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August 27, 2009
Change Will Do You Good
I am a person who likes stability and continuity. I have been very happily married to the same inspiring woman for 23 years. I have worked at one company for my whole career (ok, so my name is on the door), now 32 years. I have played the same sport, tennis, for 49 years. I have belonged to the Harvard Club of NY for 30 years. I have been in the same building in Times Square for 20 years. While I travel the world to see our offices and clients, I have become accustomed to returning to my cocoon. Now events have conspired to change at least a few aspects of my life.
On the personal front, my eldest has graduated from college and has moved to Chicago. I dropped my second child at Bowdoin College in Maine yesterday. She left me with a cheery, “Bye Dad, see you in a few weeks,” and walked away with a few new friends, on to her new life. The last child at home (four more years, YES!) is desperate to avoid excessive parental attention and has extracted promises of time alone or with her pals. So I have no more days exploring the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum or visits to the Statue of Liberty on a blustery day in February.
On the business side, tomorrow marks the last day of Edelman at 1500 Broadway. We begin operations at 250 Hudson Street just above the Holland Tunnel on Monday. When we came to Times Square, we were one of the rare non-theatrical commercial enterprises in the area. Ladies of the night and dealers prowled the streets at dawn and dusk in front of strip joints and pornography shops. We have seen the evolution of the area from down and dirty to up market and touristic. In these twenty years, our number of New York employees has quintupled, from the 100 people who moved in 1989 to 500 today.
Here are a few of my memories from the building:
1) Being stopped by the guards for carrying computer equipment out of the building to a secret location in a nearby flea-bag hotel which served as our off-premise hub for top-secret talks between Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young (now merged as Ernst & Young).
2) Working two consecutive all-nighters on the Viacom Paramount Blockbuster merger, wandering around Times Square early each morning to regain my senses after dealing with lawyers and investment bankers on endless drafts of press releases.
3) Coming back to New York City after being stranded in Omaha on 9/11 to see our team working in shifts to comfort bereaved families of Cantor Fitzgerald employees. Having the privilege of helping the City of New York to complete a web site and communications program on the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan for the first anniversary of the tragedy. Watching Microsoft XBOX hold the first public event at Toys R Us in Times Square in November, 2001, to help the city get back to normal.
4) Organizing crowd-stopping events in Times Square, from the germ-free cube for flu drug Tamiflu to the eBay auction at Good Morning America downstairs earlier this summer.
5) Establishing remote locations for more than 300 staff all over the city for several months after a crane being used to construct the Conde Nast building next door fell across more than six streets stretching from 43rd street up to 49th, including through our boardroom window on the 27th floor just before an 8 am meeting.
So it’s off to Hudson Square, the next hub for communications companies. Our space is very much newsroom format, with no offices (I retain my stand-up desk). We have an amazing HP Touch-screen with 50 live feeds from CNN, BBC, CNBC, NYTimes.com, WSJ.com, plus a history of Edelman and case histories of key clients. We also have a section of the Berlin Wall, to remind visitors of the importance of our profession. I’m joined by colleagues who moved with me into Times Square twenty years ago including our creative director Jody Quinn; Matt Harrington, now US CEO; Nancy Turett, our global president for health, Mitch Markson, global creative director; Carol O’Hehier, leads our NY HR function; and Johnny Malave who helps manage our NY facilities.
As I amble around the neighborhood vainly seeking another person dressed in a suit and tie, I will keep repeating the words of naturalist John Muir, “I only went out for a walk and concluded to stay ‘til sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
Rooftop Garden
Interior
Posted by Edelman at August 27, 2009 10:24 AM |
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Comments
Honored to be heading downtown 20 years later. goodbye tourists, hello yoga on the roof overlooking the Hudson!
Posted by: carol o'hehier at August 27, 2009 12:49 PM
How I miss my days at 1500! I remember realizing I was a true New Yorker when I could get through Times Square in a matter of minutes during Wednesday matinees during the holiday season; sightings of Anna Wintour walking into our neighboring building, countless visits to the Starbucks downstairs and the Duane Reade next door for recaffenation during early mornings and late nights, and of course, packing up my desk at 1500 when it was time to move down South. Can't wait to come see the new digs!
Posted by: Jennifer Bodner at August 27, 2009 1:52 PM
Best of times in your new space!
Posted by: Leo Bottary at August 27, 2009 2:36 PM
Beautiful Muir quote and congratulations on the new office!
“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction” - Churchill
..Sounds like the direction is right on the mark.
Would love to see a picture of the office once it's "alive" -- especially that HP touch screen, a fitting advancement of the tiny LCDs in the waiting area.
I remember my visit to the NY office. Steve Rubel and Janice Rotchstein were incredibly hospitable -- I still remember being walked to the elevator on my way out. Oh, and the receptionist even printed out my boarding pass for me since I was on the go. Here's to a new building with an old soul.
Posted by: Eric Hansen at August 27, 2009 3:24 PM
Best wishes to Edelman on its move to new space. I sold office furniture early in my career and have seen my share of office moves. All kinds of things go haywire but eventually everything settles down and "normal" business resumes. I look forward to seeing your new digs soon.
Posted by: Steve Shannon at August 27, 2009 3:41 PM
Richard, 1500 Broadway was where I started my PR career more than a decade ago. Thanks Edelman for taking a chance on a guy from Colorado who had no experience! The profession has been good to me, and I still carry with me many lessons learned in that building. Onward and upward! Enjoy the new space!
Posted by: Brian Sibley at August 27, 2009 5:17 PM
Enjoyed the list of some of your memories at 1500...especially your team's significant contributions in the aftermath of 9/11. Congratulations and best wishes as you set off to inspire, create and lead from your new digs.
Posted by: Michele Nix at August 29, 2009 9:54 PM
Glad to read that you retain your stand-up desk, Richard. Is it the same one you found waiting for you in 1978 when you arrived at 711 Third Ave., from Chicago, the gift of client Beech-Nut Foods? Who knew what to make of you then, son of the owner, 'in training' he said, and you never combed your hair for client meetings. What a long way you've come, from 711 Third to Hudson Square, 13 employees to 500! Congratulations on the new digs. I gotta see that rooftop garden!
Posted by: Paulette Barrett at August 30, 2009 8:06 PM
For some bizarre reason reading about the new office in NY reminded me of our office in London over the Post Office in Albemarle Street - Mike Morley and I shared a small office made into two even smaller office by a wooden partition...to communicate we cut a hole in the wall and stood up to talk with one another. It worked and we flourished...!
Best wishes for continued growth.
Posted by: David Davis at September 7, 2009 10:37 AM