Crains New York - October 29, 2012 - (Page 30)

A big drawing card Continued from Page 29 SOURCE LUNCH: JOSEPH DANIELS by Theresa Agovino CHIPPING IN: Michelle Smith co-developed the poker nights with Alexandra Lebenthal as a networking opportunity for women. requests from women who want in. But they won’t allow more than five tables, in an effort to keep the nights intimate. Each event is held at a different swank venue. Previous spots include the basement of AJ Maxwell’s Steakhouse—where many men’s poker games are held—and in Nautica founder David Chu’s Gramercy Park townhouse. This time, the women will play their hands in the Maserati showroom in TriBeCa. 9/11 museum chief moves site forward ‘Cool factor’ “The venues all have a different cool factor, and we go for the cool factor,” said Ms. Smith, chief executive of Source Financial, a boutique wealth-management firm that specializes in clients who gain big windfalls from divorce settlements or the sale of their businesses. Ms. Smith learned poker a few years ago and even travels to Las Vegas to play. But Ms. Lebenthal, chief executive of Lebenthal & Co., a boutique asset-management firm for high-net-worth investors, admits that she doesn’t particularly like poker. No matter. The night is about much more than chips—it’s a chance for women to network in a fun way and trample on a playing field long reserved for men. Ms. Lebenthal said the events cost them less than $5,000 to host and often bring in new clients. “I love any opportunity to connect women, and this is doing it in O buck ennis a unique way,” Ms. Lebenthal said. “And we’re branding ourselves in a hip and exclusive way.” The women who come tend to be competitive by nature, and are assertive in their careers, but they don’t need to know how to play poker. The Lebenthal-Smith events are led by Ellen Leikind, a LESSONS FOR POKER AND LIFE Advice on the game from Ellen Leikind, author of Poker Woman: How to Win in Love, Life, and Business Using the Principles of Poker STOP BETTING LIKE A GIRL. Play to win, as opposed to avoid losing. Women tend to hang on to the chips they have, and men tend to be more aggressive and go for all the chips. PAY ATTENTION TO NONVERBAL CUES—the actions or mannerisms that help you get a read on your competitor. And remember, it works both ways. KNOW YOUR COMPETITION. If you pay attention only to your own cards, you will lose. Women have an advantage with this because they are astute observers and have good intuition. In poker, as in business, you’re often playing people and personality more than the cards themselves. PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING. It is your job to make everyone think you have the best hand whether or not you do. DON’T FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR CARDS. If they no longer seem viable, you have to get rid of them. DON’T GET DISTRACTED BY “TRASH TALK.” Avoid letting someone else’s former Fortune 500 marketing executive who founded a company called Poker Prima Divas seven years ago to get women into the game and improve their networking and business skills. Ms. Leikind starts off the night by teaching the basics of poker hands and strategy.Then the ladies play some practice hands, and after a 15-minute break for cocktails, the tournament begins. The top five winners get trophies and sometimes other prizes. Last year, a winner walked away with a $10,000 alligator watch that Jacob & Co. had donated as a prize. Ms. Leikind now leads dozens of women’s poker events a year, mostly for corporations, and she also teaches poker at the 92nd Street Y. But this poker game is her most exclusive event. “It’s a very high-end group of women who probably get numerous invitations in an evening and are dying to come to this,” she said. “One woman said, ‘There are not a lot of things that would take me away from my 2-year-old, but this is one of them.’ ” n the eve of the 11th The environment is very difficult anniversary of the sometimes. You may meet a family Sept. 11 attacks, the member or see how someone refoundation that runs sponds to the memorial, and the the National Septem- emotion hits very hard. I know that ber 11 Memorial & Museum and the it is my job to listen to the stories,and Port Authority of New York and I have a responsibility not to get cripNew Jersey reached a deal to resolve pled by them.The camaraderie of the a dispute that had essentially halted staff is really strong. We really supconstruction on the museum for port each other. about a year. Under the agreement, the foun- A group of family members is fighting to dation will forgo $17 million it said stop the museum from housing it was owed by the Port Authority. It unidentified remains. How do you handle will also kick in $1 million annually the divergent feelings of so many people for 30 years toward operating the when deciding what to include in the site, and it agreed to the creation of museum? a committee to monitor its finances. You have to be careful that when you The Port Authority will resume mu- give someone a voice, you don’t give seum construction and formally them the impression that they conhand over the land beneath the trol the outcome. When it comes to museum and memorial to the the family members—there are 50,000 to 60,000 of them—you lisfoundation. Originally slated to open this past ten. But we are very clear that we have a board of direcSept. 