This year marks the 20th anniversary of Dickstein Real Estate Services. Thinking back, when I was just a young pup at the age of 20, I was away at college wondering what it was I was supposed to be doing with my life. What was my life’s unique purpose, I wondered?

Back then my world was in turmoil. We were in a War where friends of mine were dying. Inflation was topping 20 percent. The campus was awash in drugs and protest marches. Women were becoming aggressive and men were just angry and scared. Vietnam was looming after graduation and I was in a kind of survival mode that today’s kids might only equate to living in a psychological war zone. Needless to say, I did my best trying to find myself.

I was rescued on the PATH train. Standing back to back with my future wife for more than a month, I finally found the nerve to speak with her when her books fell at my feet on a rough curve. That’s when I found my soul mate, and started my life’s real adventure.

But, after 20 years in the corporate world, I found myself still confused as to what I was here to accomplish. Working in the Fortune 100 corporate culture meant never having to be creative. My bosses would say, “This is the way we do it here, Larry! Just do it like I am asking you to do it. You think too much!”

Although my company was on the leading edge of the world of commercial real estate negotiations, and we were working on some of the most challenging projects in the world like a 4 million square foot office lease and purchase agreement at the World Financial Center, it still wasn’t my vision of how things ought to be.

Twenty years ago, I got the chance to do things the way I knew that they ought to be done. I was able to finally listen solely to needs of my clients and step outside the box.

Today, with hundreds of satisfied clients and millions of square feet successfully negotiated, I can honestly say that I know that I have made a real difference in the lives of those we have represented and continue to represent. Like everything in life, no one bats a thousand, but to seek perfection is to miss the point. I know that our success is simply because of the good people that we have had the privilege to serve along the way.

For the New Year, and for our twentieth year, let me say to all those who have made our success possible,— THANK YOU!

Regards,
Larry

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