Volunteer for the Most Difficult Projects Early in Your Career – Indra Nooyi’s Roadmap to Success

Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo and one of the world’s most influential leaders, didn’t earn her place at the top by playing it safe. She embraced challenges, took risks, and learned by diving headfirst into complex situations. One of her key pieces of advice for young professionals? “Volunteer for the most difficult projects early in your career.”

This advice may sound intimidating, especially when you’re still figuring out the basics. But if you’re aiming for long-term growth and success, this is exactly what you should be doing. Here’s why stepping up for tough assignments can accelerate your career faster than anything else.

Why the Tough Projects?

Most people shy away from difficult tasks because they come with uncertainty, high pressure, and the risk of failure. But those very things are what make difficult projects so valuable. When you volunteer for the tough stuff, you:

1. Learn at Lightning Speed

Easy tasks don’t teach you much—they’re routine, repetitive, and rarely stretch your skills. Difficult projects, on the other hand, force you out of your comfort zone. You have to think on your feet, solve problems creatively, and often learn entirely new skills. It’s like hitting the fast-forward button on your professional development.

2. Build Confidence

There’s nothing quite like surviving (and succeeding at) a high-stakes project to build your confidence. Every time you tackle something challenging, you prove to yourself—and others—that you can handle tough situations. Confidence doesn’t come from avoiding difficulty; it comes from facing it.

3. Get Noticed by Leadership

Tough projects often have more visibility because they’re critical to the organization. By volunteering for these, you’re likely to work directly with senior leaders. When they see you stepping up, handling pressure, and contributing meaningfully, you become someone they trust—and someone they’ll remember when future opportunities arise.

Learning Resilience Early

Here’s a secret about difficult projects: they won’t all go smoothly. In fact, some will fail, and that’s okay. One of the most important lessons you can learn early in your career is how to bounce back from setbacks. When you take on hard assignments, you learn how to:

• Stay calm under pressure.

• Handle criticism without letting it derail you.

• View failure as feedback rather than a dead end.

This resilience becomes your superpower. The more challenges you face, the more unshakable you become. In the long run, this ability to persevere through tough times will set you apart from your peers.

Shaping Your Leadership Potential

Great leaders aren’t born—they’re made through experience. Difficult projects give you hands-on training in leadership. You’ll learn how to:

• Collaborate across teams – Tough assignments often involve multiple stakeholders. You’ll develop the ability to communicate effectively, manage expectations, and get people aligned.

• Make decisions with limited information – High-pressure situations rarely come with perfect clarity. You’ll learn how to assess risks, trust your judgment, and act decisively.

• Motivate and inspire others – As you gain experience, you’ll naturally find yourself in situations where you need to lead others. Tough projects provide early opportunities to practice these skills.

By the time you’re ready to move into formal leadership roles, you’ll already have a track record of handling complexity, solving problems, and leading teams.

Overcoming the Fear of Failure

One of the biggest reasons people hesitate to take on difficult projects is fear—fear of failure, fear of looking incompetent, fear of being overwhelmed. But here’s the thing: failure is part of the process. Even Indra Nooyi didn’t succeed at everything she touched. What set her apart was her willingness to keep going, to learn from mistakes, and to try again.

When you volunteer for difficult tasks early in your career, you teach yourself that failure isn’t fatal. It’s just feedback. And once you stop fearing failure, you become unstoppable.

How to Volunteer for Tough Projects

1. Be Proactive

Don’t wait for someone to ask you. Keep an eye out for challenging opportunities and step forward. Even if you’re not 100% sure you’re ready, trust that you’ll figure it out.

2. Find a Mentor

Having someone experienced to guide you can make all the difference. If you’re taking on something difficult, seek out a mentor who’s been there before. They can offer advice, support, and perspective.

3. Stay Curious

Approach tough projects with a learning mindset. Even if things don’t go perfectly, focus on what you’re learning and how you can apply it to future challenges.

4. Reflect on Your Growth

After every difficult project, take time to reflect. What went well? What didn’t? What did you learn? This habit of reflection will help you continually improve.

Final Thoughts

Volunteering for difficult projects isn’t about proving how smart or capable you are—it’s about building yourself into someone who can handle whatever comes your way. It’s about learning, growing, and developing the skills and mindset that will set you up for long-term success.

Yes, it’s scary. Yes, it’s uncomfortable. But that’s exactly why it’s worth doing. As Indra Nooyi’s career shows us, the path to extraordinary success isn’t paved with easy wins—it’s marked by hard-fought battles, tough lessons, and bold moves.

So the next time a difficult project comes up, don’t step back. Step forward. Volunteer. Take the risk. You might just surprise yourself with what you’re capable of. And years from now, when you’re leading teams, driving big initiatives, or building your own company, you’ll look back and realize—it all started when you said, “I’ll do it.”