How do leaders navigate conversations about the challenges parents, and especially women, face in the workplace? The first step is to simply have the conversation and get the shared perspectives of men and women. In this special episode from the How Leaders Lead Insight Series, Ashley Novak Butler, the Executive Director of the Lift-a-Life Foundation, interviews her dad, David, and Indra Nooyi about Indra’s new New York Times best-selling book, My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future. Indra shares her story about growing up in India and the support she had to pursue her career while being a devoted mom, and the challenges she faced that she wants to remove for women coming up behind her in business, including problems with HR, childcare, and even cobblestone paths.

0:00 | Show intro

2:16 | The story behind Indra Nooyi’s memoir, and why work-life balance is the wrong goal.

9:48 | Upbringing: What Indra and David learned from their families that equipped them for future success, and how to extend those benefits to others.

16:42 | Coming up next week… Rob Light, Managing Partner of Creative Artists Agency

24:39 | How to set expectations for juggling the priorities of work and family with your spouse in order to have a fulfilling marriage.

35:15 | The surprising link between Mom guilt and the perfection gene.

40:01 | Expanding the presence of women in leadership.

46:26 | Advice for dealing with condescending behavior towards women. 

49:47 | How to protect your reputation and health in business.

55:10 | Insights on mentorship and advocating for talent in general and women in particular.

58:51 | How to improve human resources to better serve all talent, and the implications of how two different people viewed the same cobblestone pathway.

1:08:48 | How to help women re-enter the workforce.

1:11:07 | Family lightning round

1:13:01 | How to make work-family life work.

1:14:45 | Farewell

Find the tools you need to become a better leader at https://davidnovakleadership.com and https://howleaderslead.com.