Reaping the rewards of a good decision

Emerson chief proud of his vision to expand giant's business into Asia decades ago

David Farr has all the right attributes to be the leader of a multinational company. For starters, he is positive, hard working, intense and jovial. That said, he is also ready for a challenge and is never complacent.

But what really made him stand out as the chief executive officer of Emerson Electric Co was his visionary decision more than 20 years ago to convince the then CEO to expand the company's operations to Asia and to continue that investment strategy during his own tenure.