LE ADERS
HAVE FAITH What happens when you bring religious values to work? BY DALE BUSS
AZRA KHALFAN WAS ON A PLANE from New York City to Dubai when a PepsiCo executive sat down in the next seat. Khalfan’s company, Plaques by Azra, had done some work for the food giant. They expressed mutual admiration of then-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, in part because of the Hindu principles she utilized in her leadership. A Muslim wearing a headscarf, praying, and eating only halal food during the 13hour flight, Khalfan also was reading between the lines of her seatmate’s reactions
to her expressions of faith that day. “I felt in effect this man was telling me that what I was doing was right, and he put me in touch with his global supply-chain manager,” Khalfan recalls. “He liked that I took these things seriously.” In an increasingly secular age—only 50 percent of Americans said they were a member of a church or synagogue last year, down from 62 percent in 2010, according to Gallup—the idea of CEOs publicly discussing or displaying their faith may seem anachronistic at best. At worst, it can
Nature Nate’s Honey CEO Nathan Sheets says biblical values-based leadership resonates with millennial employees who prize authenticity.
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