Indra Nooyi Problem Solving Skills

Running head: INDRA NOOYI PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS 1
Indra Nooyi Problem Solving Skills
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INDRA NOOYI PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS 2
Problem Solving and Conflict Management
Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo is a great problem solver. Nooyi uses
"design thinking" approach as one of her problem-solving skills. Design thinking is a way
of finding new solutions to a problem. It starts with the observation of a problem where
you first understand the context culture of a problem and the needs of your consumers.
(Kliever, 2015).
Nooyi's design thinking approach can be seen where he gave her direct reports a
camera and an empty photo album to take pictures of anything to come up with a good
design. She wanted customers to have a perception of the products on the shelves. A six
week period went by only a couple of photo albums were taken. They talked about
packaging design to tackle this problem which drove them to the decision of hiring
Mauro Porcini, Designer (HBR, 2015).
Indra Nooyi was also an inductive thinker, a tactic that helped her shape her
leadership style. She has the ability to think of problems in micro terms then zoom the
solutions out. Through inductive thinking she could determine when she needed to
change the marketing approach and the direction of the design on PepsiCo products. She
checked on different stores to assess how products like, Pepsi Cola, Tropicana, Frito-
Lay, etc. were displayed in the nearby stores. Her observations were used to improve the
design and marketing of PepsiCo products. The initiative tells a lot about Nooyi's
leadership since she did not delegate the task to someone but took the trouble herself.
I would use Nooyi's decision thinking and hands-on approach since this is what
made her successful as PepsiCo CEO. Instead of delegating and requesting such
information from her employees, she took the initiative herself. This is contrary to the