David Novak is the cofounder and former CEO and chairman of Yum Brands. He’s also the author of his latest book How Leaders Learn: Master the Habits of the World's Most Successful People and host of the business podcast How Leaders Lead with David Novak.
When I was in my late thirties, I lobbied to become the chief operating officer of Pepsi’s beverage division in the east—and I got the job. I was a bit young for the role, but I had a bigger hurdle to overcome: I had almost no operations experience. My career up to that point had been in marketing. I had convinced the CEO and the chairman to take a chance on me by making them a risky offer. If I couldn’t prove myself in six months, they could fire me or demote me. Neither option would help my career.
