Chitty chitty bang bang

Dateline: Back in the Shire, Indy, 8 March 2006

Hanging with Steve DeAngelis for the last 72 wears one out.

Last night went to 11pm, but it was worth it due to the fine French dining at a relatively new restaurant in DC with an awfully interesting guy from Lockheed Martin. I haven't had a meal like that since the Cantor Fitzgerald days pre-9/11. But I earned it with the swim and the workout earlier in the night. Fascinating discussion primarily because this guy liked to ask probing questions about how Steve and I mesh our thinking and approaches, and that forced me to realize a lot of things that actually made me feel better and more confident about our partnership than ever, proving yet again that the most challenging questions are typically the best for prompting sharp thinking and self-awareness--also that I tend to think as I talk, so conversations with new people drive new thinking and realizations.

Okay, the fine wine helped too.

Today was up at 0500 and a drive in Steve's chitty chitty (a pretty cool high-end car) all the way to Newark NJ, where we met for a stretch with one Dan Goldman, a guy who works hard to keep IDT, a medium-sized telecom with operations spread around the planet, resilient in an increasingly complex world of threats and disruptions. It was a really good discussion with a fellow worst-casing type who thinks strategically across the globe. Makes you realize any corp with global reach needs people like Goldman working for them--not just consulting from outside but working issues of business continuity from the inside-out. The stuff's gotta be organic to the organization. The visit also reminded me how cool it is to meet new clients and find out a bit about how their businesses work.

Then we dash into Manhattan for a nice lunch at one of those classic NY steak places where the waiters give you a hard time if you don't buy 16 oz of something big and red (I had a cobb salad, so you can imagine the withering look I got). We use the lunch to talk through some strategic partnering stuff with an old friend and the chairman of his company's board, a very interesting guy.

Then we moved on to the classic Manhattan meeting with the legendary type who made his money a long time ago through some amazing entreprenuerial skill and then settled into the role of grey eminence who invests in things he finds interesting. You know the scene: the huge conference table, the high-tech this and that, the stunning view of skyscrapers captured in floor-to-ceiling windows from a 40th-story perspective. A great room for performing, and when the audience is just one guy, it gets fairly up close and personal, which is just as fascinating as the giant ballroom of 1,000.

Then Steve and I have a drink at the Waldorf with my speaking agent, Jennifer, with whom I had a number of outstanding decisions to make about future gigs.

Then the cab to LaGuardia for the flight home.

Got a bunch of articles clipped, but I spent the long drive this morning and the flight home working on the Enter Stage Right interview, which ended up running about 6k, so nothing left over for blogging once I got home and got the data dump from all four kids.

Chitty chitty, bang bang, home again.