Back in 1997, the economy was good and consulting firms wooed b-school students with style. Mitchell Madison flew folks to NY and put them up at The Pierre, a landmark at the South East corner of Central Park. I remember being blown away with the little suite (that I had all to myself) with amazing winter views of park’s skating rink.

Until last year, The Pierre was run by the Four Seasons. In fact, when I did a Google search, the Four Seasons still came up second, with the line “The Pierre New York is a Four Seasons Hotel”! Taj bought The Pierre last year and it was a dramatic and emphatic expansion for them.

I read about it when it happened, but it really struck me when I was walking by the the Pierre a couple of weeks ago and I saw an enormous Indian flag hanging next to the US flag on The Pierre.

Everyone talks about globalization and refers to outsourcing. Here we have an Indian company, expanding into the US, employing Americans. Very cool.