Have you ever heard a leader telling people, if you want to do your best, you need to love what you do? As a leader, it is important to articulate who you are and what you stand for. Research has shown time and again that the difference between an average organization and a successful one are the leadership skills of the people.
Leaders have a lot power to influence others. And people follow the examples of what leaders do. It is very important to cast a right shadow of a right leader in a person’s life.
Indra Nooyi
One of the greatest example of a successful and powerful leaders is the Chairperson and CEO of Pepsi, Indra Nooyi who truly has a clear vision and courage of convictions.
Born on 28th Oct. 1955 in Chennai, Indra is American by nationality but follower of Hinduism. Fortune Magazine named her the most powerful woman in business for five years in a row till 2010. Later, in 2017 she was listed as the Second Most Powerful Women in Fortune 500 list.
Firstly, taking a look at her career history, she completed her MBA in 1976 and had her first job in Tootal (British Textile Company). Later, she moved on to Jonson & Jonson as a product manager. In 1980 she became director of International Corporate Strategy projects for Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
She moved to Motorola and then Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) between 1986 -1990. By that time she gained much prominence as strategist and received job offers from world’s largest companies; General Electrics and PepsiCo. She chose PepsiCo in 1994 as CFO and President in 2001. Finally in 2006 she became the CEO of PepsiCo.
In 2007, she was honoured by Padma Bhushan award and was named as CEO of the year Global supply chain leaders group in 2009. According to Forbes 2017, she is 12th highest paid corporate women in US.
Indra Nooyi is the inspiration for anyone out in the world who believes in working hard and passionate about what they do. She also proves to the world that women can still make success with their talents and unique charm. Indra is a strategic thinker and a leader for all seasons. She is fluent in the global arena and this is part of what made her the right leadership fit for PepsiCo.
Indra says that leadership is not easy “Leadership is hard to define and good leadership even harder. But, if you can get people to follow you to the ends of the earth, you are a great leader” .
She further says, “As a leader, I am tough on myself and I raise the standard for everybody; however, I am very caring because I want people to excel at what they are doing so that they can aspire to be me in the future”.
People who take time to analyze methods of leadership and build communication skills are the leaders. Creating a vision, finding courage in your convictions, and unleashing the power of your people are the three qualities that allowed Indra to cast a shadow of leadership success.
