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Hello dear blog readers! I want to tell you about a great woman of Indian origin who has achieved tremendous success in the business world, winning competition from men and taking the chair of PepsiCo Corporation, proving that even the weaker sex is capable of action, and the name of today’s heroine is Indra Nooyi.
Biography
Detstvo
Indra Krishnamurti was born at the end of October 1955, more precisely, on the 28th in the beautiful Indian city of Chennai. Despite the fact that her family occupied the position of the middle class in society, due to the fact that her grandfather was a judge, and her father worked in a bank, her mother influenced her formation and strong character, leading to victories. An ordinary housewife, who devotes her free and non-free time to children and everyday life. And all because she spiritually developed them by organizing competitions on the topics: “What would I do if I were very famous?”, “What would I change if I became President?”, “If I were an influential politician, what would I do ?
The sisters had to sweat a lot for their mother to appreciate their answer, because she judged strictly, being a serious critic and finding fault with the slightest nuances. In India at that time it was considered shameful to train the female gender to be true to itself and manifest itself in various fields, claiming independence and primacy. But the family of our heroine did not share these views, so they allowed her to play croquet and participate in a musical rock band, instead of learning the basics of housekeeping.
Yes, and it was difficult for her to forbid something due to her willfulness and desire to constantly violate boundaries and prohibitions. But at the same time, Krishnamurti studied perfectly, occupying a leading position in the list of students. Even grandfather, realizing that he would not live long, completely dismantled with her all the theorems from the geometry textbook. If all of a sudden, the baby could still be the best in the class for a long time, having a margin of time to deal further on her own with other tasks. By the way, her love for music has survived to this day, she periodically plays the guitar for her employees, while singing along and demanding the participation of other colleagues. Once, at a conference, she even hired an orchestra so that one of the employees would have the opportunity to sing, feeling like a star.
Study and career
Krishnamurti graduated from the Indian Institute of Management. The first job was a student newspaper, where the girl needed to sell advertising sites. Then she got to Mettur Beardsell, a textile company, as a product manager. Then there was an interesting experience at Johnson & Johnson. It was arranged officially, only now the task was set to be impossible — to advertise feminine hygiene products, which Indian women were not very worried about.
Difficulties did not frighten the purposeful girl, but, on the contrary, inspired her, which she sometimes admitted to the press. After that, her life changes very dramatically, she decides to move to America to get an education at the Yale School of Management. This decision upset the relatives, because in this case, the chances of marriage for the obstinate girl decreased significantly. But Krishnamurti won here too, having met a wonderful Indian guy Raja Nooyi, who not only took her as his wife, but also loved her so much that he sacrificed his career at Hewlett-Packard so that she could build her own.
Before becoming famous and influential, our heroine had to win a little. For example, one day, going to an interview, it turned out that she had nothing to wear, and then, having somehow saved up $ 50, the girl went to the store for a suit. The problem turned out to be that Nooyi always wore only saris, and not only did she not understand trousers, but she also did not feel very comfortable in them. Therefore, the interview failed, because of her worries about her appearance, she could not concentrate at all.
Having received support from a teacher from her university, our heroine decided to stay true to herself and wear what she feels confident in. So, on her next job interview at the Boston Consulting Group, a black girl in a sari was hired as an intern, eventually becoming a project director. After 6 years, several prestigious companies fought for her, trying to lure her over.
Career at pepsico
After working in several large enterprises, she was interested in an offer from pepsico, where she was promised the position of senior vice president. This was a huge event, both for the company and for the Indian herself. Because PepsiCo was not doing very well, the restaurant business was pulling the entire corporation to the bottom, calling into question its reputation. The girl had to make a lot of efforts to convince the director to sell him, as well as 60% of the company’s shares.
Turnover fell by about 10 billion, and it was possible to restore it only ten years later. But still, according to Nooyi, this decision turned out to be very profitable. After all, despite the lower turnover, the profit increased several times, and the money from the sold shares went to the development of the corporation, which only strengthened its position in the world market. By the way, they bought these shares back in 2010, 11 years later.
The ability to predict events helped her rise to the rank of financial director, because it was on her initiative that the rights to Tropicana juices were acquired in 1998, because she noticed that people drink Pepsi closer to dinner, and in the morning they prefer healthy food. Then came the turn of Quaker Oats, which was also bought out by a new chief financial officer and began to produce sports drinks Gatorade, realizing that it should expand the audience of consumers, especially those who play sports, and would not risk drinking drinks containing the maximum amount of sugar.
