Why did a multi-billion-dollar Chinese company buy a failing hotel in a tiny rural hamlet in upstate New York? National Public Radio Planet Money reporter Noel King worked at that hotel when she lived there as a teenager, so wanted to know the story behind the hotel changing hands and why the new owners hadn’t yet spruced it up. Her investigation led her to discover how China’s embrace of the gray rhino concept played into the story.
Episode 802: The Hotel at the Center of the World is the result of her detective work. Scroll to 14:30 in the podcast for a reference to the July 2017 front-page People’s Daily article warning of the need to watch out for gray rhinos, and the connection to Chinese companies pulling back from some of their overseas investments.
Be sure to listen all the way to the end for the resolution of the mystery -and for the very nice shout out for The Gray Rhino: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore.
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