On Indra Nooyi And The Trouble With Having It All

PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has got a lot of press recently for her interview on why women can’t have it all. A contrarian point of view.

When one of most powerful women in business says “Women can’t have it all” and states examples from her own life, there’s bound to be some fireworks. I’ve been hearing and reading variations of “OH MY GOD, I can’t believe she said that!” being thrown at Ms. Nooyi from all over and I thought it’s time for me to get in on the action.

Can women really have it all, can we delude ourselves into believing that we have successfully conquered every frontier there is – personal, professional, spiritual, sexual…et al? Is today’s woman like Alexander the Great who when at his peak finally wept saying, “There are no more worlds for me to conquer! BOO-FREAKING-HOO!” I jest, ladies, but trust me I have a point hidden somewhere.

I have to hand it to Ms. Nooyi for speaking the truth – remember ladies, the truth really does set you free! (Satyameve Jayate and all that eh.) When you speak the truth you don’t have the pressure of fine tuning your speeches so that it’s more acceptable to what women everywhere want to hear.

It would have sounded narcissistic and a little creepy if she had said “Women can have it all, look at me, I am the perfect mother who’s always been there for my children, a loving wife whose husband is completely satisfied with the attention I give him, I have surpassed all the career goals I set for myself and  I love my mom and we never have fights so I just cannot imagine why this is not possible for every single woman in the world. Gosh, what a bunch of losers these underperforming women are!”

She’s a normal woman who is sometimes unsure of herself but in spite of it all has managed to be the very best in her chosen field.

The fact that Ms. Nooyi recognized that there are aspects of her personal life that she could not attend to and has regrets and even doubts her parental ability is endearing. She’s a normal woman who is sometimes unsure of herself but in spite of it all has managed to be the very best in her chosen field.

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Being a working mother myself, there are many times I have felt inadequate when I see women cook wonderful meals, keep beautiful houses, attend to their kid’s every need (and not dump them to the nearest day care) and do all this without breaking a sweat (except when they are working out to keep their lovely post-kids figure or sweating it out in the sauna to keep their glowing complexion!).

I am terrible at time management; I am sometimes worse than a sloth on weekends and let’s just say I have a long way to go when it comes to weight management. I am aware of these deficiencies and see myself as a work in progress. If all of humanity is a work in progress, can the modern day working woman be far behind?

I am genuinely happy for women who proclaim to all (who would care to lend a ear) that “We have done it all and we have it all” but still a word of caution – let’s leave the mindless chest thumping and bragging to the men. We women are way more mature and wise, we continually upgrade ourselves to the next best thing and never become smug and complacent and realize that ‘Life is always a journey and never a destination’ which in Ms. Nooyi’s case we are assuming is a CEO with a picture perfect family and a life with no regrets.

Pic credit: sigurdas (Used under a CC license)

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