Indra Nooyi
Pioneering Women
Born in India, she played cricket and was in an all-girl rock band. After college she earned an M.B.A. and began her career as a product manager for large corporations like Johnson & Johnson.
She came to the United States and earned a master’s in 1980 from Yale School of Management. After consulting several years, she worked her way up in corporate strategy at multinational companies like Motorola.
She joined PepsiCo in 1994 and became its first woman chair and CEO in 2006. Stepping down in 2018, she had held the position for 12 years—7 years longer than average for large companies.
While increasing profit, she redirected the company toward healthier options. She was chief architect of Performance with Purpose, encouraging PepsiCo to do what’s right for the business by being responsive to the needs of the world.
Companies like ours are little republics…bigger than many countries…
My most ardent hope is that…the most successful companies of tomorrow will do more than make money.
She was listed as one of the world’s most powerful women by Forbes, Fortune, Time, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, and CEOWORLD Magazine.
She is open about the challenges she experienced raising a family and running a Fortune 500 company. But she also acknowledged that understanding this conflict is the first step to finding solutions and building a network of support.
Make the most of your days…
She now serves on the board of directors of Amazon (as of 2019). In 2016 she made a large gift to Yale, becoming the first woman to endow a deanship at a top business school.
Always have a clear, compelling vision for what you want to accomplish.