My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future

by Indra Nooyi

Prime Minister Singh exclaimed, “Oh! But she is one of us!” And the president, with a big smile and without missing a beat, responded, “Ah, but she is one of us, too!”

And I remembered the things Thatha told me: “If you take on something, you must give it your all” and “If you make a promise, keep it.” He insisted on reliability.

He liked to say he was a lifelong student. “Even though I am in my eighties, I am a student like you all,” he said. “The day I stop, my mind will atrophy. And then the body will follow.”

The most prominent was Indira Gandhi, who was prime minister twice, from 1966 to 1977, and again from 1980 to 1984, when she was assassinated.

they didn’t hold us back from wanting to do more. In fact, they encouraged it. We were lucky not to have our ambitions dampened.

Educating girls remains the bedrock of advancing women in our world,

business is done a few spools of thread at a time and that I owed my customers a duty of care.

got to know my customers as humble, hardworking, skilled people.

The business depended on attention to detail, and I tried to set the standard by showing a deep interest in the fine aspects of printing.

For the briefest of moments, I was the greatest person in the world.

The US had a special draw for young people, and was viewed as a seat of culture and innovation. We listened to American music, watched American movies, and read American news.

the US got India’s very best, students who had been educated in elite institutions subsidized by the Indian government.

This was a tremendous brain drain that, unfortunately, continues even today.

if I was advising you as my daughter, I’d say, ‘Go.’

my father was the one who finally persuaded my mother to just let me spread my wings.

many immigrants’ American dream begins with fear, awe, and loneliness.

I still have that fear—an immigrant’s fear—that presses me to try to do well and to belong.

was also largely invisible and conscious of how international students, especially from developing countries, were grouped in people’s minds. Diligent but no style, funny accents, socially inept.

“Be yourself, but try to blend in, too.”

“Next time, wear the sari. And if they won’t hire you for who you are, it’s their loss. Just be yourself.”

working women’s kids tend to do better in school, are more independent, and see their mothers as valuable role models.

the reason women need a clear path to paid work is more direct. We all deserve the power of the purse for our own freedom.

“You asked me for the best, and I gave you the best.”

I was learning all the time; it was an intellectual high and a physical low.

The intense rest I needed to heal forced me to slow down in a way I hadn’t before.

How do I go about understanding what drives an industry I know nothing about? How do I keep current in the world of strategy?

He once sent me to teach a class at MIT when the university wanted him. Yet again, I had the good luck of a boss who was a mentor, advocate, and friend. In return, I put in very long hours. My loyalty to him was unwavering.

make me wonder why accessible, affordable quality childcare isn’t a national priority.

three buckets: (1) worth working on right away, (2) fine to take a few weeks to get to it, (3) not worth pursuing.

As a leader, I could be very blunt in my drive to make sure we made all the right decisions.

saw me struggling with anxiety.

Given the culture of Motorola, maybe I should have known that big decisions about the company’s entire future would be slow and careful.

and I didn’t know whether my impatience was—and is—a vice or a virtue.

With this choice to change his life for the sake of my career, he was contesting all of that.

Living this way requires adjustments from all sides. It limits everyone’s privacy and can lead to tussles that hurt elders and cause rifts within marriages. This is clearly not the intended outcome. Whole households have to agree on boundaries and behaviors to keep relationships healthy. In

I wonder why I am wired this way where my inner compass always tells me to keep pushing on with my job responsibilities, whatever the circumstances.

I feel that I can help make something better, then I cannot stop myself from jumping in. I have a deep sense of duty and find it very hard to say no if someone asks for help.

Health and wellness, to me, was undeniably a category that offered huge opportunity.

Relieving the time conundrum includes one more factor, too: addressing the culture of urgency that consumes our economy and workplaces. Deadlines are incredibly important. But, too often, they are arbitrary.

“I’ve just become president of PepsiCo, and you couldn’t just stop and listen to my news,” I said, loudly. “You just wanted me to go get the milk!”

“Listen to me,” my mother replied. “You may be the president or whatever of PepsiCo, but when you come home, you are a wife and a mother and a daughter. Nobody can take your place. “So you leave that crown in the garage.”

Money was not my driver, and my salary was impressive,

We know that, on the whole, women’s median salary in the US is about 80 percent that of men.

After all, it does take a village to raise a child.

I think that leaders need to understand the details behind what they are approving before they affix their signature to anything.

This is not about trusting the people that work for you. It’s about basic responsibility. Don’t be a “pass-through.”

I think the people who worked for me came to appreciate that I read everything they sent me, both as a mark of respect to them and their wor...

This zero-sum game for women when it comes to work or family achievements is pernicious.

The “crown in the garage” comment also speaks to the broader relationship between power and humility.

I think women can’t escape the reminders that we must always weigh our power—whatever it may be—against society’s expectations that we must, at all costs, remember that we are imperfect.