Identifying and Analyzing Leadership Qualities of Indra Nooyi - Term Paper Example

Indra Nooyi is an Indian American business woman as well as the current chief Executive officer and the Chairperson of PepsiCo, which is apparently the second biggest beverage and food business in the globe by net revenue. She is an Indian American and was born in 28th October, 1955.Nooyis leadership skills is characterized by the ability to closely associate with public officials in addition to exercising emotional intelligence when interacting with PepsiCos employees. It is thought that Nooyi also emphasizes on the essence of leaders to adequately comprehend various cultures and markets with respect to the companys growth. She operates as per her beliefs whereby, at one particular time, she visited China and various households to have a proper view of Chinas market (Morris 42). The analysis puts into view leadership qualities of Indra Nooyi with respect to the concept of effective leadership.

Indra Nooyi can be said to be a household name in the beverage industry whereby she has managed the Pepsi Company for about seventeen years. It is important to note that the Pepsi Company is the leading beverage and food enterprise in North America and Indra Noor serves as its chief executive officer (Morris 42). The company has more than three hundred thousand members of staff in which Indra is perceived to be an influential leader and highly valued. Her management has resulted in significant changes in regards to ensuring that Pepsi remains at the head of its market (Morris 42). According to the CEO, abiding by the 5 Cs Model of Leadership that includes; courage, communication skills, competency, compass and confidence are essential when it comes to effective management (Morris 42).

Nooyi is known for the slogan performance with purpose that she introduced to PepsiCo three years after she became the companys CEO (Indra K. Nooyi on Performance with Purpose). According to her perspective, the companys staff belief in acting accordingly is what made the company engage in sustainability initiatives and hence the slogan. The associated view was to combine corporate social responsibility and the companys business practices. It is said that the great recession also played part in introducing the slogan with the view that purpose and performance are dependent on each other (Indra K. Nooyi on Performance with Purpose).

The new slogan influences them to decrease the level of sugars, saturated fats and sodium in addition to dialing up the nutrition in most of the companys products in regards to beverages and food. The idea is to provide the customers with enjoyable and healthy foods and drinks. Other initiatives include, curbing the companys environmental footprint, having savings that amount to six hundred million dollars between the years 2011 and 2015 in addition to creating employment opportunities and reinvesting on its members of staff. The company also engages in initiatives that promote sustainability in various talents as a way of exhibiting performance with purpose (Indra K. Nooyi on Performance with Purpose).

Nooyis presence as the CEO of PepsiCo is argued to be an influential message when it comes to women empowerment and advancement. According to Cynthia Trudell who works in closely with Nooyi, It's important to have that at the very senior ranks. At PepsiCo, when you have a female CEO and a female head of H.R., we know what it takes to get to those levels. We understand and encourage active sponsorship, (Singh). The mixing of gender in PepsiCos managerial staff is viewed to be a great effort in promoting the companys image.

One of the areas Indra Nooyi has excelled in is communication. She is a brave, confident and a competent lady who is a managed to create a culture of communication within the company. In this case, it is arguable that innovation and novelty are critical qualities of a great team and effective leader (Adam 117). As such, they are required to be efficiently communicated to the person charged with executing such great ideas. This means that such innovativeness becomes helpful when there is a clear channel through which ideas flow. It is therefore conclusive that innovative on a subject is significant when stakeholders discuss it. It can be perceived that Indra Nooyi has a firm comprehension on the essence of proper communication. She insists that communication is one of the areas that are under-invested even though more money should be channeled to them. She declares that the management cannot at any time over-invest in enhancing communication skills (Adam 117).

Apart from identifying communication as one of the best skill for leadership, she constantly goes through communication training as she believes that there is always the next level in clarity as far as communicating goals and targets are concerned (Adam 120). Those who work close with Indra Nooyi observe that her communication skills always appeal to the public eye. The associated view is that she frequently practices on how to exercise good communication skills to ensure that she adequately deals with customers and members of staff subordinate to her from a professional perspective. She also has a blog where she engages her employees through posts on weekly bases. It can be perceived that it is evident that communication is among the areas where the entire organization resonates. It is important to note that the absence of an effective communication system implies that most of the operations of a company will fail in addition to experiencing plenty of losses. From Andri Nooyis communication abilities, one can learn that it takes more than training to be an effective communicator in which passion and creativity have to come into consideration to facilitate the significance of a communication process (Adam 120).

