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The audience was charged. The moderator Viraf Deboo, managing director of the Albaj Group of Companies, sparked the interview. The guest Meher Pudumjee, chairperson of Thermax Limited, generated respect when relating "Her experience as a business woman.” The fireside chat between the duo to take the assemblage on a "Walk through her Journey,” ignited interest while the symbolic fire extinguisher lay forgotten on the front stage at the Maple Room at Lonavla, the venue of some of the sessions at the global conclave of the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC) on January 4, 2020.
The first qualified engineer from the family to join Thermax, a firm started by her maternal grandfather Adi Bhathena and father Rohinton Aga to manufacture industrial boilers, Pudumjee was inducted as a trainee engineer in 1990. A year later, Meher, who had completed her postgraduation in chemical engineering from the Imperial college of Science and Technology, London, and her husband Pheroz, who had earned his masters in business administration, were made responsible for a Thermax subsidiary in the UK. "It was like ‘throw them in at the deep end and let them swim.’ There were lots of mistakes we made but at the end of four years we managed to turn around the subsidiary,” she stated.

 

 

 

 

 

One year after the company had gone public, her father died of cardiac arrest in 1996. She was appointed to the board of directors and was involved with the finance functions at Thermax. "My biggest support was my mother Anu (who was appointed executive chairperson of the company). She is quite an amazing woman. She did a lot of reading on death. Did a course in Vipassana that she found extremely helpful. Meditation impacts the soul. It is healing,” believes Meher. The demise of her 28-year-old brother Kurush in a car accident the following year was yet another tragedy for the family. "When you know you have given the relationship your best, it is much easier to cope with the death of a loved one,” she learnt.  Meher remembered her mother saying, "Let’s go for a movie,” soon after the death of Kurush. The daughter feared, "What will people say?” but the mother convinced her, "How does that matter? Do what you want to do and what heals.”
That was a difficult phase for the family and the firm. "The world was underperforming and so were we,” admitted Meher. The term used to describe the situation was "satisfactory underperformance” when things are not going well but no one asks any awkward questions so as not to offend anyone. But then Anu, whose forte is human relations, received an anonymous letter from "a poor investor” who was saddened by the value of Thermax shares dropping from Rs 426 to Rs 36.
The founder family sought help from Boston Consulting Group who advised a change in the structure and portfolio of the board with nine executive directors, four independent directors and three family members. The family was told "to decide whether we wanted to be in operations and not on the board or vice versa. It was a tough decision.” The family chose to remain on the board.
At the turn of the century, Meher played an active role in the turnaround of Thermax and in 2004 took over as chairperson when her mother summarily announced her decision to step down without preparing her.  She was 38 then and her mother 62. "As you get older, you want to hang on” which Anu did not want to do. She left the room and a nonplussed Meher saying, "I am here whenever you need me.” Anu continued on the board until two years ago when at the age of 75 she stepped down as an independent director, once again making her decision public at a press conference with no prior intimation to the daughter.
When Meher took over from her mother, she admits, "I did not have self-confidence. I was diffident. At that point I decided to go for Vipassana.” The course equipped her to see things in perspective. As non-executive chairperson Meher felt she was able "to make much more rational decisions from a distance, although she did not have the pleasure of doing things and had to learn to delegate.” Instead of giving instructions, her responsibility now was to influence thinking.
"Believe in yourself and have the right attitude,” she impresses on her staff at Thermax. Seeking to instill confidence in those ladies who feel "I am only a woman,” Meher assures them they "can do anything equal to, if not better, than men.” With her sterling leadership, she was selected Chief Executive Officer of the Year 2009 by Business Standard.
The culture at Thermax as initiated by her grandfather who was the founder of National Steel, manufacturing sterilizers and hospital equipment, believed in empowering people, trusting employees. Lacking an engineering background, her grandfather and father had brought in "people who were better than them, empowering them and granting them freedom to operate…
"Dad was like a venture capitalist.” When he was approached with a new idea, he would say, "Go and find out more about it,” and if convinced, would finance it. "My father was a true visionary who saw the company move from one business to another,” she added. Starting with boilers, they progressed to a water treatment plant, resins came next, followed by air pollution control, cooling, and finally electricity with their captive power plants. The turnover of the company for the year ended March 2019 was Rs 3,541 crores and the share price on February 6, 2020 was Rs 1,050.
Meher believes in continuing with the same approach of letting the employees flourish but after having checks and balances in place. Her grandfather’s advice has remained with her: "Make mistakes but do not make the same mistakes twice.”
"The culture of the firm is not the same” is the common refrain he hears, interjected Deboo who had started his career in Thermax as a trainee engineer when he was entrusted with projects worth crores of rupees in materials management. Concurring with the observation, Meher asserted, "The culture has to change. You have to change with the times. If an employee is not performing, it will not be tolerated. It is not professional management but good management” that helped the company bounce back. "Otherwise you may perish in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world.”
When Meher was asked how she always manages to wear a smile on her face, she responded, "I love life. I really do. I learnt from my mother. Work life is but one slice of your life, so enjoy it.” In addition to her responsibilities at Thermax, she makes time for her music, chairs Akanksha Foundation and Social Venture Partners in Poona, and also sits on the boards of several not-for-profit organizations like Teach for India, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation and the Pune City Connect Development Foundation.
Parsis who are wont to "giving their money and time are so philanthropic,” mentions Meher. Philanthropy is different from corporate social responsibility (CSR) where two percent of the company profits are used to support social causes. "Philanthropy funds things that CSR cannot. Philanthropy is willing to take more risks.” She referred to her mother’s philanthropic temperament that made her bring home two street urchins when Meher was six years old with the intention of giving them a better life but they "ran back to the street as they felt this (new lifestyle) was curbing their freedom.” The family’s involvement with Akanksha and Teach for India commenced after the  demise of Kurush who would repeatedly tell the family to donate 90% of their earnings to charity.
The Parsi youth, "especially the boys, do not have gumption in them. They should be willing to try new things otherwise it will be difficult to succeed,” she said, citing the experience of her husband Pheroz who wanted to induct two Parsi boys. When they were told they would have to work at the Thermax premises at Chinchwad, they turned down the offer saying, "Etlu door (so far)? Aapune Thermax House (in centrally located Shivajinagar) ma joiéch (We want to work at Thermax House).”
Instead of living their dreams through their children, parents should allow them to pursue careers of their choice, stressed Meher, sharing her experience at Teach for India where many erstwhile engineers feel that by teaching the underprivileged they have "found their purpose in life.”