So this week the Four Seasons will close. The sixty-year old NYC institution that defined the "power lunch" is vanishing due to a lack of "bidness". Once upon you couldn't get a table at this sheek, glamorous eatery where the rich and powerful broke bread and made deals. Now they can't give tables away.
The "power lunch" that the Four Seasons championed is definitely the product of a by-gone era. These days even the biggest and richest companies don't want to pay for super-expensive business lunches, expense accounts are either much smaller than they used to be or gone altogether. Today, people don't even meet in person that much -- nearly all my work meetings are held via video conference, I don't even leave my desk. It's very efficient and much easier than dragging to meetings -- but it has no "class."
"Class" is one of those things that's in the eye of the beholder. Some people think velvet and polyester clothes and gold-plated furnishings are classy. For me, "class" is pure, simple elegance. It's quality above all, beauty that seeks to inspire, not offend.
I've blogged a lot about the travails of the Plaza Hotel over the years. Did you know that once upon a whole bunch of widows used to live in the Plaza and hold salons and parties? They gave this historic hotel not only wealthy prestige but they made it interesting, they made it culturally rich and fascinating, they gave it "class" above all. And that was the point of being rich -- not just having money and expensive stuff but making something unique out of it.
That's what class is to be me: something beautiful and interesting and unique and memorable.
And those values have declined as wealthy these days is more about raw power and demonstrativeness, not about making smothing of it. It's wonton in a way -- the point of being rich is to be rich, not to make something of it.
It's sad. It's the fall of class.
"Class" is one of those things that's in the eye of the beholder. Some people think velvet and polyester clothes and gold-plated furnishings are classy. For me, "class" is pure, simple elegance. It's quality above all, beauty that seeks to inspire, not offend.
I've blogged a lot about the travails of the Plaza Hotel over the years. Did you know that once upon a whole bunch of widows used to live in the Plaza and hold salons and parties? They gave this historic hotel not only wealthy prestige but they made it interesting, they made it culturally rich and fascinating, they gave it "class" above all. And that was the point of being rich -- not just having money and expensive stuff but making something unique out of it.
That's what class is to be me: something beautiful and interesting and unique and memorable.
And those values have declined as wealthy these days is more about raw power and demonstrativeness, not about making smothing of it. It's wonton in a way -- the point of being rich is to be rich, not to make something of it.
It's sad. It's the fall of class.
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