Signal success

It is rare for a woman to become the chief executive of a large global corporation: two or three decades ago, there were none. Even today, there are at best about half a dozen, and all of them are white Caucasians. So when a brown woman, foreign-born, makes it to the corner office in an American mega-corp, it is a signal achievement as it means the over-coming of a double handicap. India-born Indra Nooyi therefore deserves all the congratulations that will come her way on being named the first woman chief executive of an iconic firm like PepsiCo.

To be sure, some Indian men too have made it to the corner office in global firms""like Rana Talwar at Standard Chartered Bank, Rajat Gupta at McKinsey and Arun Sarin at Vodafone. Indra Nooyi's success therefore can be seen as part of a trend where Indians do well in international companies that straddle a wide range of businesses""and their personal success stories have helped build national self-confidence as well. But Ms Nooyi's rise also significantly embellishes the trend because the person concerned is a woman. Even in India, if any woman gets to head a large company, it has often been on the strength of inherited shareholding power. Among the few exceptions that stand out are Vinita Bali at Britannia, Naina Lal Kidwai at HSBC, and the several women in key positions at ICICI Bank. It may or may not be a coincidence that Ms Nooyi too has come through the financial stream, rising to become PepsiCo's chief financial offer a few years ago, then president (and clearly the heir-apparent) and now CEO. Bean counters are sometimes seen as not having the right stuff when it comes to running strong marketing companies, but Ms Nooyi has demonstrated her abilities across a broad spectrum, not the least of them being the structuring of large corporate acquisitions.

Her rise to the top is a vote in favour of the meritocracy that prevails in corporate America, and demonstrates that it is possible to break through the glass ceiling. It is also a vote in favour of India's education system. After graduating in chemistry from a Madras college, Ms Nooyi did a management course at the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta and worked in India before heading out to the US. However, it is interesting that she felt obliged to do yet another management course, at Yale, before working in firms like Motorola and finally joining PepsiCo in the mid-1990s. Looking at the broader trend of women in companies, it is clear that participation rates have improved over the years, not just in the traditional working roles assigned to women (like that of teachers), or in support functions like human resources, but also in one male-dominated, front-line bastion after another. However, it also remains true that the overwhelming number of people in senior management positions and on the boards of companies are still men""a lack of balance that is not evident at the stage when bright youngsters are acquiring a management education. Clearly, a woman manager is still at a handicap. It is therefore especially important that success stories like that of Indra Nooyi get acknowledged and celebrated.