I’ve been editing Asia stories for Forbes since 2006, overseeing writers from Seoul to Mumbai. I work in New York but spent 12 years abroad. I managed to be on hand for the end of apartheid in South Africa and the end of British rule in Hong Kong. At the Financial Mail in Johannesburg I covered economics and edited business stories, and when Nelson Mandela was released, I spent the day in Soweto with the toyi-toying masses. At the Wall Street Journal I edited economics and business stories from around Asia and spent the handover cooped up in the office. I majored in economics, but living overseas was my real education. Compare and contrast: South Africa with its overregulated and overtaxed economy and 25% unemployment, and Hong Kong, with its free-market ethos, a virtual flat tax and booming businesses. But like most journalists I’m a generalist. I started at a newspaper founded by George Washington, the Elizabeth, N.J., Daily Journal, where I covered courts and wrote a weekly political column. Then I moved to business reporting at the Tampa, Fla., Tribune, where I sometimes tangled with George Steinbrenner on the shipping beat. After Hong Kong I got a full immersion in finance coverage at BusinessWeek in New York. Then it was on to Forbes, where I’ve also dabbled in education coverage and whatever else comes up.