Industry Leaders

Indra Nooyi- Former Chairman & CEO of PepsiCo: Wife, Mother, Immigrant And Innovative Leader

By Contemporary Approaches September 26, 2022

Photo: Indra Nooyi

One of her key strategic approaches was her focus on DESIGN.“For me, a well-designed product is one you fall in love with”-Indra Nooyi

Indra Nooyi was born and raised in India. She rose to the top of corporate America, serving as PepsiCo’s CEO for 12 years (2006–2018). PepsiCo is a multibillion-dollar Fortune 500 company, where she led over 200,000 employees during her role as CEO. Her story is a testament to an immigrant achieving the American dream.

She is known as one of the best strategic CEOs of our time and is committed to "Performance with Purpose," which revolves around three key ideals: People, Performance, and Purpose. Some of her main long-term strategies include transforming PepsiCo's innovation and positioning with healthier products, improving user experience for their products, and focusing on sustainability through recycling and waste reduction.

“As CEO, I visit a market every week to see what we look like on the shelves. I always ask myself—not as a CEO but as a mom—“What products really speak to me?”-Indra Nooyi via Harvard Business Review

She recognized the trend of healthier beverages early and led PepsiCo in that direction. Of course, she faced internal resistance, considering that the company was known for high-sugary products. She says she noticed that high sugary beverages were usually the popular choice on the table at their staff meetings. But as the years passed, that gradually changed to water, and healthier beverages, replacing high sugary options. She points out that, without needing heavy research and data, just by that simple observation, it was clear to see where the new trends were heading.    

Another strategic approach was her focus on DESIGN. She brought in Italian designer Mauro Porcini and made him Chief Design Officer at PepsiCo, the first to hold that position for the company. 

In an interview with the Harvard Business Review, she says, “For me, a well-designed product is one you fall in love with. We did a search, and we saw that he’d [designer Mauro Porcini} achieved this kind of success at 3M. So we brought him in to talk about our vision. He said he wanted resources, a design studio, and a seat at the table. We gave him all of that. Now our teams are pushing design through the entire system, from product creation, to packaging and labeling, to how a product looks on the shelf, to how consumers interact with it.”

Education & Early Career

Indra's studies started in India, earning bachelor's degrees in chemistry, physics, and mathematics from Madras Christian College of the University of Madras in 1974. Then in 1976, she earned a Post Graduate Programme Diploma from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. She started her career as a product manager at Johnson & Johnson and Beardsell Ltd. She then moved to the United States in 1978 to further her studies and, in 1980, earned a Master's degree in Public and Private Management at Yale School of Management.

IN HER BEST-SELLER BOOK, ‘MY LIFE IN FULL: WORK, FAMILY, AND OUR FUTURE.’ SHE SAYS, “FAMILY, I LEARNED FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, IS FUNDAMENTAL TO OUR LIVES ON THIS PLANET. IT IS BOTH MY FOUNDATION AND THE FORCE THAT HAS PROPELLED ME. THE FAMILY THAT I CREATED IN THE U.S. WITH MY HUSBAND, RAJ, AND MY TWO DAUGHTERS, PREETHA AND TARA, IS MY PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENT.”-INDRA NOOYI

Takeaway

Indra Nooyi's remarkable rise to the highest levels of the corporate world has undoubtedly left a lasting legacy. Her innovative approaches as CEO of PepsiCo and other achievements, all while balancing her roles as a wife, mother, and immigrant, achieving the American dream, have paved the way for many others.