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Good luck to you, Dear Chennai girl!
She was born in Chennai, spent her childhood in Chennai. Her
father worked at the State Bank of Hyderabad and her grandfather
was a district judge. She did her BSc. in Chemistry from Madras
Christian College and subsequently earned a Master's Degree in
Finance and Marketing from IIM Calcutta.
Mr. Henry Kissinger says it is only a matter
of time before she is plucked for a big Washington post,
possibly a cabinet job…and she would like that. 'Yes, I do want
to go to Washington', she says when asked if she had ever more
than just thought about a role in the government. 'I want to
give back - to work for no money for four or five years.' She
said.
You have guessed it right. She is none other
than the Chennai girl Ms. Indra Nooyi, the India- born Chief of
global behemoth PepsiCo. A report in the U S business magazine
Fortune says that she does see a role for herself in the U S
Government, possibly after the next presidential term.
Indra is an entirely different kind of CEO, a
product of her native India as well as of PepsiCo’s family
–values approach to grooming CEOs. This determined girl, who
while studying in Connecticut, worked as a receptionist from
midnight to sunrise to earn money and struggled to put together
US$50 to buy herself a western suit for her first job interview
out of Yale. Incidentally, she was not comfortable trying out a
formal western outfit and ended up buying trousers that reached
down only till her ankles. Rejected at the interview, she turned
to her professor at the school who asked her what she would wear
if she were to be in India. To her reply that it would be a
sari, the professor advised her to be you and stick to what she
was comfortable with. She wore a sari for her next interview.
She got the job.
She lives with her husband and two daughters
in Fairfax County, Connecticut. If you ever visit her
Connecticut home, do remember to take your shoes off before
entering. If you forget, at least remember to take them off
before entering the large puja room where a lamp is lit and the
inviting air of incense greets you. She keeps an image of
Ganesha in her office, and in fact, some PepsiCo officials
visited India and received similar images besides being told of
the Hindu belief about Ganesh being the symbols of auspicious
beginnings. Many of them now keep images of Ganesh in their
offices! Nooyi attends PepsiCo board meetings in a sari; for she
believes the corporate world appreciates people who are genuine.
She has proved that one can acculturate without assimilating.
One day, as Kissinger says, you may be a part of the U S
Cabinet. Good luck Indra, May Ganesha bless you.
H Ramakrishnan
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