Biography of Indra Nooyi as a leader in all parts of life, written by Wharton MBA student for a course on leadership from the point of view of the whole person.

1. KNOWLEDGE FOR ACTION
INDRA NOOYI, PEPSICO CEO
LEADERSHIP BIOGRAPHY
ALEX HENDRICKS

2. KNOWLEDGE FOR ACTION
Indra exhibited a strong will and leadership potential
from a young age
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• Grew up in conservative city of Chennai, India
• Despite traditional culture, Indra’s parents and
grandparents inspired her to reach her full potential
and commit to her dreams
• Achieved high academic standing, ultimately
receiving her MBA from Yale School of Management
"In my heart I said, 'I can do this better than anyone else
can, and if everything else fails, they're going to come to me
and say, 'Fix it,' because I know I'm that good.”

3. KNOWLEDGE FOR ACTION
Consistent performance led to rapid career
progression
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• Joined PepsiCo in 1994 as SVP
of Strategy and Development
• Spearheaded PepsiCo spin-off of
Yum! Brands and acquisition of
Quaker Oats and Tropicana
• Progressed to President and CFO
in 2001
• Appointed CEO of PepsiCo in
2006, heading the 2nd largest food
and beverage company
• She has grown PepsiCo from $40
billion in sales in 2007 to $63
billion in 2016
• First female president
• First Indian-born chief
executive
• In 2013, ranked thirteenth
among the World’s Most
Powerful Women
• Currently one of just twenty
women who are CEOs of
S&P 500 companies
Career Milestones Accolades

4. KNOWLEDGE FOR ACTION
Indra is open and candid that women can’t “have it
all,” arguing that four-way wins are a fluid notion
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• Admits that each day, she makes a decision whether
she will be a wife or a mother
• Openly admits to missing school events and coping
with parental guilt
• While she doesn’t regret her decisions, she recalls a
“huge number of sacrifices” in her pursuit of the C-
suite
“If I had to write a letter to myself as a younger person,
I’d say, ‘Be careful about all the choices you’re making,
because you will look back and it will hurt like hell.’”

5. KNOWLEDGE FOR ACTION
Despite these challenges, Indra has been
instrumental in improving the workplace at PepsiCo
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• Indra actively promotes
authenticity to help with
transition from Home to
Work and back again
• PepsiCo has received
numerous awards for its
inclusive practices, most
recently the Human Rights
Campaign’s Corporate
Equality Award in 2017
Performance with
Purpose
Inclusive Workplace

6. KNOWLEDGE FOR ACTION
Indra is currently advocating for the creation of a
“prototype community”
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• Goal is to lessen friction between work and
motherhood, allowing female executives the ability to
work and respond to household responsibilities
• Eager to create plan that would involve family
members in childcare to utilize existing resources and
lower costs
• Provide housing for young parents and extended
families, combined with on-site childcare
• PepsiCo and other large corporations could
partner with developers to optimize community
framework

7. KNOWLEDGE FOR ACTION
Indra’s approach to four-way wins is a reminder that
ongoing experiments are essential
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Promotes
Constant Learning
Short-Term
Decisions Matter
“Our CEOs and leaders have to be lifelong students—not
just students in the sense of attending courses or reading
a book or two. You’ve got to learn how to read widely, walk
the market, look at trends in the marketplace, make
connections that don’t seem obvious.”
She understands the affect short-term decisions have on
the long-term reputation, both in terms of Work and Home,
and recognizes the need to show results in both
timeframes, which is increasingly difficult.
Women Should
Support Other Women
Indra has been vocal and candid that women need to
support each other more in the workplace. Most of her
mentors were men, a fact she takes issue with. She
argues that women need to lift each other up, rather than
viewing each other as threats to their current position.

8. KNOWLEDGE FOR ACTION
Work Cited
• http://fortune.com/2016/04/08/indra-nooyi-career-and-family/
• http://www.businessinsider.com/pepsico-indra-nooyi-life-changing-habit-2015-9
• https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/why-pepsico-ceo-indra-k-
nooyi-cant-have-it-all/373750/
• http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/pepsi-ceo-work-life-balance-coping-
parental-guilt-n146381
• http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2016/04/08/indra-nooyi-and-anne-
marie-slaughter-attack-the-unfinished-business-of-work-life-balance/
• http://www.hrc.org/blog/pepsico-to-receive-hrc-corporate-equality-award-at-hrcs-
2017-greater-ny-gal
• http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/04/12/indra-nooyi-women_n_9667678.html
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