Former Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi on Leadership Challenges

Indra Nooyi led a $200B empire, revealing the hidden costs and lessons of rising to the top in business leadership.

Former Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi on Leadership Challenges
The Knowledge Project Podcast
310.7K views • Jun 24, 2025
Former Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi on Leadership Challenges

About this video

Indra Nooyi ran a $200 billion global empire and became one of the most influential business leaders of our time.

Learn what it takes to lead and what it costs. You’ll hear how she tracked 400 future CEOs, what Steve Jobs told her about being “too nice,” and what happens when everything goes wrong.

00:00 Welcome Indra
02:37 Growing Up In India
09:50 Lessons From Working In Consulting
23:19 Being Direct As A Leader / Delivering A Message That Gets Heard
25:59 Developing Talent
28:24 How To Minimize Office Politics
31:51 Power And Humility In Life
34:34 Prioritizing Work Over Family / Finding Balance
41:26 Turnover After A CEO Change
48:28 Implementable Change In A Company
51:03 Removing Friction Instead Of Using Force
52:32 Lessons From Amazon
54:22 Leading Through Crisis
58:06 Dealing With Activist Investors
01:01:26 Women As CEOS / Biases In The Workplace
01:08:12 Almost Quitting PepsiCo
01:09:52 What I Learned From Steve Jobs
01:14:38 Lessons From Costco And Walmart
01:22:46 Secrets to PepsiCo Merchandising
01:23:46 Outsourcing Bottlers at PepsiCo then Reversing the Decision
01:26:43 Lessons From Acquisitions
01:29:55 Traits Of A High-Performing Employee
01:31:45 Remote Work vs. In Office

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Views

310.7K

Likes

5.8K

Duration

01:35:30

Published

Jun 24, 2025

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