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They Told Me Not to Take That Job
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They Told Me Not to Take That Job

Tumult, Betrayal, Heroics, and the Transformation of Lincoln Center

Reynold Levy
Public Affairs, 2015

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Accomplished businessman, board member and Columbia University professor Reynold Levy ran New York City’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for 12 years. Deeply vested in the nonprofit world and accustomed to its Machiavellian politics, Levy led Lincoln Center through a massive renovation and fund-raising drive. He dealt with every conceivable bureaucratic battle and flamboyant personality. Through it all, Levy remained pragmatic, dedicated and determined to leave Lincoln Center more financially secure, artistically daring and internationally famous than he found it. He stood at the epicenter of high culture in New York City and tells the stories that prove it. Levy spins amazing tales of vicious infighting and artistic heroism. His prose can be a bit dense, and he asks sequential rhetorical questions when you might long for simple statements of fact. Even so, you can’t get more inside the worlds of cultural, civic and financial power than this. getAbstract recommends Levy’s take-no-prisoners memoir to CEOs, managers of nonprofits, and fans of opera, ballet, symphony, jazz and film.

Take-Aways

  • When Reynold Levy became president of Lincoln Center in 2002, it was a maelstrom of competing fiefdoms, all facing the problems of a billion-dollar redevelopment plan.
  • Lincoln Center’s 11 “resident artistic organizations,” such as the Metropolitan Opera and the Juilliard School, are autonomous entities.
  • Levy sought to widen public access to subsidized tickets and free performances.

About the Author

Reynold Levy is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, a special adviser to a private equity firm, and a consultant to nonprofits.

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