Pamela Culpepper - SVP of Global Diversity and Inclusion for Pepsico speaks on diversity and inclusion topics

On March 18^th 2011, we celebrated Women’s month at the Customer Service Center for Pepsi Beverages Company and invited Pamela Culpepper, Senior Vice President, Global Diversity and Inclusion officer of PepsiCo to speak to our organization around diversity and inclusion.  The conversation was around answering key questions on three topics:

·        Career Advancement

·        Lessons Learned

·        Work Life Balance

What is the secret to getting promoted?

Pamela introduced the P.I.E model as the secret to getting promoted – Performance, Image, and Exposure. 

• Performance is the price of entry.  It impacts trust and demonstrates you have the ability to go to the next level.  It is important that you are open to feedback - obtain guidance and direction from others.  A key litmus test is to compare your performance to others and then ask others to rate you. 
• Image is not only how you appear to others but it is also the ability to portray yourself in words.  Don’t fall into the trap of your work speaks for yourself.  Communicate what you have accomplished clearly and concisely so that other senior leaders are not interpreting your effort.  Another dimension of communication is non-verbal – ensure your intended messages are complimentary with your non-verbal cues such as tone and body language.
• Exposure – Once you have proven yourself with performance and have the image that you are promotable, next step is to surround yourself with influential sponsors in the organization that will sell you to the rest of the organization. 

When using the P.I.E methodology, key factor to understand is Exposure makes up the largest percentage – 60% and Performance is only 10%.  The only way you can enter the pool of potential candidates is through strong performance.  Once you are viewed as a strong performer, it is crucial to focus on Image (30%) and getting the right visibility.  As a leader, this is where you can develop skills such as delegation and empowerment – training and allowing others to do your job. 

What are Pamela’s lessons learned?

Pamela provided great insights of what she has learned throughout that has made her successful in her journey.  She labeled these as developmental career nuggets.    

• Know what is important to your organization
• Know your limitations – Major in self awareness
• Make it easy for others to give you feedback
• Create a climate of trust around you
• Learn how to deal with 1^st times
• Be an early adopter of change
• Be consistent and predictable when it comes to deliverables

You have a family – How do you balance?

• Balance is in the eye of the beholder
• Spouses (for women) may need to be subjective to new titles – trailing spouses, stay at home dad
• Quality over quantity related to time

When you hear a great speaker, such as Pam Culpepper, that excites you about making a change, it is important that you reflect and create action plans.  As a minority female, one of the points that hit the heart was the P.I.E allocation.  I’ve always focused solely on performance and not worried about other factors, especially image.  Image makes up 30% - which is a crucial ingredient to be successful.  In addition, as part of the millennial generation, it is essential to minimize distractions.  Our generation has a different outlook in terms of image and communication.  More than ever, organizations are seeking to adapt in order to attract and retain the Gen Y workforce.  If you have joined an organization that is slow to accepting Gen Y idiosyncrasies, minimizing distractions – such as personal appearance and tailoring your communication style – will go a long way.  Not every organization is going to be like Zappos – where there are parades, beer carts on special occasions, and you can wear flip flops.