Marriott turns 100 next year. Asia should be taking notes. In Washington this month I stayed at the Marriott Hotel in Bethesda. It sits right next to the company's global headquarters, a tower of more than 20 storeys. I found myself wondering how a company ends up with a building like that. So I started reading. It started in 1927 as a root beer stand on 14th Street. Nine seats. J. Willard and Alice Marriott, newlyweds from Utah. When winter came and nobody wanted a cold drink, they added hot...

What Washington taught me about the Asian Century. I arrived in Washington DC thinking Asia needed its own Franklin D Roosevelt. Four terms. The Depression, then the war. One leader who carried a country through its toughest years. Asia faces its own version between now and 2045, and I wanted to write about who might lead it. My brother Dan and I spent three days walking the city. He’s Chief of Communications for the UN Global Compact in New York, so naturally the conversation kept circling...

What The Best Family-Owned Businesses Already Know "What's your succession plan?" One Asian family asked it of another, across the table, before negotiating a joint venture. The answer was unexpected. "We have family who could be involved. But they'd have to be the best for the job - and that's unlikely. We need the best people running this business." No defensiveness. No pretence. They'd made peace with something that takes most founders a lifetime: the business matters more than the...