Indra Nooyi, Indian-born, naturalized American, business executive and the current Chairperson andChief Executive Officer of PepsiCo
Name: Indra Nooyi
Position: PepsiCo, CEO
Industry: Food and Beverage
Background:
Born and brought up in India, received her Bachelor's degree in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics from Madras Christian College in 1974 and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA) from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in 1976. Beginning her career in India, Nooyi held product manager positions at Johnson & Johnson and textile firm Mettur Beardsell.
She was admitted to Yale School of Management in 1978 and earned a Master's degree in Public and Private Management. Nooyi joined the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and then held strategy positions at Motorola and Asea Brown Boveri in 1980. [Encyclopedia of World Biography] [WikiPedia]
Story:
Rome wasn't built in a day! There was a long story of the Indian woman to purchase higher education in the Unites States, and became one of the most powerful women in the world.
Nooyi's story is that of a determined girl, who while studying in Connecticut, worked as a receptionist from midnight to sunrise to earn money and struggled to put together US$50 to buy herself a western suit for her first job interview out of Yale, where she had just completed her masters. Incidentally, she wasn’t comfortable trying out a formal western outfit and ended up buying trousers that reached down only till her ankles. Rejected at the interview, she turned to her professor at the school who asked her what she would wear if she were to be in India. To her reply that it would be a sari, the professor advised her to “be yourself” and stick to what she was comfortable with. She wore a sari for her next interview. She got the job and has followed this philosophy for the rest of her career. She’s been herself, never tried to change her basic beliefs, derived strength from her traditions and believed in who she is. As she says, “I’m so secure in myself, I don’t have to be American to play in the corporate life.” She worked hard and in time was counted as one of the most powerful women in the world by Forbes.
Read the full article: Life Stories to Inspire: Indra Nooyi - CEO, PepsiCo.
Nooyi Joined PepsiCo. from 1994, and elected to became Chief Financial Officer in 2001. And over the next year, the company's stock price rose almost 30 percent. Revenue increased about eight percent, and earnings went up by 13 percent. Pepsico now had a strong grouping of well–known snack food and drink brands, with its addition of Quaker Oats and Tropicana. "For any part of the day we will have a little snack for you," boasted Nooyi to BusinessWeek. The company had long done well in suburban markets. It now hoped to grow in urban areas, which required a different marketing strategy. For this, Nooyi had to work closely with chief operating officer Steve Reinemund. Reinemund became chief executive of Pepsico in 2001, and he promoted Nooyi to president. It was very important to Reinemund, a former Marine and apparently the quintessential buttoned–down businessman, to have Nooyi's more spontaneous personality and great analytical skills to balance his own insight into the future of the company. The two admittedly made an odd pair, characterized by BusinessWeek as "one of the most unusual management teams in Corporate America." But their opposite strengths seemed to do well for the company. Nooyi is seven years younger than Reinemund, and seems poised to become chief executive of Pepsico at some point down the road.
Read the full article: President and Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo.
“Leadership is hard to define and good leadership even harder. But if you can get people to follow you to the ends of the earth, you are a great leader.”
Indra Nooyi has been at Pepsi for 17 years. PepsiCo is currently the biggest food and Beverage Company in North America, and Nooyi holds the reins as CEO. She manages a corporate family of over 300,000 employees. It’s not surprising that she is a valued and influential leader in the business world. During her career, Indra explains that she has held to her 5 C’s Model of Leadership. Her five C’s of leadership are competency, courage, confidence, communication skills and compass (Blog Her 11 Event Interview). She is also ranked #2 on Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business list. In studying her leadership style, there are three consistently noticeable qualities: communication, Relationship Building, and Moral Compass that have enabled her growth as a leader and her success.
Read the full article: Leadership Qualities of Indra Nooyi
Here, we would like to share with you a great video from PepsiCoVideo. where Nooyi talked about her personal and professional life.
"Bringing a perspective as CEO and mother of two, Ms. Nooyi addressed the BlogHer 2011 community to talk about authentic leadership, the power of inspiration, and the influential role of the blogging community as a driving force in society" -pepsiCoVideo