Adam Pasquale standing on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange

New York Years · Mentorship · 2014

See It
Before You
Build It.

One entrepreneur invited another into a larger world—and made a bigger future easier to imagine.

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The invitation

Some futures begin with an open door.

Adam Pasquale was living in my building when a conversation over cappuccino turned toward the question that shadows every good job: when do you leave it to build something of your own?

My answer was not delicate. If he was financially all right and had a vision, he should jump. Then I offered something more useful than another speech: Come with me. I want to show you what is possible.

Listen to Benny

The conversation before the walk.

Benny remembers Adam at the edge of a decision, the invitation that followed, and why sometimes possibility must be experienced before it can be pursued.

“If you're financially okay and you've got a vision—just do it.”

Arrival · Walking the floor

Possibility needs somewhere to become visible.

The Stock Exchange was not the lesson. Exposure was. It was one thing to talk about building a company over cappuccino. It was another to walk through the machinery of public markets and see that larger companies were built by people—not abstractions. Charlie guided the visit while Benny stayed where he usually was: behind the camera.

Adam Pasquale on the NYSE trading floor — Adam Pasquale on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Adam Pasquale among NYSE market displays — Bells, boards, terminals and the machinery of the market.

Understanding the markets

The larger world became physical.

The main boardroom sat on another floor, beyond the path available to most guests. Its architecture, old clock and enormous curved table turned the abstract world of institutions and public companies into a real place—one that people could enter, understand and perhaps someday help shape.

Adam standing inside the historic NYSE boardroom

Adam entering the historic NYSE boardroom — The visit moved beyond the trading floor and into the rooms where decisions were made.

The large curved table inside the NYSE boardroom — The boardroom after everyone stepped out of frame.

The turning point

Standing Where Decisions Are Made.

Charlie invited Adam behind the old rostrum. The clock, chairs and architecture preserve the scale of the moment: Adam was no longer looking at this world from outside it. For a few minutes, he could imagine belonging there.

Adam Pasquale standing behind the historic NYSE rostrum beneath the antique clock — The full room is preserved—the rostrum, chairs, clock and architecture are part of the meaning.

Original film · 25 seconds

The invitation becomes real.

The camera caught the small act of encouragement at the center of the day. Charlie's joke was light. The door he opened was not.

“Why don't you go up there? We'll take your picture. Come on.”
“Pretend you're somebody.”

Charlie's spontaneous line is preserved as spoken inside the original film. The room sound and conversation remain unchanged.

Future

Leaving with a larger horizon.

Adam later helped build Recycle Track Systems, bringing technology into the waste and recycling business he already knew from the inside.

I do not know what part our day played. Maybe it was my sledgehammer talk over cappuccino. Maybe it was Charlie opening one more door. I only hope we supplied a little smudge of inspiration and made a larger future easier to see.