How does a middle-class girl singing Beatles songs in Chennai end up leading one of the world’s biggest consumer companies? In “My Life in Full”, former PepsiCo (PEP.O) Chief Executive Indra Nooyi traces her path from southern India to leading the soda giant, via a scholarship at Yale University. She ably describes her battles with activist investors and deals that reshaped the American company. Her efforts to turn it into a business that’s good for the world remain unfinished, though.
Most corporate memoirs combine vague platitudes with simplistic lessons for success. “My Life in Full” is refreshingly different. Nooyi’s clear and insightful explanation of various decisions gives a cool-headed nod to both the spreadsheets and raging egos involved. That lucidity helps explain her successful career, which culminated in the 12 years she led PepsiCo until stepping down in 2018.
Battle for Quaker Oats
The battle for Quaker Oats is instructive. PepsiCo agreed to acquire the porridge maker in 2000, but only after first walking away from the $13.4 billion deal and looking on as its arch-rival Coca-Cola (KO.N) swooped in. Nooyi describes how, when Coca-Cola’s board rejected the deal, PepsiCo couldn’t just return with a lowball offer. Even though it knew Quaker Oats CEO Bob Morrison was in a bind, the soda company needed his support to ensure a successful integration.
She showed similar pragmatism in the debate over whether PepsiCo should own the companies that bottle its soft drinks. Coca-Cola had listed its bottlers and enjoyed a higher valuation. But Nooyi predicted that the interests of the two businesses would clash. PepsiCo spun off its bottling subsidiaries in 1999 under then-CEO Roger Enrico, but Nooyi bought them back once she was in charge.
The 65-year-old also deftly deflected activist investors like Nelson Peltz. The billionaire’s Trian Partners built up a $1.5 billion stake in PepsiCo and called for it to split into separate beverage and snack companies. Nooyi carefully considered his proposal but persuaded him against it. She makes both sides sound so reasonable that readers may wonder whether activists deserve their fearsome reputation.
Mentors impact
“It takes a village to raise a child,” is the proverb Nooyi deploys in the context of bringing up two children while rising through Pepsi’s ranks. But her book also acknowledges the broader cast of characters involved in propelling a schoolgirl ironing her uniform in Chennai to hobnobbing with the likes of President Barack Obama and Apple (AAPL.O) co-founder Steve Jobs. She gracefully acknowledges the early mentors who saw her potential. Her friends, sister, mother, husband, and parents-in-law play a major role.
Even so, much of the book is about the sacrifices she made as a mother, wife and daughter. By the time she’s reached the pinnacle of her career, her daughters are grown up and building corporate lives of their own. It’s hard to imagine a male executive dwelling on this bittersweet note. Similarly, the vulnerability she displays in discussing not having anything decent to wear when she arrived in the United States, or how her bluntness held her back early in her career, is refreshing and adds to her credibility.
“Performance with purpose”
“My Life in Full” is an attempt to frame Nooyi’s legacy. She presents this as PepsiCo’s pivot to “performance with purpose” – a model to connect what is good for business with what is good for the world through healthier products and better policies to conserve the world’s resources. Here, her humility appears to falter. PepsiCo’s portfolio of brands is healthier than when Nooyi took over, but it’s still one of the biggest plastics polluters in the world, while its drinks and snacks contribute to an obesity epidemic in the developed world.
When Nooyi was trying to hire the chief scientific officer who would eventually reformulate Pepsi with less sugar, he pointed out how hard it would be to convince the world that the company was serious about science, calories, and garbage. The world still isn’t convinced. PepsiCo may have joined forces with former First Lady Michelle Obama on an anti-obesity campaign, but it also lobbied against anti-obesity initiatives, Boston University researchers reported in 2016.
“My Life in Full” is an authentic portrayal of an extraordinary leader who doesn’t stop studying until she knows her business inside out. She was the kind of CEO who toured supermarkets on the weekend to see what shoppers thought of her products. However, her successor Ramon Laguarta still has his work cut out to fulfil her vision of a company that is both ethically and commercially successful.
SOURCE:
REUTERS.
IMAGE SOURCE:
PIXABAY
