate the reasons for pushing limits, as not everyone in the company is a designer. There are people from finance, engineering, supply chain, marketing, and sales, and it is necessary to convince the entire team that this is the product to invest in, so it remains contemporary and relevant.
What does your role as a Chief Design Officer at Mahindra Group entail and what would you say are some essential qualities in a leader?
As a Chief Design Officer, humility is important. You should never feel that you are above the team. The team designs the products, so it’s important to hire the best people to do the job. Today, kids that come out of design school are more talented and better prepared than I was 20 years ago. So, as a leader, you should act more as a coach to a high-performing team. You put the team together, ensure you hire the best people, and then get out of their way and trust them to do the job. Having confidence and trust is important, as well as staying humble. You depend on many others to get the product out, and you should take credit for it but also be ready to take criticism.
When you’re in a leadership position, the buck stops with you. If the product is great, share the glory with everyone, but if it hasn’t been so good, you should take responsibility for it. Most people see the glorious side of things, but if things go wrong, you should put your hand up and take responsibility for it. You took the decision with the best possible intention, but sometimes things do go wrong. It’s important to have humility, understanding that you are ultimately responsible for success and failure, and the ability to take it on the chin when failures do come. Along with humility and responsibility, you should also have a design vision, artistic vision, social, economic and understanding of where the world is going. The company looks to you to predict the future.
What would be the one thing you are looking forward to achieving/obtaining this year?
I always look forward to having a little more time to do some things with my family and on my own. But that’s somehow always elusive. I just hope to continue to enjoy what I’m doing. I think that’s very important for me, regardless of what it is, as long as I’m enjoying doing it. If I’m eating, cooking, or making model planes, or going for a walk, I hope to do that with intensity and with enjoyment. If I’m at work, I want to be able to enjoy it. I think because of the stresses that we all undergo, a lot of the fun goes out of everything we do, and that makes life a little harder to grasp all the time. So that’s my only hope — that I keep enjoying doing what I do.
What is your one favourite thing you like to do outside of work?
I love travelling and I have had the opportunity to work in many places. There are many places I would love to see that I haven’t been able to visit yet. I haven’t crossed the equator yet. Singapore is the most southern point I’ve been on the planet, so I haven’t seen all of South America, Africa, and Australasia south of the equator. I would love to visit places like Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Lebanon, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and North Africa. I really wish I could see some of these places and I am looking forward to crossing the equator this year.
Personal Note from Pratap Bose
One thing that I would really like to leave my readers with, is that all the countries and companies I have been a part of happened because I was not afraid to ask for opportunities. Like you wrote to us, and we are here talking! Because what’s the worst that could have happened, I would have said no.
Every step of the way, I actually asked for opportunities and tried to create them. This is very important to note, as opportunities do not come to you if you are just sitting on a chair. You must create your own opportunities and your own destiny.
Let me give you a couple of examples. When I graduated from NID, I didn’t have an automotive design degree, but I got an opportunity to work in the India office of Piaggio. They were opening a small office in Delhi and they said, “Come there, we’ll see if we can place you to Italy.” I grabbed that opportunity with both hands and a 3-month project turned into a three-year role. Another example is when I applied for a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art, a lot of people told me it was impossible to get, but I applied and ended up getting it!
After graduating, I sent my application to every company I could imagine. The one that responded was Mitsubishi from Japan. I didn’t know any Japanese but I took that opportunity and I went to Japan and continued there for four years. After that, I happened to meet the managing director of Tata Motors at an industry conference. I walked up to him and said that I had worked for two or three overseas companies and now I wanted to work for an Indian company and if there was any opportunity at Tata Motors. I gave him my card, and didn’t hear anything from him for about five months. Then they emailed me saying, “Oh, Mr. Tata wants to meet you. Can you come to Bombay?” At that point, I was living in Tokyo. I said, “Of course,” and they sent me the ticket. I remember it was 2006, and I met Mr. Tata for half an hour. I said, “Look, this is what I can do for Tata Motors.” And next year, I was working for Tata Motors. 15 years later, I got in touch with Mahindra. We had a conversation, and they said, “We would love to have you on board.” And that has led to this. So, at every stage, I think it’s very important that people make their own destiny. Don’t wait for things to happen, try and make them happen. This has been my fundamental philosophy — ask the question, because the worst that can happen is someone will say no, but if someone says yes, it can change your life.
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