Leadership lessons from the edge of failure
Designed to Win: The Tata Elxsi Story by S Devarajan explores Tata Elxsi’s origins as a pathbreaking startup that built its success through design-led thinking and steady transformation. The book explains how the company worked across industries like automotive, healthcare, and media while staying focused on long-term value. The story of Tata Elxsi is not a polished or predictable success story. It is a people-driven journey shaped by uncertainty, constant reinvention, and remarkable resilience.
The book shows how Tata Elxsi was, in many respects, ahead of its time by tracing the company’s history from its innovative beginnings in Silicon Valley in 1979 to its incorporation in India. However, vision was not enough on its own. Pushed to the brink, the real change started when the leadership decided to reimagine Tata Elxsi’s core values rather than abandon them. The company changed its focus from competing in traditional IT services to high-end design, engineering, and innovation-led services - areas that few Indian companies were pursuing at the time.
The company was struggling when Devarajan joined Tata Elxsi in the early 1990s. Growing losses, strategic misalignment, and the significant changes brought about by India’s economic liberalisation left the company vulnerable. Plans to manufacture computers in India had failed, morale was low, and survival itself was uncertain. The honesty with which Devarajan describes the uncertainties, errors, and challenging choices that characterised those turbulent years is what makes this book compelling, not just the eventual turnaround.
Under Devarajan’s leadership, Tata Elxsi carved out distinctive niches in advanced automotive design, medical imaging, aerospace and defence simulation, animation and visual effects, and product styling. Strategic investments in quality, capability development, and international expansion — particularly in cut-throat markets like Japan — established credibility and long-term growth. Collaborations that resulted in the development of globally significant and award-winning technologies like Maya demonstrated Tata Elxsi’s subtle but enduring influence on global innovation. What truly sets Designed to Win apart is its portrayal of leadership as stewardship. Devarajan places people firmly at the centre of the narrative - describing the challenge of sustaining belief during salary delays and uncertainty, and the profound reward of watching despair give way to shared purpose. The book powerfully captures what it takes to lead in moments of extreme uncertainty and make decisions that shape not just a company, but an entire industry.
Written for young engineers, entrepreneurs, founders, and seasoned leaders alike, Designed to Win is a powerful reminder that success is rarely neat or immediate. It is forged in difficult moments, sustained by trust, and driven by collective conviction. Honest, insightful, and deeply human, the book offers enduring lessons on resilience, ethical leadership, and building world-class organisations against the odds.
(The book reviewer is an award-winning podcast host and best-selling author. He hosts India’s oldest personal finance podcast, Paisa Vaisa. His last book, ‘The Rise of Asian Paints’ was shortlisted for the Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, 2025); views are personal
