From the course: Career Advice from Some of the Biggest Names in Business

Indra Nooyi on three things to get you to your aspirational job

From the course: Career Advice from Some of the Biggest Names in Business

Indra Nooyi on three things to get you to your aspirational job

(upbeat music) - I'm sure you meet with people all the time that say, "Indra, I want to be you. "I want to be sitting where you're sitting in 20 years." What kind of advice do you give people who have these major aspirations? - I'm glad, and I will be even happier if more people came up to me and said, "I want to be a CEO." "What does it take to get there?" Because that means people have hopes and dreams and they feel the system will allow them to get there. So that's a good thing. Let me tell you what I typically tell them. First, don't start by saying I want to be CEO. Because the minute you get obsessed about wanting to be the CEO, you forget what you have to do. Because you're more focused on the next job and the next job as opposed to doing the current job very, very well. So advice number one, don't get fixated on your CEO aspiration. Focus on doing the current job you have so (beep) well, that people say "Nobody else can do that job "as well as Dan's doing it." So I think it's critically important to focus on the current job. Second, whatever happens, have a hip-pocket skill. People should look at you and say, "On this particular issue, the only person who can" "answer it or can contribute to it is Dan." because if they know that you have a competence that nobody else has, you become more valuable. There's a great line who says, "If you're valuable on the inside," "you're more valuable on the outside." So, inside the company, people have got to really value you for your capabilities. Third, courage. I think that's what's lacking the most today. If you really feel strongly about something, have the courage to defend what you're suggesting. Because if we have more courageous people stand up for the ideals and their values, I think companies and societies will become a better place. - What's your hip pocket skill? - You know, interestingly, over my entire career, what I've been known for is making simple the complex, whatever the issue is, and if you give it to Indra it will get addressed. And, it'll sometimes be areas that I have nothing to do with. I'll give you one. When we bought Quaker Oats, we had to go through the FTC process. It was a long FTC process, and Steve Ryan, who was CEO, and myself we had not been through an FTC process of that size and scope. The lawyers were handling it, but the lawyers speak in legalese. And Steve walked into my office one day and said "I want you to take over the FTC process." I said, I've got post-- integration to worry about, I'm CFO and President, I've got too much to do. He just looked at me and said "I want you to take over the FTC process, working with the lawyers of course." Because he wanted to demystify. I said fine, I'll work with the lawyers and take it over. I went to school on the FTC process. What happens all the way down the white paper. How do you talk to the commissioners? How do you make the case? What's the economic check analysis that has to be done? I became a student. And I can now explain, in very simple terms, to my CEO, what needed to be done. And how we can influence the process. So then everything is stated in simple language for people to understand. As opposed to always talking legalese. I'm sure the FTC understands legal, but as people who are so dependent on the outcome of the process, we had to understand every part of the process. So if I go back through my entire career, Dan, anywhere where things were too complex, it always came to me. And Indra, you simplify it for Us. You tell us how to navigate through this extremely complex problem. That's been my hip-pocket skill then, it is today. So, courage, communication. If you want to be a leader, and you can't communicate effectively, forget it. In the digital world, people think texting and tweeting is plenty, it's not. You've got to be able to stand in front of employees and get them to go places they never thought they needed to get to. So you've got to have enormous communication capabilities. And you've got to have a compass. Your ethics are so important. Because you can be courageous, communicate beautifully, have a competence, but if you're down-right unethical, nobody will follow you. So I tell this to people and say guys, focus on these building blocks. And once you focus on these, the CEO-ship will come automatically. And it's own time. Don't be in a hurry to get there. Don't play the politics. Be aware of the politics in the company, don't play the politics in the company. (upbeat music)

Contents