HOW MANAGERS CAN NURTURE TALENT

Nurturing talent is one of the most difficult and pressing needs today, says Indra Nooyi. ‘You cannot not worry about talent as your key driver... your key competitive advantage going forward.

‘Talent does not happen when you turn on the switch. It’s a process that has to be deliberate and thought through over many years. You need to identify talent, nurture and give them assignments that push them to develop further. You need to promote them a little bit ahead of their time to see how they deliver. By this I mean you have to stretch people. It’s only then that you know what they are capable of. Very often you allow people to atrophy in a job [or] move them to another job where they don’t shine because they view it as just another rung instead of another exciting new avenue for development. You need to push them into uncomfortable areas. However, it is also important you push them a only a little bit ahead of their time and not way ahead because if they fail, you don’t want them to [feel dejected] and down. The push should be just so they’ll grow and develop in profound ways.

If I’m an employee today, I’d put my hand up for the toughest assignment. You need to do that. Move out of your comfort zone. In Pepsico, we would plan succession 15 to 20 years ahead[nurture] a bunch of promising young people who could become CEO in 20 years. Some will drop out, some may enter this group, but you have to worry about that funnel. Management of the funnel to develop global leaders is a very important assignment and that took a lot of my time at Pepsico.