**Former Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi's Masterclass Live on Network Capital**

I think that no career is linear. And I think if anybody thinks a career is going to be linear, then they're crazy, because the more exciting part is to allow it to take interesting twists and turns, like, you know, a brook. If you ever read the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson called the Brook, it's a favorite poem of mine. It talks about how it meanders, flows through different places, and then joins the big C. That's the way I look at my life, you know, meanders through all kinds of places. But along the way, you pick up experiences, you pick up, you know, learnings, you pick up knowledge about industries that all coming together give you a rich perspective on whatever you're doing. So look for the best experience, look for the best learning job, look for the best boss, look for the best mentor as you look for the next experience. And if at any job you feel you are stagnating, if you feel you're not being respected, get the hell out now. It's easy for me to say because some people need the paycheck. They're very afraid to give up a job without another job. That's a very practical consideration, and don't underestimate that. In my case, I had a working husband and we knew how to live on very little. We always planned our life around just one paycheck and said, let's not live life beyond our means. So when you plan life that way, if you feel like the job is not giving you as much intellectual stimulation or you're not being respected, I'm walking out. I'll figure my next step out. So I lived with that confidence, which actually stood me in good stead.