IN 2012, when PepsiCo’s brands were losing market share, CEO Indra Nooyi brought in Mauro Porcini as Chief Design Officer. His brainchild, Pepsi Spire—launched in 2014—was an instant hit and helped boost share prices. A touchscreen soda fountain machine, Pepsi Spire let users mix soft drinks to create their own flavours without moving their cup from one lever to another. This example displays an innate ability of figuring out what consumers want, oftentimes what they do not know they want, which is something that is required of management graduates today.
“Companies are looking for two important ingredients in people—the ability to understand technology and how that is transforming lives; and the ability to go into the minds of the consumer. Then, how you integrate the two,” says
