FROM THE NOTEBOOK OF... A sharing of mistakes, wisdom, and learnings by Kristin Patrick

LESSON #05: “To get an organization to move, you need to get people to intellectualize what you are saying. Once they do that, it moves to their hearts and once they embrace it in their hearts, their hands start moving.” --Said by the one and only Indra Nooyi

While most of the lessons I write about within this column are not directly attributed to people by name, I am going to just go ahead and call this person out. I had the pleasure of working under Indra Nooyi for about six and a half years during my tenure at PepsiCo. If you have not had the chance to listen to her speak, or even follow her here on Linkedin, please do so. She is an amazing leader, human, and mentor to many. We were asked to evolve many things while we were at the company. Indra's 'Performance with Purpose' platform was well ahead of its time and I recall sitting with a small team to discuss the evolution of the beverage line and how we could link it to the foundation she had set. We were looking at many ideas, some big, some small, some downright revolutionary. When asked how we would go about evoking some of the changes, she said...

“To get an organization to move, you need to get people to intellectualize what you are saying, really understand it in their brains. Once they do that, it moves to their hearts and once they embrace it in their hearts, in the depths of who they are, their hands start moving and they take action.”

LESSON LEARNED: Early on in my career when I would introduce new ideas I would build it, create it, and sell it to a few people at the top of the organization.

Over time, I learned to democratize new thinking by gaining the input of the many, versus the few. The more people you engage, the bigger and better the idea becomes. But Indra is right, because even for myself if I don’t feel something within the depths of my soul, I am less likely to become a vocal advocate. Win their hearts as well as their minds if you want to create a movement. This true of both life and business.