I recently went one on one with Johannes Evenblij. Johannes is the President of PepsiCo Beverages North America for the West Division, where he is responsible for all aspects of PepsiCo’s beverage operations in the Western U.S, comprised of more than 11,000 employees across 13 states, 9 markets and 74 locations.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth? 

Johannes: My career trajectory may not look like your typical Fortune 50 executive’s, but I credit a lot of my success to one main thing: grit. 

I grew up in Mexico and was only 10 years old when I started working at my aunt’s photocopy business where I learned to be resilient and ask questions that lead to solutions. A few years later, while living in the Netherlands with my dad, I worked in the local greenhouses earning just enough to afford my first CD. This gave me an immense sense of self-accomplishment. 

At age 17, I moved back to Mexico to live with my beloved abuelita who encouraged me to contribute to my living expenses – sometimes by taking odd jobs. I worked as a messenger and even sold computers and life insurance, which required travel on foot or by public transit since I couldn’t afford a car. I’ll never forget having to replace the soles of my shoes from walking so many hours throughout Mexico City.  

That grit is what got me through college where I worked full-time while attending Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico, and what pushed me to get my master’s from Harvard Business School.  

It wasn’t always easy but looking back at my life experiences and necessity to work, I wouldn’t change a thing. 

Adam: What is your best advice for those working at big organizations on how to best rise within their companies and within their careers? 

Johannes: The first step may sound simple but it’s very challenging: know your advantages and disadvantages because understanding your strengths differentiates you. 

Whether you’re good at negotiating, presenting or something else, ask for opportunities where you excel and find a mentor to catapult you in that direction. 

The next step is to efficiently manage your time. I learned very quickly to spend 50% of my time doing the job at hand, dealing with the challenges of the day-to-day. That allowed me to spend the other half of my time brainstorming new ideas I could present to senior leaders as an added value. Revising processes, making constant impact and presenting solutions are the best ways to make a name for yourself. 

Adam: What is your best advice for entrepreneurs and those working at small businesses on how to cultivate relationships and sell to large companies? 

Johannes: We could converse for hours about the importance of networking and promoting a business, but there are two key things that entrepreneurs and small business leaders looking to partner with larger organizations should do.  

1. Provide a clear value proposition that solves a unique problem. 

2. Reach out directly to larger companies because they are always actively looking to partner with smaller businesses, particularly those owned by minorities. 

Minority-owned businesses should also get certified so larger organizations can understand their diverse backgrounds. For example, part of our Racial Equality Journey at PepsiCo includes leveraging our scale and influence across suppliers, customers and partners to strengthen Black and Hispanic-owned businesses, and one of the main ways we identify potential partners is through their certifications.  

One of our related REJ initiatives that I’m especially proud of is Juntos Crecemos, our multi-year initiative supporting Hispanic-owned small businesses - specifically restaurants, bodegas and carnicerías - through financial incentives and strategic mentorship.  

I encourage small business owners and entrepreneurs of all backgrounds to take advantage of the many different resources like Juntos Crecemos available from PepsiCo and other large corporations. 

Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader? 

Johannes: An effective leader should be first and foremost an excellent communicator, which requires a two-pronged approach: amplifying a clear vision that inspires action, engages employees and empowers the workforce, and actively listening to feedback from employees, customers and suppliers. 

My first jobs taught me that when you listen, you learn and when you talk, you lead – and I’ve carried this with me throughout my career. 

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level? 

Johannes: I truly believe in the power of continuous education – including online classes, books and mentorship. 

From managers to CEOs, leaders of all levels need to invest in learning to be up to the challenges at hand in terms of experience, skills and knowledge. Throughout my career, I’ve realized once you get comfortable in a role and have learned as much as possible there, it’s time for a new challenge.  

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams? And how can leaders build truly diverse and inclusive teams? 

Johannes: When it comes to building teams, diversity and inclusion are much more than a statistic about how many employees from underserved communities you have. You must be very intentional in creating an environment that embraces people’s differences and encourages everyone to bring their whole selves to work. 

From a leadership perspective, you also need to build trust, challenge unconscious bias and create equal opportunities for all. The strongest teams are built by all different types of people with unique cultures, personalities, experiences and strengths that complement and challenge one another. 

Our primary job function is to create solutions for the problems at hand. It’s ok to have different ideas, perspectives and approaches, or even healthy conflict, as we work towards our shared objectives, but my one maxim is that we create a space for people to feel empowered to voice their opinions fearlessly – which is also a PepsiCo Way of working. 

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders? 

Johannes: That’s a very broad group! I would say that agile principles are a very solid foundation for any type of leader, and the best are: 

• Understand who your consumer is and ensure you’re solving a real problem. 

• Progress over perfection – quickly prototype and see if you’re on the right track. Perfection takes too long and is too expensive. 

• Gather constant feedback to improve your proposition. Listen to your consumers, always. 

Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing and branding? 

Johannes: Inspiration comes from the most unexpected sources and my best tip is to consume enormous amounts of news and data. Specifically for sales, you must ensure you have a unique selling proposition that tackles a real problem. For marketing, creativity trumps budget every single time. Lastly, for branding you must be authentic because consumers can easily pinpoint fakeness. 

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received? 

Johannes: A public company CEO recently gave me this great advice: “Modulate your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses.” He meant we need to understand our audience and objectives – and modulate accordingly – so we don’t come across too strong. To control our weaknesses, we must recognize them and be disciplined about bringing in other team members who balance the scales. 

For example, I am an optimist to a fault and my CFO does a great job of laying out the risks before we make a major decision. 

Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share? 

Johannes: Early in my life and career, I was very focused on resiliency. I saw it as a personal challenge to try to do everything on my own and rarely asked for help, which was arrogant. 

I quickly learned the importance of building a personal network. They have been there to offer support when I needed it, which primed me to be a better leader today. 

People are always willing to help, especially if you’re clear about what you need.


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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