PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi reveals why she writes letters to parents of her senior executives

PepsiCo chief Indra Nooyi has never been one to conceal her humane side. Be it her confession about the number of times she calls her mother to her acknowledgement of how her children have given her new perspectives in life, Nooyi has often bared it all.

Hence, it came as no surprise when she admitted to writing personal letters as a mark of gratitude to the parents of her senior executives.

Nooyi, who appeared on The David Rubenstein Show, said, "I was a product of my upbringing... It occurred to me that I had never thanked the parents of my executives for the gift of their child to PepsiCo."

She recounted the time when she first became CEO and there was a stream of visitors at her India home complimenting her mother... "you did such a good job with your daughter." That made her realize that parents deserved as much acknowledgement and adulation as their achiever kids.

Nooyi says that sometimes her letters run into several hundreds a year. Each contains a paragraph on what the executives are doing at PepsiCo. And the parents come back feeling honored and "emotional".

Sometimes employees themselves are at the receiving end of their CEO's "deeply personal" letters. "If I felt that our employees were not calling their parents often enough, I'd write a letter to them on why it was important to call parents," she says.

No wonder then that Nooyi's Glassdoor ratings stand at a handsome 75%, indicating high employee satisfaction, among other things, at PepsiCo.