We took a day off! After producing three issues of Fortune back to back — three in three weeks — Andy Serwer gave us a free Friday. (Thank you, boss!)
What a day to be out of the office. Perfect sunny, blue-sky day in New York, temp in the mid-70s. I had a lunch scheduled and decided not to cancel it.
I’m glad I didn’t. It was a fun and fascinating lunch with Hannah Burns, ex-head of PR at Lehman Brothers who left there just before the bank collapsed, and Judith Fishlow Minter, who spent two decades at Citigroup and has now formed North Sea Advisors with 14 other refugees of financial services companies. Burns joined North Sea to head communications, among other duties.
They’re both relieved to be out of the big banks. They’re better off, for sure.
It strikes me: There are so many super-smart, high-quality people unleashed — or unmoored, in North Sea terms — by the chaos that we’ve all suffered through. And so many new shops being born. With recovery, we’ll see some terrific new businesses emerge, don’t you think?
Enjoy your weekend!