Fast Talk: Dream Jobs

Let Your Dream Job Evolve

Tom Colicchio

Restaurateur
New York, New York

To this day, the best job I ever had was working the grill at my parents' country club in New Jersey when I was 15 years old. I made $275 a week in cash and got to work in a pair of cutoffs.

But your idea of a dream job changes over time. When I was 22, I wanted to run a top restaurant in New York, and I achieved that with Gramercy Tavern when I was in my early thirties. At that point, you can open more restaurants, or you can just take it easy. If I still just had Gramercy Tavern, I'd probably only show up to work at 5 o'clock three days a week, but I realized I wanted more.

You can't be a chef forever. It takes too much out of you. Thomas Keller, who runs the French Laundry and is probably the best chef in America, spends a tremendous amount of time in the kitchen. At the end of the day, he can barely stand up. It used to be the same for me. I can't and don't want to do that anymore. I don't spend nearly as much time with my 11-year-old boy as I want. I want to play my guitar two hours a day. If I couldn't do those things, I'd be very difficult to work with.

My company is now my dream job. The cooking first attracted me, but now I love the business end of it, too. It's not only about creativity in the kitchen but also how to deal creatively with some of the business issues. The guy running our new lunch spot 'wichcraft has worked with me for nine years. He had a passion for sandwiches. I helped him design the shop, create the menu, and now we're rolling it out across the country. That's every bit as fun as seeing these young guys come up and do some great work in the kitchen.

Tom Colicchio, 41, owns six restaurants, including his flagship Craft, in New York and Las Vegas, and is the author of two cookbooks.

Connect to Your Passion

Tim Brosnan

Executive vice president, business
Major League Baseball
New York, New York

I was the captain of my college baseball team, but I knew I didn't have what it takes to play in the majors. At some point, I decided I wasn't going to be embarrassed about telling people what I wanted to do, which was to work in baseball. I got a lot of snide remarks, but I eventually met a guy whose brother-in-law was the Yankees' general counsel. That led to a meeting with the deputy commissioner. He asked, "What do you think you could do for us?" And I said, "I'll scrub toilets if you'll give me a job. I think I can prove myself once I get in." I was hired in 1991 to head international business affairs and have been in baseball ever since.

The business of baseball is all about connecting to people's passion for the game. I have to be acutely aware of my own baseball passion, because we have to figure out what is lovable about our product and constantly manipulate it to keep it that way. Understanding everything that needs to be dealt with to put the game on the field -- to create that pristine, nine-versus-nine, summer-night, smell-of-grass, shine-of-lights experience -- has made me appreciate the game even more. It's a huge entertainment business. Baseball's revenues will be north of $4.5 billion this year. I get to exist inside the game, but I also get to work in an enormously dynamic business environment.

A childhood friend of mine from the Lower East Side still calls me and tells me what's good, what's bad, what's wrong, and what's right about baseball. I can have that discussion because I still have that love for the game. The only thing I can't do is root as hard for the Yankees as he does.

Tim Brosnan, 47, is responsible for developing and negotiating Major League Baseball's corporate sponsorships and licensing. In the last year, he has closed deals with XM Satellite Radio, General Motors, and DHL.

Pursue the Creative Spirit

Halle Stanford

Head of Children's Television
The Jim Henson Co.
Hollywood, California

In college, when all the other students were making dark movies, I was saying, "Let's do a puppet television show!" I interviewed for a job with the Jim Henson Co. after graduation and was told that I was overqualified but to keep in touch. They actually meant it, though, because soon after, I was hired as a creative assistant. I was the grand note-taker, but it was exciting nonetheless. The first time I met [Muppets puppeteer] Frank Oz, I nearly fainted. The words that came out of my mouth were, "I like Grover." And he said to me, "So do I."

At the time, the company had just healed from the grief of losing Jim, when everybody picked themselves up again. As a 22-year-old just starting out, I really benefited from that creative spirit. The company was willing to nurture who I was, building my talent from within, and I worked my way up.