Indra Nooyi: My Life in Full - A book Review

I have been an Indra Nooyi Fan for a while now. I have probably listened to every podcast/talks she's been on to the point where I got sick of listening to answers to similar questions over and over again. Indra Nooyi, is my hero. My inspiration. Ever since she came up with her own book, I was excited to read it, hoping for more stories than the ones already covered in most of her interviews.  I found this book to be very relatable.  The fact that I read this book in march (around women's day), made it even more meaningful to me. 

I was hoping that this book would read like a manual on how to do it all. Unfortunately, it is not. She basically just writes about all the incidents in her life until now and we the readers are forced to think for ourselves and learn what we can from her story. Her story is one of hard work, strength, smarts, and a can do attitude. I wish she had written in more detail. I would have loved to read about her happiness when she was able to break glass ceilings and about her frustrations when obstacles arose. Regardless, this book gave me a lot to think about; especially about how much time and effort Nooyi put in to reach a career high. 

As a woman from a south asian country, I understand how the expectation of women to excel in all aspects of our lives can be a heavy weight we carry on our shoulders. The part that I keep coming back to is when she wrote of "mothers in India at the time - one foot on the break to make sure their daughters were protected and well mannered, and the other foot on the accelerator to help their girls gain respect, independence, and power. Amma's social sense naturally gravitated to the brake; her dreams for us pressed on the accelerator" This reminded me of my own mother, who expects me to excel at work and at home. In fact, my mother was the one who heard of the "leave your crown in the garage" incident and introduced me to Indra Nooyi. 

While reading this book, I kept thinking about similarities between Nooyi and myself. Both Indra Nooyi, and I are born into a society that has very high expectations for a woman. While men in our society are expected to be the breadwinners and financially support their families, we, women, are expected to be financially independent, may be contribute some "bread" for the family, be nurturing and be accommodating of everyones' (children, husband, parents, in-laws) personal needs. Hence, we were not only raised with values that put strong emphasis on family, but also with values that prioritized our intellectual and career growth. I dont know if this is easy for some, but I struggle to balance my personal and professional life almost every single day. And, I get the sense that Nooyi did too. However, despite the difficult task in hand, both of us have been blessed with a supportive family and (more importantly) a supportive husband to help us work towards our goals. With the impossible standards society holds against women, having such a support system counts a lot. It can give you peace at home to be able to focus at work. 

Finally, this book made me question what I have been doing with my life. Nooyi reached such heights because of her hard work and dedication, it was not an obvious career path that fell on her lap. Whether she needed to suck it up or put her foot down, she did what was necessary at the time. She worked late into the night, and immersed herself in whatever she was working on. Nooyi's story reinforced something I already knew: there is no overnight success, and nothing comes easy, you have to be willing to work for your goals.