- High school valedictorians, college graduates, and top performers in professional schools are predominantly women.
- PepsiCo recognizes the importance of sourcing talent from this pool of bright women.
- 80% of household decisions regarding groceries are made by women, making it essential for PepsiCo to have a diverse employee base that reflects its consumer base.
- The goal is to be a high-performance company and recruit the best and brightest who can provide insights into the consumer groups they represent.
- The example of Aunt Jemima highlights the need for representation from specific consumer groups to better understand their thinking and shopping habits.
- PepsiCo sees diversity as a business necessity rather than just a moral obligation.

Former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi shares insights on why diversity must surpass being a economic necessity for businesses and why your workforce must reflect what your consumer base is.

70% of high school valedictorians are women.

40 to 50% of graduates out of colleges are women.

60% of the top grades coming out of college are gotten by women.

60% of many professional schools graduates are women.

Most of the top grades are gotten by women.

So I'm sitting here going, if I have this pool of extraordinarily bright people and I don't source from them for our company, what am I saying about my talent intake?

Now let me add another layer for PepsiCo.

80% of household decisions when it comes to groceries, the gatekeeper is a woman.

So I'm putting all this together and saying, wait, wait, wait.

The fact of the matter is, as I look at our employee base, Does it reflect the consumer base?

Does it reflect the talent base out there?

And it's not a nice to do, it's an economic necessity for our company.

That goes back to not just telling people we have to do it because Everybody has said we should do it.

No, we have to do it because we wanna be the defining corporation of the 21st century.

We wanna recruit from the best and the brightest.

We wanna recruit people who tell us more about the consumer groups that they represent.

That product was sold largely or consumed largely by Black families.

The Aunt Jemima team didn't have any black people on the team.

It makes no sense to me because I'm not saying other people cannot understand the black families, don't get me wrong, but having representation from black families would give you a better appreciation for the thinking, the shopping habits of black people.

Okay, so I think at every point in time, if you've got women making all of the purchasing decisions, Why not have more women on the team who really reflect that purchasing decision?

PepsiCo never captured in, this is the right thing to do.

What was right for business ended up being the right thing to do.


Speaker 0: 70% of high school valedictorians are women. 40 to 50% of graduates out of colleges are women. 60% of the top grades coming out of college are gotten by women. 60% of many professional schools graduates are women. Most of the top grades are gotten by women.

So I'm sitting here going, if I have this pool of extraordinarily bright people and I don't source from them for our company, what am I saying about my talent intake? Now let me add another layer for PepsiCo. 80% of household decisions when it comes to groceries, the gatekeeper is a woman. So I'm putting all this together and saying, wait, wait, wait. The fact of the matter is, as I look at our employee base, Does it reflect the consumer base?

Does it reflect the talent base out there? And it's not a nice to do, it's an economic necessity for our company. That goes back to not just telling people we have to do it because Everybody has said we should do it. No, we have to do it because we wanna be the defining corporation of the 21st century. We wanna be a high performance company.

We wanna recruit from the best and the brightest. We wanna recruit people who tell us more about the consumer groups that they represent. I'll give you 1 example. We have a brand called Aunt Jemima. It used to be called Aunt Jemima.

They've changed the name now. It was a pancake syrup. That product was sold largely or consumed largely by Black families. The Aunt Jemima team didn't have any black people on the team. It makes no sense to me because I'm not saying other people cannot understand the black families, don't get me wrong, but having representation from black families would give you a better appreciation for the thinking, the shopping habits of black people.

Okay, so I think at every point in time, if you've got women making all of the purchasing decisions, Why not have more women on the team who really reflect that purchasing decision? So it's a business necessity. PepsiCo never captured in, this is the right thing to do. What was right for business ended up being the right thing to do.

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Indra Nooyi on Why Diversity is a Necessity for Companies