A CHANGE OF PLAN

I've had to re-think the plans for the editorial department of BusinessWeek Thailand after my former colleague, who I had hoped would be coming over next month, opted to follow her dream and accept a job offer from the BBC. I don't blame her at all because you only get one shot at a chance like that. I'm just sorry that we will be missing out on her talents, and I guess I was not the only one to have seen her potential.
I'd planned for her to be deputy editor, so that now means I am looking for someone to fill that role. It's not going to be easy to find someone with the levels of experience that are demanded by New York, and almost certainly that person will be non-Thai. That's not being disrespectful to Thai journalists in any way; it's just that we need someone with an understanding and experience of 'Western' styles of journalism and standards.
The good news is that my choice for editor-in-chief has finally been approved by New York so I can go ahead and make the former job offer to him. He, and the deputy whenever he or she is appointed, will need to spend a couple of weeks training in New York with the editorial staff of the global magazine. I think I might end up there too.