Indra Nooyi Quotes

Women helping each other – coaching, mentoring, and providing tips – is a great way for us to be our own force.

I’m very honest – brutally honest. I always look at things from their point of view as well as mine. And I know when to walk away.

When you have to do as much as women do, the Internet allows you to – from home – figure out a way to extend your reach and power in the world. It allows you to do what job you’ve done traditionally, and create aspirations by carrying on a job and using the Internet to amplify everything you’re doing.

I’ve been around the bend in corporations.

There is nothing like a concrete life plan to weigh you down. Because if you always have one eye on some future goal, you stop paying attention the the job at hand, miss opportunities that might arise, and stay fixedly on one path, even when a better, newer course might have opened up.

I read every country’s perspective on an issue. I also play many games like Bridge, Scrabble and Sudoku online.

An important attribute of success is to be yourself. Never hide what makes you, you.

Blogging and the Internet allow us to engage in a lot more real time conversations as opposed to a one-way dump of information or a message.

Not only do we have to change the food we eat… we have to educate people about what they can eat appropriately.

When I was president of the company, I said, ‘Okay, I can do this – piece of cake.’ Then when you are the CEO, the responsibilities multiply enormously because you worry about everything.

Lots are written about how ‘she shows up at board meetings in the saree.’ My God, I have never worn a saree to board meetings; people play it out in different ways. I think I have never shied away from the fact that I am an Indian, and I don’t intend to, but you can be at home with both cultures.

If I hadn’t had mentors, I wouldn’t be here today. I’m a product of great mentoring, great coaching… Coaches or mentors are very important. They could be anyone-your husband, other family members, or your boss.

Slice Mango – something that, you know, is a phenomenal drink, but mango is not a flavour that is easily liked by many people in the West. People in Latin America like it. But we do a lot of Mango in India.

I asked my parents for permission to study in America and they were so sure that I wouldn’t get in and get a scholarship that they encouraged me to try. So I applied to Yale and got an excellent scholarship. I then worked for the Boston Consulting Group for six and half years.

When I was a kid, I would come home from school, throw my bag, go out to play. My daughter comes home from school, throws her bag, goes to play, but sitting in front of the computer because their definition of play has changed. They don’t go out to play. They play on the computer with their friends.

I play the guitar when I want to relax. But to play the guitar, you cut the nails. So one day, I’ll cut the nails off.

Do you remember campaigns like ‘Keep America beautiful’? What about ‘Buckle up’? I believe we need an approach like this to attack obesity. Let’s be a good industry that does 100% of what it possibly can – not grudgingly, but willingly.

I spent some time at a university for traditional Chinese medicine. There’s a resurgence of people eating according to traditional Chinese medicine. So our challenge is, How do you marry traditional Chinese medicine with PepsiCo’s products?

PepsiCo did not have a woman in the senior ranks, nor a foreign-born person who was willing to think differently.

By five or six, when the heels start to hurt, I kick off my shoes and walk bare feet. But that’s not a big deal. Nobody else is at the office at that time, and as for singing loudly, I don’t sing loudly. I might hum a tune at times when I am thinking about something, but that’s all fine.

When I came to America in 1978, I was a huge sports fan – the problem was, my sport was cricket. Shockingly enough, no one wanted to talk cricket with me!

I wouldn’t ask anyone to do anything I wouldn’t do myself.

When you assume negative intent, you’re angry. If you take away that anger and assume positive intent, you will be amazed. Your emotional quotient goes up because you are no longer almost random in your response.

When it comes to women, there has been a tendency to define women in sports in the context of their relationships – they watch games because their husbands watch. They’re interested because their kids play a sport. They buy tickets to a sporting event because it’s a way to spend time with family.

I pick up the details that drive the organization insane. But sweating the details is more important than anything else.

What I would not do is flaunt my Indianess by wearing a saree to work everyday, because it distracts from the job. So, I would not do that. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Social events are different. If I feel comfortable in a saree for a social event, I wear it.

My guilty pleasures are the websites where you can look at the fashions and see how different outfits will look. You can even take a picture of yourself and download it and play with the fashions! I love playing with these websites to see what I can learn.

The biological clock and the career clock are in total conflict with each other.

I don’t think the deficit of the country is a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. I think it’s a country issue. I don’t think worrying about the reindustrialization of America is a Republican or Democratic issue.

Whatever anybody says or does, assume positive intent.

If you want to improve the organization, you have to improve yourself.

Companies the size of PepsiCo is like running a little republic, there is no question about it. The only difference is that I don’t have to worry about the media hounding me every day, on every word that I say. I have a board of directors that runs the country in the interest of the stake holders.

We are in a bit of a policy box and it’s going to require us being willing to give up one of the two, which is it’s okay to take on more deficits but lets put in some massive spending. Alternatively to say, ‘we’re going to go through structural unemployment for a while because we want to address deficits.’

Every year in consulting is like three years in the corporate world because you have multiple clients, multiple issues – you grow so much.