“My Life in Full”
Life Lessons from Indra Nooyi
Indra Nooyi, former CEO and Chairman of Pepsi is an iconic role model and trailblazer. As the first woman of color and immigrant who rose to become the CEO of a Fortune 50 company, her success is extra-ordinary. I enjoyed every chapter and page in her book, narrated in her distinctive voice (in the online version). I also attended a virtual fireside chat with her. Her energy was very strong and palpable even in an online setting. Her striking smile, intelligence and warm personality are evident from her conversations.
Her life story is packed with nuggets of wisdom that are easy to absorb and reflect upon. Her story is sprinkled with gratitude to all who were part of her success. Here are a few themes that stood out to me from her life memoir:
Honor Your Roots
Ms Nooyi ‘s pride in her roots shines through life story. I was delighted to read about her childhood in Chennai, India (my hometown as well). Like many of us who grew up in India, she is a product of a multigenerational household. Her role model was her grandfather and she credits her family for nurturing in her the seeds of hard work, determination and a desire to excel. Her higher education which included her move to Indian Institute of Manangement, Calcutta was strongly supported by her family. At IIM Calcutta, Indra Nooyi’s 1976 batch had only 5 girl students out of 100. She was already starting to blaze the trail. She pursued her higher education at Yale and honors her family for supporting her decision to explore education beyond local boundaries.
It’s okay to be a workaholic and a mom
Ms Nooyi’s deep-rooted passion for her work, in every one of her roles whether as consultant, strategist or CEO has been one of the strongest drivers of her success. What I loved about her candid disclosure was that even though she cherished her role as a mom, her enthusiasm and drive to succeed at work was also very strong. Ms. Nooyi does acknowledge her sense of mommy guilt for working long hours, but at the same time, makes no apology for her ambition. She spent endless hours, days, and nights working, along with being a mom to two daughters. She truly loved her challenging roles and was a passionate problem-solver. “ Hard work is in my DNA”, she says. “I wonder why I am wired this way where my inner compass always tells me to keep pushing on with my job responsibilities, whatever the circumstances …”, she adds.
Value Your Mentors and your helpful community circle
Ms Nooyi has acknowledged every one of her supervisors, executive assistants and household helpers (who worked behind the scenes) to keep her boat afloat. She admits that nothing can be accomplished in isolation and is very thankful to her mentors who supported her career growth, including companies who granted her paid maternity leave and paid-time off during difficult times. She is grateful to her mom for being a strong rock of support and ensuring she left “her crown in the garage” when she walked into the house. She mentions relatives and friends in the community too who were pillars of strength throughout her journey.
We need more men to break norms to support talented women in the workplace
Ms Nooyi is vocal about male supervisors and colleagues who broke norms to support her, (most certainly recognizing her extraordinary potential). This included a senior executive picking up her daughter from school, the CEO chartering a plane for the team to meet in her office when she was 9 months pregnant, and another supervisor offering her 6 months time-off to tend to her ailing father. She said “ Mentors pick you because they see something in you that they want to hitch their wagon to”. In addition, her husband is her sounding board who encouraged her career growth, making tremendous sacrifices himself and juggling his successful career to support Ms. Nooyi’s.
Dress for Success
Ms Nooyi said she slowly over time learnt that playing the CEO role also meant dressing the part. From initially being most comfortable in sarees( traditional attire from India), she developed her style of sporting business suits in her characteristic elegance, acknowledging that designers have helped in shaping her corporate wardrobe to what it is today.
Giving Back is Key
Ms Nooyi’s compassion is reflected in her desire to keep giving back to meaningful causes. All of her academic institutions in India and the US that she is a proud product of, have benefited from her very generous contributions, which have gone a long way in enhancing the infrastructure for the next generation of learners.
Purpose is your life’s driver
Her strong message of living a life of purpose resonates through her book. “Performance with Purpose” was her mantra for Pepsico’s success and she reiterates that purpose translates not just to work and business, but life itself.
Look for ways to shape the future
“I think the fundamental role of a leader is to look for ways to shape the decades ahead, not just react to the present,” she says. She makes an urgent call to business leaders that we need stronger support structures for families to balance work and home priorities. Women are a potent force and to retain strong talent in corporate America, we need more flexibility and support systems that help in balancing priorities, rather than choosing one over the other. She said, the question is “how we can make it easier for all family builders, not just women, to integrate work and family.” I love that she says this is not a “feminist” approach but that of an “economist”.
Kudos to the girl from Chennai, India who grew to become a powerful woman of substance and an iconic global leader. Her intelligence, compassion and wisdom flow through her story and will contain to make waves and inspire many more of us to keep soaring high to achieve our dreams.
