What fascinates us from the start of Indra Nooyi’s memoir, My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future (Portfolio), is the trajectory of her life. Many of us know her as the former CEO and chairperson of PepsiCo and the first woman of color to lead a Fortune 500 company. What her book offers is insight into her personal values — those that have seen her through her ascension in the corporate world.
If we consider the extent to which our family influences us, Nooyi’s family was stellar. Her descriptions of her childhood in India during the 1960s are laden with love and support. Her parents’ steadfast belief in the pursuit of education and opportunity is a guiding force throughout. Thus, when she came to America in the ‘70s during the second wave of feminism and studied at the Yale School of Management, she was prepared.
As the book takes us through Nooyi’s various positions and remarkable career, she candidly reports on the ups and downs of home life. She details what it was like to be ambitious and earnest on the job while tending to the needs of her two daughters and her marriage. She describes the sacrifices she made as a young working mother and the fact that the family did not travel a great deal. Yet there were yearly trips with her young children to visit her family in India. One notes at this juncture that she certainly has an understanding, supportive husband.
What is notable is how Nooyi’s identity as a woman, wife and mother is a constant in her approach to solutions at work. Not only does she describe this from her own perspective but with empathy for working women everywhere. She has a deep understanding and recognition of a system that perpetuates an unrefined and tricky balance of work/childcare/marriage.
Nooyi’s sensitivity and awareness extend to a discerning eye when it comes to consumerism, product and health. Her tenure at Pepsico from 2006 to 2019 resulted in a modernized, diverse, inclusive, sustainable company that she led into “the future,” championing “three imperatives — to nourish, replenish and cherish.” Nooyi describes her belief in large private companies and their place in terms of community, while also having an ethical and commercial standard. She writes, “What’s good for commerce and what’s good for society have to go together.”
While it is always curious to comb through the photo ops in a memoir, the images and accompanying text in this book are informative and intriguing. Showcased moments include a picture of the “women’s living room” of her parents’ home; her first day at PepsiCo with Wayne Calloway, CEO at the time; the Indian president P.J. Abdul Kalam awarding her the Padma Bhushan award; and candids with such luminaries as Derek Jeter at a Yankee game, New York Senator Hillary Clinton during a visit to PepsiCo, and President Barack Obama during his discussions with business leaders about the financial crisis.
The book is also fun and relatable — in order to better understand what consumers yearn for, our memoirist actually went food shopping on weekends, incognito. She describes her early attempts at an appropriate wardrobe for interviews. While every working woman would find it heartening and enlightening to read My Life in Full, it would be meaningful reading in academia as well, for gender studies, women’s studies, sociology and MBA programs.
Nooyi’s ideals draw us to her memoir. It is her commitment to excellence, openness, fortitude and change that reels us in. Hers is a unique, unforgettable story that demands our respect and gives hope to women of all ages and stages in the workforce.
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