Today, Pepsi Corporation is mainly engaged in the sale of healthy food products. For example, oatmeal, contrary to popular belief that PepsiCo is just soda. And since 2010, they also received the rights to Wimm-Bill-Dann, starting to master the production of dairy products. Since 2001, our heroine has received an additional position — the president of the company, to this day, heading the board of directors, making fateful decisions and coming up with new reforms.
Character
Iron lady with no «star disease»
Since childhood, a little girl, accustomed to lead, did not miss the first positions in her adult life. Her relatives demanded too much from her, and the expectations were also high, so she does not tolerate refusals and the words “I can’t”. By the way, this exactingness to others turned out to be very effective, as the employees made extra efforts, but carried out the task.
The status of an iron lady does not mean that she is really impenetrable and insensitive. Nooyi once admitted in an interview that after long, serious negotiations, during which she firmly defended her opinion, she went to the office, locked herself up and cried, releasing stress. Colleagues note her spontaneity and simplicity, it is always clear to everyone what she thinks of them, to cheat and hide something that is not in her style.
Despite her position in society and influence, she is not at all arrogant and does not even have a hint of «star fever». The proof is that she accidentally spilled Pepsi on a beautiful white sofa in one of the important interviews. And instead of moving, she silently got up and went to fetch some napkins so she could tidy it up herself.
Sense of humor
She also boasts an excellent sense of humor, due to which various funny things happen. For example, once, speaking at Columbia University and trying to convey the material to students as simply as possible, she could not think of anything better than to explain the economic connection between the five continents on her fingers. And everything would have been fine if she hadn’t put the middle one in the audience and said: “And this is North America.”
Despite his love of work, he does not miss a single game of the New York Yankees and Chicago Bulls. Once she did not get to watch the game, as she was at an important meeting, so it almost turned out to be in jeopardy due to the fact that the Indian woman called her relatives every 20 minutes to find out the progress of the game. Paradoxically, being a vegetarian, she allows herself snacks, chips and other unhealthy foods, very rarely paying attention to sports.
Family
This brilliant woman managed to achieve success, both at work and in her personal life, destroying the existing stereotypes that a person can either build a career or establish a life. She and Raja have two beautiful daughters, and, by the way, she also considers PepsiCo to be her brainchild, so she never forced herself to go to work, going there with passion and a desire to act.
He treats employees almost like members of his family, big and friendly, and believes that the key to success is teamwork, trying in every possible way to rally the team, up to the fact that he controls that everyone gets a birthday cake on their birthday. Now imagine how many subordinates in her state, along with a bunch of work issues and complexities. This woman is truly a genius.
Secrets and recommendations
- Indra recommends reading a book by David Brooks called «The road to character ”, she considers it the most powerful and capable of influencing a person’s worldview. By the way, after reading this masterpiece, she and her daughters spent a lot of time arguing about whether it is necessary to “build” your character, and if so, how important it is. Unfortunately, I did not find the Russian version of the book. If anyone knows, tell me in the comments, I will be very grateful.
- Financial position and power should not be the main goal of a person, but only a pleasant addition to a favorite and interesting pastime. Therefore, only the person who has found his calling, regardless of the level of salary, can call himself successful.
- You should not be distracted by nonsense, it is important to be able to determine your goal, and the sooner you learn this, the better results you will achieve. So teach your children from childhood to think about the future and set priorities correctly. You can see how this is done in this article.
- Never stop in your development, regardless of status, age and activity. Learn, observe and explore. Indra, for example, still spends a lot of time in supermarkets these days to study the preferences of visitors, to observe what and when exactly they choose.
- The main resource of each person should be family, religion and close friends. Do not forget about it in the race for success. Even the CEO of PepsiCo constantly flew to India to pray at the temple, gain strength and receive blessings. Now, in order to save time, she has acquired a statue of the goddess, whom she prays at every need in her home.
- To earn authority and trust, it is necessary to defend your opinion under any conditions.
- Even having reached the highest heights, no one has the right to relax.
- The right motivation can inspire a person so much that he will be able to move mountains. I recommend taking a look here.
Conclusion
Finally, I note that Indra, according to Forbes, in 2012 ranked 13th among the most influential women in the world. And even getting to the last place in this list is already considered a huge achievement, and just on the pages of this magazine. So, it doesn’t matter what color the skin is, what gender the person is and what family he came from, the most important thing is to believe in yourself and never deviate from your plans, remaining faithful to the idea, and more importantly, according to our heroine, in any situations to remain yourself.
I recommend to look at the article “The success story of the founder and owner of ikea Ingvar Kamprad”, his biography is also worthy of attention. And that’s all for today! Take care of yourself and subscribe to Valery Kharlamov’s blog, leave comments and wishes!
The material was prepared by Zhuravina Alina.