Armand DiCarlo
New York, USA
See what other graduates are up to:
Read about Grads' Breakthrough Stories
See profiles of Grads Making a Difference
Featured Grad Site:
Visit a site created by
graduates*:
ILovePossibility.info
*Landmark may link to sites that graduates have and will rotate the sites that we link to from time to time.
New Beginnings in New York City
As the center manager of New York, I come face to face with leadership challenges year after year. From hiring and training a great team to watching the people, the programs, and the center grow and flourish; I’ve been a witness to the remarkable gift of sharing in the lives of the thousands of graduates who participate here in New York.
When we moved from 425 5th Avenue down to the World Trade Center several years ago, we were proud to have Landmark Education be in a landmark location. To be located in a world-class building, to have a world-class business, and to deal with world-class people – we were proud to have that be our home.
We were the largest center in the United States. I loved being in playful competition with other Landmark managers across the nation and around the world. As you can imagine, New York is such a stellar city that being center manager here demands the best of me.
When we lost our offices in the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attacks, I realized that my leadership was going to be put to new tests. The staff, the graduates of The Landmark Forum, and the people that were coming to take The Landmark Forum for the first time looked to me to set the tone and provide the leadership. I had to assure them that Landmark would be strong and have a presence that was stable and unshakeable. I must tell you that in the privacy of my own home, I sometimes wondered if I was up to the task. I had doubts. Could I lead this fantastic operation and these fantastic people out of the devastation and out of the doldrums into a new location, new spirit, new digs?
I suppose at the time, many leaders in many organizations across the city were dealing with the same questions. How would we forge ahead? How would we provide the guidance and faith that were called for at the time?
I must tell you, I had to put aside my concerns and my considerations. I had to locate myself somewhere outside of my head because the groundswell of support and commitment from the graduates, the people who had participated in Landmark’s programs, literally would not allow anything other than strength of courage, spirit, and heart. They helped find offices, they brought lunches, found new buildings, booked event space. They shared stories about themselves and their families and the difference that the programs of Landmark had made in dealing with the difficulties they were facing. Firefighter Rob Keating's story is just one example.
When we were in temporary quarters; we had computers perched on top of file cabinets and jerry-rigged phone lines. Nothing was quite where it was supposed to be and many records and important files we thought we could never live without were missing. We now have recently moved to our new digs at 317 A. West 33rd Street. The lives, persistence, stamina, and heart of New Yorkers is something that you simply cannot stop.
When each of us is tested like we have all been in one time or another in our lives – whether dealing with personal challenges, global, societal, economic challenges – it really is an opportunity to look at what's important to us. We take stock of what we value, of how we relate to the world. It is in those situations where there's nothing between you and the circumstances – where there's no buffer – that you begin to see the resources in yourself.
What is so wonderful about Landmark programs is that Landmark deals so specifically with the greatness and the grandness of who people are. Countless graduates have shared with me, how if it wasn’t for Landmark, the kind of difference the programs have made in their lives that they would not have had the wherewithal to deal with these circumstances.
To have a job where you live inside of this magnanimity, this generosity of spirit—not only as a citizen of New York, but also as a Landmark leader, and captain of the operation—is just too important of an opportunity not to share. Thank you all, whether you live in New York or around the world, for being a supporter of our efforts here.
Read more about Grads in Action Worldwide, Grads' Breakthrough Stories, and Grads Making a Difference.