Downtown Music CEO Sends Post-Election Letter To Staff

Here CEO of Justin Kalifowitz, CEO of Downtown Music, weighs in the impact of the election, and people's responsibility to invest in a future they want to have, both for themselves and the industry, rather than simply playing the blame game.

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The memo below was sent to the global team at Downtown by CEO Justin Kalifowitz on November 15th, 2016.I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the results of last Tuesday’s election. Like many of you, I’ve been consuming countless opinions, trying to better understand how we arrived at this particular point in history and where we can go from here.My clearest take-away is that this election is a strong reminder that we all have a tremendous responsibility to invest in the future we dream of. Irrespective of political leanings, it’s not particularly healthy for a society or the social media echo chamber to simply pin that responsibility on a single person or political party. The power sharing between cities, states and Washington makes this all the more pertinent here in the US.

One of the many benefits I find of living in New York is our long history of civic activism. Perhaps it’s the tight quarters, maybe it’s the demographics, but despite the myth of being fast walking, rude talking “coastal elites”, many of us take the responsibility of improving our community as a serious obligation. Year after year, New Yorkers concerned about their community have advanced important progressive causes that have spread across our country and around the world. As our Senator, Chuck Schumer, recently said:

“We are already where the rest of the country is going.”

How we each choose to define our communities (our block, our state, all of humanity) and to the extent to which we participate in strengthening them is, of course, a personal choice. With that in mind, we want to make sure that everyone at Downtown has the opportunity to explore ways they can be involved — not only here in New York, but across all of our offices.As first steps, we are taking this opportunity to add volunteer hours, to be used at your discretion, alongside vacation, sick, and personal days. In addition, we are planning to ramp up the number of philanthropic and community building activities company-wide.As we look to define this initiative in the days ahead, we welcome your questions, ideas and most of all, your inspiration.I’m looking forward to seeing what we can all build together.Thanks,Justin Kalifowitz