Willing to be lucky

When we were trying to get ourselves to New York, John read a story by E.B. White that has a great line about how "No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky."

We adopted that phrase as part of the job search process, that we're willing to be lucky. John, of course, is the luckiest person I've ever met so this was mainly a reminder for me that sometimes things don't need to be logical or happen in a linear fashion. Just step off the cliff and expect that the bridge will be under you.

If you want to read an excerpt, log in to your amazon account and go here.

The Museum of the City of New York just had an exhibit based on this premise of Willing to Be Lucky and it was a fantastic reminder that people make it in New York not just because they're talented or hard working -- the place is lousy with people with both those attributes -- but because they are in the right place at the right time. Or they did something a little illogical and trusted it would work out.

(A story about the exhibit in the Times)

One of my favorite stories featured at the show was this fat, homely immigrant woman who came to New York and just decided she was going to throw the most fabulous parties that anyone who's anyone is going to beg to get on the guest list.

She's my new idol. I'm not a Trump or a Rockefeller but I'm willing to be lucky enough to throw the kind of Manhattan parties that will be legendary for how fun they are. Maybe you'll see Ed Koch or Tom Wolfe there. Maybe it'll be Scarlet or Fergie. Who knows?

I'm working up to that by organizing monthly networking dinners for Michigan grads working in the media. This month it was a dinner featuring a VP at News Corp. Next month it's the CFO of HBO. If I can get the former head of Time Warner Books to be my email pen pal while we plan an alumni dinner, that seems a step in the right direction.

Maybe by the end of this year you'll see us in a pic on the society page of the Times. I'm willing to be lucky.