Work Life Balance questions would always revolve around if you can have it all. Indra Nooyi, Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo shares how you can have it all. I love how authentic she is, being honest about the reality of striving to have it all. Yes having it all is possible she says; but there are sacrifices and tradeoffs along the way.
Watch Indra Nooyi Talk About How You Can Have it All
Question: Does She Have It All?
Simple Answer is Yes. She shares that she has it all in context of the question. Further more she goes on to share what she has in place and what she believes you need to have in place to have it all.
Accept trade Offs
To have it all, there will be trade offs in the process. There are things you would need to give up or postpone when it comes to achieving the balance you need. Having a clear vision helps to ensure you are making the right decisions and this guides you saying yes to the right thing and being okay saying No when necessary. Everyone has a different view on what balance is, therefore there is a need to manage your unique expectations.
Sacrifice
You can have it all but be comfortable with the notion of sacrifice. Having it all does come with sacrifice. You will need to be comfortable with giving up somethings to get the things that you want.
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Support System
You need to have the right support system around you to achieve all that you need to. For Indra Nooyi she has the support of her husband, her mother and mother in law. These were very helpful with her ability to balance all the hats that she had. If you want to get married or are married, you need a supportive spouse.
Heartache and Pain
For Indra Nooyi, she shares that heartache and pain can come with the demands of balancing the many hats. For her rising in her career and building a multinational company – PepsiCo, there was a lot of sacrifice at home.
She has shared that she has to remind herself what she has lost, referring to difficulties of running a Fortune 500 companies while parenting two children. While she says she does not regret her decisions, that doesn’t mean she hasn’t suffered “heartaches” and would counsel her younger self to be “careful of your choices.”
She is honest to say that with a demanding career and playing the role of mother and wife, there will be some collateral damage in the process.
More Women in Positions of Power Will Make Having It All less painful
When more women are in positions of power, the reality is that the importance on work life balance and caring for children will play a more integral part. For example focusing on the importance of childcare, Indra Nooyi says that PepsiCo is “looking at” building a daycare center on its campus.
She shares that her mother always kept her grounded advising her to drop her crown at the garage, when she gets into the house she should remember her role is mother and wife.
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