Costco Connection - June 2008

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ON HIS CNBC TV SHOW “Mad Money” financial guru Jim Cramer says he is impressed with Nooyi’s attempts at becoming socially responsible regarding the environment: PepsiCo won the 2007 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star Partner of the Year for outstanding energy management and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

“We live in an era where people can choose to work anywhere and what you want to do is work at a place that has a long-term future and has the environment and health as a consideration,” says Cramer. “She is taking a long-term view about trying to get the best people in. The idea of going to work for a packaged foods company is frankly anathematic to the vast majority of people. This is something that she recognizes. Her environment initiatives are brilliant and they catch your eye. If you feel like you want to do something good with your life, you might think about going to work with Pepsi and you never would have otherwise.” “When we go on campuses the first question young people are asking today is: ‘Are you working on the environment?’,” says Nooyi. “Do you have a green program? That is all my kids [Preetha, 24, and

Tara, 15] care about: green, green, green. If you want to attract young people to PepsiCo versus them going to a technology or Internet company, you better have a green program. This is not just a nice thing to do. This is the only way we can sustain our performance.” C

AMY SHANK, MATTOX PHOTOGRAPHY

Women in power: With Claire Babrowsky, EVP of Toys-R-Us (left) and Kathleen Matthews, EVP of Global Communications, Marriott International at the 2008 Women’s Foodservice Forum, Indra Nooyi describes her management style as demanding yet caring.

coaching because mentors have always played a role in my life. Mentors find you. You don’t find them. A mentor has picked you because you have the competence, the courage and confidence, you are a great communicator and you have a moral compass. They say, ‘I want to hitch my horse to yours because I think you are going to go places and you will take me with you. Not because I need it but because I like the ride.’ ”

Wide-open future

Away from the boardroom, Nooyi sings karaoke, plays the guitar and is a passionate (read: obsessed) Yankees fan, a loyalty that developed while she was at Yale and longing

I am just getting my feet wet.

I am earning my stripes.

I want those stripes to be bright.

I want them screaming.

America. “I was nurtured very well but I was also a global citizen from the time I was a kid because I was always learning about the world around me.”

There are five C’s in success

The cornerstones of Nooyi’s management philosophy are what she describes as the five C’s for success: competence, courage (and confidence), communication, compass and coaching. “The first four C’s I never change,” she says.

JOE VERICKER, PHOTOBUREAU, INC

“The first one is competence. I think you can”t move up in any job or in life unless you are damn good at something. You have to have a hip-pocket skill. [If] you forget that skill, your utility goes down in a company because people don’t know what to come to you for because you are not current in anything.

“The second C’s are courage and confidence. You can be very good at something, but if you are not willing to break some china in speaking up when you think something is not being done right, what is the value of having all that competency? The third C is communication. You might be willing to have the courage and have the confidence, but if you can’t communicate what you are going to do in a compelling way, that is a wasted thing. The fourth C is compass. You can have everything, but if you don’t have moral integrity it is all for naught.

“The fifth C I have varied over time. The one that I use most often is the notion of

to find a replacement for her beloved cricket. “My friend Henry Kissinger and I both love the Yankees, and when we travel together you would see each of our cellphones have automatic Yankees score prompts every 10 minutes,” she says, laughing.

Kissinger, in fact, told Fortune that it’s only a matter of time before Nooyi is plucked for a big Washington post. Nooyi says such a prospect intrigues her, but it’s a long way away. “My goal is to run PepsiCo first and foremost,” she says. “It is the company that I love and it is my job. That is what I am focused on. Long-long-term, after I have built PepsiCo into an even better company, after there are many successors that can fill my boots, if there is a way to serve the country I would.”