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Indra Nooyi unfurls the tricolour atop Pepsi HQ(The Economic Times (India) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) 47949085 Yes, this is India's decade - and '06 will go down in history as the turning point for a toddler economy taking giant strides in global business. If Lakshmi Niwas Mittal did Indian entrepreneurs proud by taking the Indian charge right into the heart of Europe with the Arcelor merger, PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi has unfurled the Indian Tri-colour right atop Pepsi's headquarters in Paramount, near New York. Everything official about it, ladies and gentlemen... She's the new bosswoman of Pepsi Worldwide - yes, you heard that right. Nooyi, currently president and CFO of PepsiCo International, will step into the shoes of outgoing chief executive Steve Reinemund, making her the first Indian woman (or is it professional?) to head a Fortune 100 company. For many professionals in Corporate India, especially women, it's a matter of great pride - she's only 50, and on top of a company considered, along with Coke, as an icon of the Great American Dream. 47949085 Happy Independence Day, from PepsiCo Yehi hai right choice baby - sorry, we simply couldn't resist this. Yes, it's time for the world to step back and make way for India - first to its techies, now to its entrepreneurs and professionals. When ET met her back in March '05 and asked if she was in the running for the top job, all she said was: Inshallah. And quickly added: My boss is very young, so let's keep it at that. We have great chemistry at work, the symphony is simply outstanding. Maybe, we can both walk together into the sunset one day. Far from it. Call it Tequila Sunrise... Ask Harish Manwani, president, Asia-Africa, Unilever, and an Indian super-achiever himself: This is a proud moment for Corporate India as another Indian professional makes it to the very top of a big global organisation. All our best wishes are with Indra Nooyi as she embarks on this exciting leadership role, he told ET. For women professionals, Independence Day '06 acquires a totally new meaning. Chennai-born Nooyi becomes head of one of the world's biggest consumer brand company, the New York-based $32-bn PepsiCo. Listen to industrialist Adi Godrej: That an Indian woman has achieved such success is quite great. It tremendously adds to India's brand equity. Adds Naina Lal Kidwai, country head and CEO, HSBC: It's wonderful news. Not too surprising either, given her stature. From my meetings with her, I get a sense that she has the highest calibre and intelligence. It is great for India, great for womanhood and great for Pepsi. It has not been easy for Nooyi to make a mark in the male-dominated world of colas. In '02, at a Q&A session at Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, Nooyi was asked about what she had learned from her own ascent up the corporate ladder, especially given that very few women had managed to break the proverbial glass ceiling across corporate America. The answer, said the straight-talking Nooyi, wouldn't please too many women in the audience. Being a woman, immigrant and person of colour made it thrice as difficult, she said. So therefore, the only way out, was to work twice as hard as your male counterparts. Nooyi said she followed a simple rule: To produce output that was twice as good, work more hours, make more sacrifices and trade-offs. That is the only journey I know. I don't know what it is to have cushy life and go home to watch the 6:00 news. When she goads her daughters to do better in school and get ranked in the top three - something she would like every business in Pepsi to do - they tell her: Mom, go get a life. It's a Pepsi life that Nooyi perhaps loves to lead. She carries work home and by the bagful - in fact, she carries three to four bags full of paper back home everyday, earning her the nickname 'the bag lady of Pepsi.' Steve and I put the lights out at office. And if he sends me a query on my Blackberry at 4.00 am, I reply to him at 4.01! Coke better watch out. Who's that? she had joked when ET asked her about The Real Thing in our last interaction with the iron lady. On a more serious note, she said: Coke is a global, iconic brand. We are all students of Coca-Cola, we take it very seriously. Apart from that, Nooyi is a product of the Madras Christian College and Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. She shot into the limelight after she pushed former CEO Roger Enrico to spin off Pepsi's struggling restaurants division, which included KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. She later played an active part in bulge-bracket acquisitions of Quaker Oats and Tropicana, establishing herself as the M&A expert within PepsiCo. Indra is like a dog with a bone, Enrico had said. It was supposed to be a huge compliment. Well, now that it's a reality, India Inc is preparing to raise a toast to the highest-ranked Indian American woman in Corporate America. Top honchos across companies, especially the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector were elated on hearing the news of her appointment as the top boss in PepsiCo. She has made India proud. It is a great recognition that Indian talent is second to none, said Shantanu Khosla, managing director, P&G India. Even arch-rival, Coca-Cola is believed to be closely watching Nooyi's coronation, for she had played a key role in helping PepsiCo overtake Coca-Cola in market cap late last year. Following her graduation from the Yale School of Management, Nooyi joined the Boston Consulting Group, where she spent six years directing international corporate strategy projects. She then held senior management positions at Motorola and Asea Brown Boveri from 1986 until 1994, when she joined PepsiCo. And she has not known any other life after that. Known for waking up in the middle of the night and scribbling what lies ahead for the company (Pepsi is her magnificent obsession), she is of the belief the future may be more about maintaining double digit growth and tuck-in acquisitions - that's small acquisitions worth $100-200m - rather than about fancy Quaker Oats-like footwork. But not many reach the top, so wondering what's her secret of success? She's got her own five Cs, steps to global stardom: competence, confidence, communication, compass and conscience. Perhaps, she could add a sixth C: crashing the glass ceiling. |