11, the museum tors—including 11 family should debut by early members—and a staff 2014. The memorial that are best to make the opened on the 10th andecisions. There is comniversary and has been visfort to knowing that you ited by about 4.8 million TRINITY PLACE can’t satisfy everyone all people from every state BAR & RESTAURANT the time. and about 170 countries. 115 Broadway Joseph Daniels is presi212-964-0939 How is the quest to get dent and CEO of both the www.trinityplace federal funding to operate the memorial and museum. nyc.com WHERE THEY DINED How does it feel to have the dispute behind you? It’s quite a relief to be back on track. We have been entrusted with thousands of artifacts from the attacks, and the fact that their future home wasn’t being built was overwhelmingly frustrating. The foundation resisted letting the Port Authority see its books or have any financial oversight. Why did you finally agree to it? negative comments influence your decision or undermine your confidence. MAKE THE FIRST MOVE AND PLAY YOUR GOOD HANDS AGGRESSIVELY. Bet the “bettor,” not the “caller.” Prizes in life go to the bold. Women typically are the callers. They take the lead from someone else as opposed to putting it out there first. RECOGNIZE WHEN YOU’RE BEAT and learn to recover quickly from a loss. PAY ATTENTION TO PROBABILITY AND PAY OUT. Make sure it’s worth your while to enter the pot, or a business deal. BLUFF WISELY. Know who and when to bluff, just as you would in a negotiation. ‘Shark pit’ Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s retail group, came to one of the games for the first time six months ago, having never played poker before. “They threw me into a shark pit,” Ms. Consolo said. “Everyone else was experienced.” Yet the evening ended well for Ms. Consolo, and now she is hooked.She ended up winning second place at the tournament, where she met a senior executive in a law firm. The two are now working on a deal together. On Oct. 29, she is going back again. “This proves that women can play all of the boys’ games and sometimes even better,” Ms. Consolo said. ■ It was legitimate for the Port to ask questions about our finances as the overall landowner of the World Trade Center site. They didn’t want to get stuck holding the bag if there were problems. We were in negotiations, and things got hot. We were concerned, at certain points, about whether there was really a deal in place. We didn’t want to [show them the books] before then. How do you manage going to work every day and dealing with such a tragedy? AMBIENCE: Clandestine. It’s housed below ground in a former bank vault, complete with original 35-ton doors. WHAT THEY ATE: Lobster bisque, pan-seared salmon, iced tea, coffee Roasted onion tart, gorgonzola and hazelnut ravioli, Diet Coke, coffee TAB: $93.66, including tip museum going? We want $20 million—a third of the operating budget. We think it is a low percentage based on something like the Holocaust Museum, which gets about 60% of its budget from the federal government. Sen. Daniel Inouye [D-Hawaii] introduced the legislation, but there is one holdout: Sen. Tom Coburn [ROklahoma] is blocking it. He supports the idea but wants it paid for with federal offsets. Sen. Charles Schumer is very engaged with him to find the offsets. It’s been reported that a ticket to the museum will cost $25. If you don’t get federal funding, will that be higher? That number isn’t right. We are still deciding whether we will have a straight ticket charge or a suggested donation. And whether we get federal funding will affect what we will do. I don’t know when we will make the decision. INSIDE TIP: A regular guest, Mr. Daniels loves the gorgonzola ravioli and ate it even though he was heading to Italy in a few hours. 30 | Crain’s New York Business | October 29, 2012 http://www.trinityplacenyc.com http://www.trinityplacenyc.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - October 29, 2012

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
ALAIR TOWNSEND
GREG DAVID
REAL ESTATE DEALS
REPORT: BUSINESS OF LAW
THE LIST
CLASSIFIEDS
SMALL BUSINESS
FOR THE RECORD
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - October 29, 2012