first recruits . I armed them and others at the company with the messages they needed to help persuade the rest of the organization to embrace Perfonnance with Purpose . Not every meeting was successful . In fact , I faced a lot of resistance . Critics told me to forget all this nutrition stuff and just focus on selling more chips and soda . It was tough hearing from them . But alongside these critics also emerged a community of supporters . So we stuck with it and teamed up with others in the industry to create the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation . And together , we removed 6.4 trillion calories from our food and beverage products , surpassing our pledge by more than 400 % three years ahead of schedule .
Today , Performance with Purpose has become ingrained into our culture , which never would have happened without community support . It ' s crucial , not just to have a clear message , but to have a critical mass of supporters who can help you deliver it .
4 ) Listen carefully
My fourth lesson is about perhaps the most important part of persuasion : listening . There are always people with ideas for how we can do things differently - ideas we may not want to hear . But I ' ve found that when I ' ve been willing to listen , I ' ve been better for it , as a CEO and a person . We get feedback from our consumers and employees at PepsiCo , but I ' ve also found that some of the best advice has come in moments I least expected it . Once , I was taking ballroom dance lessons and my instructor was struggling with the lesson . " Why ?" I asked . He replied , " Because you ' re trying to lead when you need to follow ." Then he added , " If you learned to follow , you ' d be a better leader . And it would make you a better dancer ." What a profound lesson .
There ' s a reason we have two ears and one mouth . We should do more listening than talking . We should lead as CEOs . But we should also learn to follow , if needed . We should listen to the wisdom all around us .
5 ) Be a student for life
My fifth lesson is to keep learning . I ' ve tried to be a lifelong student . That ' s especially important given the age we ' re living in . Data analytics , automation , and other new trends and technologies are transforming our industry and our world . If we ' re serious about navigating all this change , we need to continually educate ourselves . That ' s why I recently took a course on Big Data . But being a CEO today requires more than just taking a course . It requires getting out of our offices and seeing things up close . Everywhere I go , I talk to as many people as I can to try to get a full picture of our business . I talk to customers , field salespeople , and all our employees . I talk to elected officials and civic leaders . I take photos of how our products look on the shelf. I also attend industry conferences to stay on top of the larger trends that _
will disrupt or define our industry in the commg years .
I ' m constantly trying to consume as much information as I can from as many sources as I can . I can ' t afford to stop learning . None of us can . CEOs need to be students for life , and all our employees do , too .
... you ' re a wife and
Leave the Crown in the Garage Indra Nooyi , Pepsi
1nother New York City first .
August 2017
Nobody can take that place .
6 ) People are everything
That brings me to my sixth lesson , which is that people are everything . The success of an enterprise usually comes down to one thing : the team . In the past , if you wanted the best talent , it was all about the job . In today ' s world , it goes beyond that . You need to appeal not only to your employees ' heads , but to their hearts . When Steve Reinemund was CEO of PepsiCo , he was great at that . He ' d send handwritten notes to employees thanking them for a job well done . When I became CEO , I tried to do the same . But the way I thought about all this changed completely in 2007 when I traveled to India to visit my mother for the first time after being named CEO . A steady stream of family and friends came into the house . They ' d go right over to my mother and say , " Congratulations ." Or " You did such a good job raising Indra ."
Watching them , I realized I ' d never done for our senior executives at PepsiCo what my mothers ' family and friends were doing for her . So , as soon as I got back , I decided to send a letter thanking the parents of some of our executives . And since then , I ' ve sent similar letters to spouses .
The impact of these letters has led to some of the most meaningful experiences I ' ve had at PepsiCo . If I have one request for those of you reading this who lead people , try this . The reactions you get will move you more than you can know .
Program Success 7 August 2017
7 ) " Leave the crown in the garage " None of us is just an employee . We ' re also mothers and fathers , wives and husbands daughters and sons , trying to balance multipl� roles . And that ' s what my seventh lesson is all about . I ' ll never forget coming home after being named President of PepsiCo back in 2001 . My mother was visiting at the time . " I ' ve got great news for you ," I shouted . She replied , " It can wait . We need you to go out and get some milk ."
So I go out and get milk . And when I come back , I ' m hopping mad . I say , " I had great news for you . I ' ve just been named President of PepsiCo . And all you want me to do is go out and get milk ." Then she says , " Let me explain something to you . You may be President of PepsiCo . But when you step into this house , you ' re a wife and mother first . Nobody can take that place . So leave that crown in the garage ."
She was right , of course . No matter who we are , or what we do , nobody can take our place in our families . Now , I ' ll admit , I ' ve found it ' s rarely possible to be the kind of mother wife employee , and person you want to b ; - all at the same time . Often , you need to make a choice , and that ' s especially true if you want to be CEO . There ' s no way around it . And yet , for all the painful choices my husband and I have had to make , I also know our family has been incredibly fortunate . Many families in this country don ' t have extended family to help with childcare or jobs that give them the financial means to pay for additional support .
This is a challenge we need to take on urgently . We need to come together , as corporations and as a society to support workers who are caring for young children , aging parents , or both .
I ' m proud to say we ' re trying to do our part at PepsiCo . This fall , we will begin offering onsite childcare at our headquarters in Purchase , New York and near-site childcare for employees in Plano , Texas . And we offer access to quality childcare for employees in certain markets around the world . That ' s just part of our larger effort to make sure we ' re supporting our working caregivers in every way we can and empowering people to build not just a career , but a life .
I ' m learning new lessons every day . But these are the seven critical lessons I wanted to share with you . These seven lessons translate into the seven characteristics of a great leader : Vision . Persistence . Persuasion . Listening . Learning . Collaborating . Humility . Probably no single person embodies all these virtues . I know I don ' t . But anyone who can do these seven things , who possesses these seven qualities , will be a formidable leader .
I ' m not done learning-and I ' d love to learn more from you . I hope you will comment below to share your own leadership lessons .