The other day, with time to kill before a meeting, I nipped into the Four Seasons hotel in mid-town Manhattan and sat down with a copy of The New York Times and a pot of tea. It was a pleasant interlude and I begrudged neither the dollar for the newspaper nor the $10 for the tea.
I imagine Arthur Sulzberger and Isadore Sharp, who run The New York Times and the Four Seasons hotel group respectively, would have approved. If you seek a stimulating and aesthetic experience, what better than to read one of the world’s great newspapers while being cossetted in a fine hotel? Mr Sulzberger and Mr Sharp believe something else too: that my experience was so good because they are in charge. They exert an un- shakeable grip on their properties and mould them as they wish. Both are public companies with non-family shareholders, but there is no debate about strategy.
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