Pepsico’s Indra Nooyi: Everything with Purpose

Indra Nooyi has been CEO of PepsiCo since 2006 and chairman since 2007. PepsiCo are famous for their product slogans and in an era of company mission statements, the Company has developed the slogan: “Performance with Purpose”. Under Nooyi’s leadership, PepsiCo have been striving to achieve their mission and of course they are a moving target. However, there is no doubt that in PepsiCo’s case they have a leader who is up to the task. In fact, “Performance with Purpose” would be an excellent way of describing Nooyi’s own career.” Everything with Purpose” might be even more accurate.

There is, of course, no single factor that enables leaders to drive their organisations forward through uncertain times but maybe in Nooyi’s case it is her ability to identify and nurture talent and turn that talent into a strong, cohesive team. Nooyi seems to have the ability not only to empathise with others needs but to almost walk in their shoes. She has taken this as far as writing to the parents of her executive team explaining how proud she is of their children. This attention to detail and thought behind the detail is what we feel sets Nooyi apart from the field since her days as an MBA student at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. PepsiCo have survived intact the attempts to break up the company and look set to continue the global challenge to Coca Cola. Good reactions are to be expected after the recent R&D which is very much at the core of PepsiCo’s drive for “Performance with Purpose”.