Indra Nooyo also exhibits adequate leadership skills through her role in relationship building. The CEO not only feeds her blog posts on a weekly basis but also maintains a cordial relationship with her workers. Furthermore, she constantly writes to their parents and relatives to express her gratitude for the effort demonstrated by their family members in the workplace. In this case, the CEO has been for a long time extending and building strong relationships that have enabled her employees families become a paramount part of her great business empire. Indra Nooyi argues that if a leader only wants the workers just to make profits for the company, then he or she needs to hire them without an ongoing rapport with them. Therefore, they will have no idea whom their boss is and hence they will never become part and parcel of the companys vision and mission.

When there are no healthy relationships in the work environment, employees main interests will be to solve the outstanding problem and then sit down as they wait for another task to develop (Blowfield 135). On the other hand, when the CEO maintains a relationship with the employees and the people around them, they own up the company, and they become an integral part of it, (Blowfield 135). In this case, Indra Nooyi declares that the workers will be fixing issues even before they escalate to a signal level. In preserving the organizations relationship with the members of the public, Indra Nooyi has maintained constant relationships with her consumers by being in-tune with their needs such as a healthier snack or nutritious drink options. This has greatly transformed the company making Pepsi product quite prestigious. In conclusion, though relationship-building is not part of her Five Cs of Leadership, it is without doubt one of her great strengths (Blowfield 135).

Having a moral compass is also one of Nooyis significant leadership qualities. People working closely with the CEO have repeatedly argued that she lives and operates by moral codes. One of her moral roles is the view that she feels that she owes every person a duty of care, and hence suggests that every corporation should owe the society a duty of care. In her many lectures on Morality and ethics, Indra explains that a large number of organizations are bigger than some of the small countries in the world. In this case, she observes that such enormous agencies should aids the society in reaching their goals and solve some of the societal problems. When explaining the reason why Pepsi chose to go through the challenges during the economic downturn instead of slash prices, Indra revealed that the company is her livelihood together with over half a million people who directly or indirectly depend on PepsiCo for survival. She also argued that the company finances plenty of pensioners and other charitable organizations (Crane 44).

Furthermore, she explained that there are many investors who are looking up to PepsiCo for motivation and hence it must never lose its stability in its industry. This demonstrates Indra Nooyi moral compass (Crane 44). It is therefore conclusive that Indra Nooyi does not only hold excellent ethical standards, but she is also an exceptional leader who can be viewed as a perfect example when it comes to the significance of effective leadership (Crane 44).

As stated earlier, the analysis puts into view leadership qualities of Indra Nooyi with respect to the concept of effective leadership. She has led the company for about seventeen years in which, though her leadership skills, the company has experienced significant growth in terms of productivity and market. It can be perceived that her slogan performance with purpose has played a significant role in maintaining the PepsiCos name. Three of the most distinctive leadership qualities that the CEO exhibits include; communication skills, relationship building and abiding by a strict moral code. Nooyis leadership skills is characterized by the ability to closely associate with public officials in addition to exercising emotional intelligence when interacting with PepsiCos employees. It is perceived that Nooyi also emphasizes on the essence of leaders to adequately comprehend various cultures and markets with respect to the companys growth.

Works Cited

Adam, Alison. Morality, Ethical Standards in Business. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Print

Blowfield, Michael. Corporate responsibility. A case study of PepsiCo. Oxford University Press, 2014. Print.

Crane, Andrew. Business ethics: managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press, 2017.

"Indra K. Nooyi on Performance with Purpose." www.bcgperspectives.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 12 Nov. 2017.

Morris, Betsy. "What Makes Pepsi Great? An exclusive inside look at how Indra Nooyi has transformed an American business icon." Fortune international 157.4 (2008): 42.

Singh, Aman. "Forbes Welcome." Forbes.com. N.p., 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2017.