In Indian

In 2006 Indian-born executive Indra K. Nooyi (born 1955) was named chief executive officer of PepsiCo, parent company of the ubiquitous Pepsi-Cola, the giant multinational drink and snack-food maker. With her elevation to the post, PepsiCo became the second-largest company in the United States with a female CEO—the largest if a ranking of companies by total stock value was used.

Nooyi was also one of the few foreign-born executives of either gender in top U.S. corporate ranks. "Being a woman, an immigrant, and a person of color made it thrice difficult" for her to succeed, she said in an interview quoted in England's Guardian newspaper. PepsiCo, with its products sold all over the world, had taken strides to diversify its workforce by gender and ethnicity, aiming to staff itself with personnel who would understand the markets in which the company operated. Yet there was general agreement in business publications that Nooyi's fast-track ascent up the corporate ladder was due not to diversity initiatives but to her brilliant moves as a strategic planner. Thanks to initiatives she had spearheaded, some of them risky ones, PepsiCo eclipsed its longtime rival, Coke, in many measures of performance in the early 2000s.

Solved Political Problems as Game

Nooyi was born Indra Krishnamurthy in Madras (now called Chennai), in southern India, on October 28, 1955. Her family was part of India's middle class; her father was a bank official, and a grandfather, whom she later credited as an inspiration, was a district judge. Nooyi's mother also stretched her children's minds, making up improvised games for Nooyi and her sister, Chandrika, based on world problems. Nooyi had to place herself, for example, in the position of prime minister of India. She loved to read and to watch Tamil-language film comedies. She also had a younger brother, Narayanan, who followed her to Yale and to the American corporate world. Nooyi broke the mold in India's society, which was still defined by...