New York City and the art of reinvention

The importance of community and continual reinvestment to growth

Quick summary:

• New York City is a great case study of continual reinvention to stay relevant

• The city has had many ups and downs, but has cultivated a sense of community

• Building an engaged set of stakeholders who are vested in your success is key

• To overcome downturns, find ways to activate, engage and channel supporters

• “It takes a village” continues to be sound advice: focus on finding your “village”

NYC: Almost 400 years old and getting stronger

I recently spent a week in New York City with my family on vacation, just a couple of months after being in the city for a conference for the first time since the pandemic started. We previously visited as a family back in 2017 and I’ve been to NYC many times over the past 30 years. In reflecting on my times visiting in the past as well as doing some research on the city, one theme stood out: the amazing ability of New York City to reinvent itself. In my lifetime, the city has gone from near bankruptcy in 1975 to revitalization today, with many ups and down in between including, notably, 9/11 and the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in America.

One of the fun tourist activities is to visit observation decks to get a view of the city from up high, and during this visit we actually hit 3 stops: Top of the Rock, the Empire State Building, and the Edge at Hudson Yards (pictured above). The first two observation areas we visited have been around for decades, but the Edge opened on March 11, 2020…and subsequently closed two days later due to the pandemic. Now reopened, the Edge is the highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere and provides nearly 360 degree views of Manhattan and the surrounding area. The Edge is part of the Hudson Yards development project, a specially zoned area that is a collaborative effort to build mixed use real estate on the site where trains were originally stored. Ironically, Hudson Yards came into being after a failed attempt by New York City to secure the 2012 Olympic Games, with the site originally targeted for a stadium development that would have been the centerpiece of those Games. From this original failure came the success of today at Hudson Yards.

Reinvention and the critical role of community

In reading some books of the history of New York City, there is a repeated pattern of construction, decline, and renewal all over the city. Areas such as Central Park, Times Square, and Bryant Park are but of few of many examples. Behind the success stories were many debates and arguments, winners and losers: each one had a story that went beyond a superficial tale that, at its core, tied back to people caring about their city. Many of those most engaged - activists, politicians, artists, philanthropists, among many others - did not agree on the best path forward. They all shared one common characteristic: each person cared deeply about New York City and had a vision for how to make it a better place, even when those visions clashed.

A committed group of people who care are a community. It is a community that provides some of the energy, tension, motivation, and spark to accomplish big things. If your organization is looking to reinvent itself in some way, one key task is working to build a community of stakeholders. By identifying a community and working with this diverse group of committed individuals, whether they be employees or customers or vendors or supporters, you can build gain valuable perspective on where underlying challenges lie and how they can be overcome to build and grow in healthy ways.

Blending the old and new seamlessly together

I’ve lost count of how many times I have visited the top of the Empire State Building over the years. The view is always worthwhile, but in the past the lines have been long and the experience before and after have not always been ideal. This month, when taking my kids to the Empire State Building for the first time, I was thrilled with how much the experience has been improved. The lines feel shorter because of the significant investment made in providing hands-on exhibits that make the history of the building come alive. Did you know construction began in the midst of the Great Depression in 1930 and took only 1 year and 45 days to complete the 102-story edifice? (Let’s just say that safety standards were not exactly up to today’s standards.)

This is the greatest quality of New York City: its ability to always feel fresh and new, despite its age and long history as one of the great cities of the world. No wonder so many tourists come to visit each year, especially with travel re-opening this year as we do our best to put the pandemic behind us. This ability to remain relevant is a testament to the community of people that make up the city itself. People are proud to be from New York City: it remains a trendsetter in art, fashion, movies and culture as well as financial, insurance, and real estate. If NYC can tap into its grass roots and continual reinvent itself, there’s a strong likelihood your organization can as well. The key is to cultivate a sense of community and curate ideas from those that care about your success the most.

Who are the most critical stakeholders to your organization’s success? How well are you engaging with each group today? Do you have the ability to negotiate conflict or natural tensions between stakeholders to find solutions and move forward? Do your customers and employees feel like they are part of a special community - or just a number? How can you tap into bottom-up innovation that spring from the grass roots of your organization and help you continually reinvent yourself to stay fresh and relevant?