NYC - Howard Gray

Two Transmitters and a Telephone

Last hurrah. Baby due anytime now, so I ping a friend to see if he's up for some drinks. A bit of back and forth on where to meet. He’s in Williamsburg, I’m in Fort Greene. I think I suggest something in the middle. He comes back offering

In The Neighborhood

The new success

There used to be a cafe in the Lower East Side called El Rey. It was a tiny place, with a row of bar stools at the front that looked out directly at the street. It was perfect for watching the world go by, and did a really good flat

In The Neighborhood

Prospect

So it was. I woke up on Saturday feeling lethargic and slow; that half-pace off the weekday cadence. I couldn’t resist checking for results. No change. There wouldn’t be anything for another day or two. Time to switch off. My body stuck lazily to the sofa, 45 degree

Mind The Gap

Do you like dogs?

A few weeks ago, we went upstate for the weekend. As you can imagine, the demand for places to stay outside the city has rocketed, and we had to move fast to secure something – especially as it was a last minute thing. In moments of haste such as these, the

In The Neighborhood

Back to the coffee shop

The Big Apple. Gleaming skyscrapers. Grand Central. Wall Street. Times Square. Bright lights. Big city. Big business. Big bucks. But what really runs this place are the small potatoes. The small business is what makes NYC tick. In my particularly populous region of Manhattan, there are small businesses everywhere. Sure,

In The Neighborhood

Connecting with Art

There’s something about those few days before Christmas. The city has a softer haze, time slows and moments are savoured more than the preceding 50 weeks of the year. For many it can be a strange time of year. Mixed feelings. Transition. You may find yourself away from what

Storytelling

Unlearnings from the improv class

This weekend I went to my first improv class in a little while. Improv has been one of those things the younger me would have been initially shocked at; realised made a lot of sense; then finally saw the tension: Telling stories, trying new ideas, setting up random situations: yes!

NYC

No AC to DC

It’s that time. I’m off to Penn Station. I’m taking the B line to what is, kindly, the B list of train terminals. And then my subway mysteriously skips my exit point, Herald Square. It doesn’t really even skip it. It just chugs, almost apologetically, except

Music, Media & Entertainment

Orbiting the Orbit: On Tour Again

Still one of my favourite tripped out deep house tracks, and a game-changer for the 17-year-old me. The Second-Hand Satellites.A couple of months ago the Webster Hall music venue reopened in New York City. As a relatively new arrival to the city, I’m not an expert on the

Music, Media & Entertainment

Great (Un)Expectations

Below is a very lightly edited version of a brief introduction I gave at the final presentation day for the second cohort of the AMP NYC [http://www.nyc.gov/ampnyc] media & entertainment accelerator program in New York. I’d had a busy few days and showed up at the

Mind The Gap

The perils of a chain reaction

Our well-intentioned but misguided desires to root for the independents. A couple of times a week I’ll walk with my wife to her subway stop before I head a few blocks uptown to my office on Union Square. On the way to the subway is a Bluestone Lane coffee

Stage Left

22,000 songs in your pocket

Back in 2001, Apple CEO Steve Jobs uttered his now legendary one line pitch for a new product his company were about to release. ‘1000 songs in your pocket’ It’s unlikely even he knew how rapidly things would evolve from that point on. From iPod Classic to iPhone X;

The Tension

Natural or Rounded?

My local barbershop is the legendary Astor Hair in Downtown Manhattan. As I’ve mentioned before [https://www.howardgray.net/2018/07/16/tall-stories-the-importance-of-storytelling/] , in New York your barbershop feels like a boxing gym, your boxing gym feels like a nightclub and your nightclub feels like a barbershop. Astor Hair

Future of Learning

Study Skills: The Reading Mesh

At the edges of Manhattan’s East Village are a cluster of student residence halls for New York University, more commonly known as NYU. Drop into any coffee shop within a few blocks of these and you’ll be sure to see a scattering of students hunched over laptops and

Resources

The Portfolio Career Podcast

Two of things I love most about New York are its pay-it-forward approach and its densely networked nature. This combination means it’s possible to meet a lot of interesting people in a short space of time. Someone I met early on through this combination was David Nebinski. As we

Stage Left

6 lessons from going live with Oprah

I was sitting at my computer willing the words to come. I’m creating a workbook/guide for independent professionals and the last 10% of it has proved by far the hardest. Midway through my mid-distance stare into nothing in particular, my phone rang. It was someone I’d spoken

Future Of Work

Location Arbitrage

* Go back 15 years or so and this was only a serious day to day consideration if you were an international trader looking to take advantage of fluctuations in currencies and demand for particular goods. For the rest of us, it may have come up as something to think about

Future Of Work

Demo Night

Taking my career building project Fondo out of the studio for the first time. New York City’s Canal Street is one of the main arteries in Downtown Manhattan (and until the 18th century was an actual canal). Cutting west to east, in its centre it splits the main parts

NYC

How to survive your first year living in NYC

At the time of writing I’m approaching the end of my first year living in New York City, more specifically in the East Village of Manhattan, one of the most boisterous and lively parts of one of the most energetic cities in the world. NYC isn’t for the

Slices of Life

Enjoy the silence

A couple of weeks ago I finally went to my first live NBA game. As the saying goes, it just wasn’t like it was on TV. What struck me most was the stimulus. The zinging advertising, prime NYC hiphop being cranked up for every play, announcements for every successful

Mind The Gap

What's your circle of competence?

It’s a freezing cold Saturday morning in New York’s Greenwich Village and there’s tension in the air. On the snow-speckled artificial turf of James J Walker park, our team are a goal down with less than a minute on the clock. Our de facto captain and star

The Tension

Why do we ignore our middle chapter?

Like a lot of people I’ve got much more in podcasts recently, and my go-to is without doubt Shane Parrish’s Knowledge Project. I think I’m pretty safe in assuming his most popular interview (and also longest – something of an oxymoron today…) is with Naval Ravikant, founder of

The Tension

Are you an artist or a frame maker?

Why it’s worth knowing which role you’re best suited for, and how valuable it can be when looking to join a new community. Last week I received an email from someone in London asking how life in NYC was going for me, and what I thought of The

In The Neighborhood

The Intrapreneur in action

You may have noticed a growing number of companies offering innovation and business transformation services. Some of them are deeply involved in these burgeoning disciplines, others are bolting on these offerings to their existing consulting services, and a few are frantically pivoting from spluttering business models. There’s no doubting

Stage Left

If Sesame Street did nightclubs...

Celebrating a creative right up there with the very best, and looking at the future of pop culture IP At a certain vintage we often like to think we’re culturally aware and attuned to the latest events and happenings in the Arts; whether it’s gallery openings, exhibitions, or