How Leung became the Boston Globe biz columnist

Shirley Leung, the Boston Globe business columnist who is becoming the paper’s interim editorial page editor, writes about how she got the business columnist position.

Leung writes, “I never aspired to be a columnist, but in 2012, newly minted Globe editor Brian McGrory made hiring another business columnist one of his top priorities. Having been a longtime Metro columnist himself, McGrory experienced firsthand the power of opinion writing and how the paper can never have enough of columnists.

“McGrory also really missed Steve Bailey, the Globe’s sharp-tongued, must-read business columnist who took a buyout in 2008. Could we find someone like that?

“I was the business editor at the time, so I headed the search committee. After several months of studying the work of columnists, near and far, I could not find anyone.

“Then I pulled a Dick Cheney. I nominated myself for the job. I liked managing and editing, but if the new boss wanted another Bailey, I was going to deliver one. I know the town, I know the players, I know the issues. I could do this. Why not me?”

Read more here.