November Highlights
Best of the Best from November 2024
Is it just me, or does time speed up from Halloween to New Year's? Before I know it, I'm scrambling to keep up with my holiday preparations and year-end plans as the temperature drops into wintry bliss (I love the cold!).
This is the perfect season for festivities, reflections, and catch-ups, so as I speed through it, I wanted to capture and share my monthly highlights, both professional, personal, and fun.
Most insightful professional event: Fortune invited me to the Global CFO dinner, an intimate dinner of CFOs from companies such as AMEX, Nasdaq, and Siemens Healthcare. Professor Arun Sundararajan, a Harold Price Professor of Entrepreneurship at NYU, was the guest of honor who led us through many AI-related topics at the top of CFOs' minds while navigating their respective firms through this transformational phase. I will catch up with the Professor next month to continue our conversation, especially about how industry and academia can continue to collaborate to make the successive iterations of innovations more impactful.
FOOD FOOD FOOD: It’s almost impossible to repeat restaurants in NYC when you want to try them all (although one day I will share a few, I will make a point to go back to them). This month, there were two standout experiences: the Beefbar, which had every “best of” beef preparations (e.g., wagyu, KBBQ, steak, beef tartare…), and a Chinatown “best of” food crawl. If you do the latter, I highly recommend going with a sizable group so everyone can have a bite at as many places as possible. We, a group of 5, went to Super Taste, Mei Lai Wah, Fong On, Mott Street Eatery, and Congee Village, and I would recommend every single one. The Beefbar not only had fabulous food, but I also loved the NYC vibe; definitely a fun date night spot.
Best-performing content: A conversation with my mentee about effectively negotiating workloads inspired me to write this piece. It must have resonated with many of you because it became an Editor’s Pick at Forbes and was viewed over 30K times on LinkedIn. In addition, I wrote this piece about how our personalities contribute to teamwork, which Fortune ran as we slipped into Thanksgiving weekend. Coming off a couple of board meetings, I was in the mood for some fun, light-hearted content, and it looks like many of you (& Fortune) did, too.
Afternoon tea: My tea group (this sounds more formal than it is—a group of girlfriends who enjoy tea and each other, made a shared goal of checking out as many afternoon team spots as possible!) went to The Lowell Hotel this month. Of the many excellent tea options in the city, this one has the most “tea time” feel—quiet, quaint, and bright. Christian Dior did a fabulous job outfitting the tea decor and plates. 10/10 would recommend. We might devise a grading system for all the tea places we visit, so stay tuned!
Holiday event: I love the Christmas season in NYC! Of the events and sights, the standout was, of course, the NYBG Holiday Train Show. If you don’t have children with you, I highly recommend the 21+ evenings, where you will be able to stroll through the (warm) conservatory with a delicious adult beverage, ooh and aah over an impressive remake of NYC monuments, and stop by the cafe to enjoy some holiday music. Of course, you must have dinner in Little Italy, just next to the Garden. We went to Zero Otto Nove, which also has an outpost in Manhattan; it is an authentic, family-friendly Italian restaurant.
My most loving moments: I attended two weddings in NYC this month. We danced, celebrated, hugged, and laughed. I love winter weddings when love feels extra cozy. I can't share their photos for privacy reasons, but I can give you a flavor of my outfits!
Whew, what a month! It's already the last month of the year, and I can't wait to share with you how I am closing out the year, my goal-setting approach, and what I learned in 2024. I hope you are having an excellent start to the holiday season. Stay warm!
