Arnold Waldstein's Blog

My personal thoughts at the end of a challenging year for most everyone in some way. I’m sure most folks already live by these but they seem more pertinent to me then ever.

I’m a true believer that ‘010 is going to be an incredible year for those with the energy to grab it. I already feeling good about it and it has not quite begun.

Five thoughts to guide my decisions moving forward:

1. Do what your gut tells you to and follow your instincts without swerving. Not always easy or simple. For me personally, I decided that regardless of the economy, I was going to move the base of my business back to NYC, find clients here and do a reverse commute to the west coast as needed. I traded in my Audi S-4 and LA life for a subway pass and a chance to live where I wanted to be. It is already working wonders for me.

2. Commit with passion to the people and things that really matter. A basic truth that opens up wide roads if you have the chutzpah to do this. I’m not allowing myself to waste energy on anything. It needs to resonate true for me to invest my time with people and projects.

3. Sometimes you need to listen hardest to the people that really know you the best. Experts are important and  provide data, friends provide input from the heart. Learning to weigh and balance these is critical. An easy thing to say, not always simple to do.

4. Broaden your networks beyond those you already know by pursuing hard your passions and interests. Personal interests and their networks are sometimes as valuable as professional ones. Finding connections with others who are similarly enthused will drive your business forward in ways you can’t plan for. Trust me on this one. My passion for wine and travel and urban life is driving my consulting business forward in inexplicable ways.

5. Take big shots at new things. The social web breaks down barriers to entry into new networks and new opportunities. If you have the energy and the passion and guts to move forward, there is a way to make it happen. There is an entrepreneurial spirit in the social web that is infectious. I’m in.

I sincerely wish my family and friends and growing blog community a terrific and healthy and prosperous new year.

My infatuation with this city seemingly knows no bounds and the project “Art Adds” which is putting local artists on Taxi cab top billboards is yet another example why I never tire of this place. It just constantly renews me…and itself.

NY is a major character in the daily lives of the people who live here. Endless movies have recognized this but it’s the city itself that keeps making heroes of its people and the people feed the city by recreating this uniqueness through celebration and art. It’s a natural response to glorify the energy of NY urban life, downplay the difficulties and celebrate those that memorialize the place through art and individual spirit.

“Art Adds” is something small and seemingly trivial but telling about the place and its people and the need to memorialize itself. In a nutshell, Show Media, a Las Vegas company that owns 500 or so of the cab top billboards, forfeits $100,000 of revenue for the month of January and donates the ‘billboard space to artists to give back to the city and because ‘art adds to the public’s vision’ of the city itself.

Sometimes it’s a formal gift like this one, or it’s Lichtenstein tiled art in the midtown subway, Keith Haring murals bordering a school in the West Village or an endless array where art intersects, soothes and inspires in this perpetually busy and cozy place.

The three NY artists in this project represent the wild diversity of this place. Alex Katz, a  figural artist with roots in the pop art movement with an homage to people and diversity. Shirin Meshat an Iranian visual artist, with a nod towards the immigrant cab drivers themselves. And Yoko Ono, taking “The War is Over” theme that she and John Lennon carried around the world in 1969 and displaying it as sign language as moving art on the cab’s 14 x 48 inch ad space usually occupied with airlines and gentleman’s clubs.

Check out the New York Time’s article on the project.

NY is a place that celebrates itself daily with small things spotlighted on a world stage.