Sheila Stanziale – VP, Foodservice Division, PepsiCo

A top exec from PepsiCo shares strategies for managing during times of great change.

By Taylor Mallory

What skill do leaders need to develop most in this rapidly-changing business climate? Sheila Stanziale, a vice president with PepsiCo’s $3 billion foodservice division, says resiliency. “I recently read, ‘Resiliency is like life. It never stops.’ That’s so true. So build it. Keep it. Because you’re going to need it,” she says.

PepsiCo, one of the top 100 companies in the U.S., has seen its share of struggles in this recession, as more consumers are opting for less expensive store brands. “It’s harder to keep up, but we’re optimistic about the strategies we’ve put in place for growth,” says Stanziale.

“You’re going to get knocked down. Just have the tenacity and resolve to dust yourself off and keep pushing,” she explains. But waiting for hard knocks isn’t the only way to build your perseverance. Building your network and self-confidence help as well. “Surround yourself with positive forces. Reflect on past difficult times when positive contributions you made were able to power you through tough times and get where you need to be.”

Here, she shares more strategies for managing your team through tough times.

PINK: What have been the secrets to your success as a leader?
Sheila Stanziale: Delivering results, cultivating a good team and showing those people you care – especially about “the one thing” that’s critically important to each of them. This could be something as simple as needing to leave the office early every Friday for a few months to coach a child’s soccer team. They might be afraid to ask, so unless you know someone has a child, that the child plays soccer and that she likes to play herself, you’re never going to be able to recognize that one thing that would make a big difference to them. It’s important to get to know team members. But this discovery takes time, and if you’re not doing it consciously, you’re going to miss it. With most people, if you make a few inquiries and show you care, they’ll want to share more about themselves. People are delighted when you show interest, because very few people do.

PINK: Has your leadership style changed as economic conditions have become increasingly more challenging?
S.S.: I’ve always operated with a high sense of urgency and worked very early on in my career on prioritization skills. I’ve dialed up those skills right now. And a strong bias for action has been helpful. Times like these benefit those that have the ability to quickly sequence a complicated, seemingly-unrelated string of activities into the right hierarchy so a strategy and associated risks can be identified. And doing all of this quickly is key. I try to lead by example, visibly modeling these skills. You can’t expect your team to operate this way if they don’t see you doing it.

PINK: How do you keep morale high among the workers who are left after a downsizing?
S.S.: My motto here is, “No sudden movements.” In other words, be as predictable as possible. Work hard to establish continuity and constancy. Think clearly and carefully before deploying team members prematurely to a task if there’s some uncertainty about beginning it immediately. If it’s started and then eliminated, that’ll be interpreted as instability. A simple way to do this is to have a predictable schedule for regular business reviews or regular staff meetings.

PINK: Pepsi has re-branded many of its most beloved brands. What brought that about?
S.S.: We’ve taken on this gigantic task to re-energize a lot of our key brands – repositioning them with consumers, creating new graphics and launching new advertising campaigns. We’ve given a completely new look to the Pepsi family. It’s a positive change but requires a lot of focus. We didn’t do this because of the recession. It just worked out that way. We just felt our key brands needed a new direction to keep them fresh and relevant.

PINK: How do you help team members cope with change they don’t like?
S.S.: When there are change initiatives, it’s critical to make sure your organization is completely on board with the new strategies. Non-supporters simply have to be identified early, because they’re going to slow everybody else down at a time when the leader needs speed and conviction. So I pay a lot of attention and work hard to understand what we need to do to convert non-supporters into, at minimum, active contributors. You just have to have candid, direct conversations with folks having trouble and ask why they aren’t on board. Let them air their concerns. You can probably address some of their issues and expose them to new people or examples that will help them understand the larger vision. If you can’t achieve this, after a reasonable investment of time and energy, channel them into something they’ll enjoy more and get people who can be on board with the project.

PINK: How do you manage your Life/Work balance?
S.S.: I’m married (and I usually say “to the same person”) for more than 23 years with two teenagers. I don’t think there’s any such thing as balance, at least not at a single point in time. I try to view balance over big chunks of time – at least a few months. I divide my life into five main buckets (work, spouse, children, friends and community) and frame up at least one meaningful goal for each of these buckets. I write these down, laminate them and put them in my wallet – and then refer to them frequently, gauging my progress. It keeps me honest. Eating dinner with my family is one goal. I think I only have about a B-plus on this one. I usually make it once or maybe twice a week. I look at my goals once or twice a month and revise them at least annually.

PINK: How do you relax at the end of a hard day?
S.S.: Having dinner at my kitchen table with my family. I do my best to get out of the office by 6:30 or 7:00 at least one night a week. I have a stay-at-home spouse who makes dinner, so I get to spend time just absorbing my family, everyone enjoying each other. We talk about future plans for vacation, high school gossip and challenges at school, which always gives me great perspective and, usually, a few laughs. Like every working woman, I also enjoy a great spa and regular exercise for rejuvenation.

PINK: Where do you get your best inspiration?
S.S.: I get my best new ideas for work or setting personal goals on early weekend mornings before anyone else in my house is awake. And the ideas are always better if I’m outside, on my porch or at the beach, with a cup of coffee. Also, like most executive women, I have a close network of three or four women who are, in many ways, in a similar situation as me. I rely on them as sounding boards. They’re in my fan club enough to care about me but they’re objective enough to correct me if I’m wrong, so I get honest feedback.