TransformingYourCareerTransformingYourself

  Many critics such as John Semley at The New Republic  gave the documentary "Melania" the thumbs-down. Those critics include the majority on Rotten Tomatoes. But, for a documentary "Melania" proved to be a commercial success. The New  York Times reports: “'Melania' had the best result for a wide-release documentary, excluding concert films, since 2012, when the nature film “Chimpanzee” arrived to $10.7 million, after adjusting for inflation, according to Comscore data." When it comes to film-making in this AI era when many of the moving parts can be taken over by technology commercial potential and actual results are what matter. Critics could be becoming as irrelevant as the growing number of brilliant content-creators in this era of AI. The issue could be becoming: What creative activity can generate positive financial returns - and at what level? What the production or performance or publication is in quality or fitting what taste could be mutating...

  The second time is a win.  In 2024, Paul, Weiss attempted to raid talent from a number of established Houston law firms. It was a high-profile failure. Being in Houston, where lots of energy dealmaking has been happening, has been the objective of Paul, Weiss powerhouse rainmaker in corporate Scott Barshay.  Now that's reality. Paul, Weiss poached from Kirkland & Ellis star dealmaker Sean Wheeler, along with partner Debbie Yee. Wheeler will head the Houston office, in addition to being co-chair of M&A. Earlier, it had multiple raids on Kirkland & Ellis' London office to create dominance in that market. This announcement could distract from the obsession with the disclosures of communications between the law firm's chair Brad Karp and Jeffrey Epstein. Also it could reinforce confidence in the strategy of the leadership.  In my coaching I teach the principle of introducing a new narrative to divert attention from what may be throwing shade. Paul, Weiss l...

Since the release of the 3 million pages of Epstein Files last Friday  the  legal story of the decade has been: Epstein's close ties to prominent lawyers, both in-house and in law firms.  The latest headline in  Bloomberg Law , for example, is the unrest at Goldman Sachs about the disclosures that its top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler received everything from expensive gifts to career help from Jeffrey Epstein. Meanwhile Reddit keeps updating about what could be going on at Paul, Weiss now that it's known of chair Brad Karp's social encounters with Epstein.  But all that could soon dwarf to a less captivating story. Especially for those in the equities market. The Wall Street Journal headlines with how recent advanced in general AI are threatening big companies which provide legal software services. In addition, this could finally wake up junior lawyers and law schools that the realities of how AI tools could take over much of legal work could happen sooner than t...

Employers hire people they like. Systems tend to go easier on the likable.  Up to now many of us gave Bill Clinton a free pass on questionable behavior probably because we liked him. Overall, many of us weren't supportive of Hillary Clinton's ambition. We didn't like her. Still don't. Since many of the Friends of Jeffrey are downright unlikable probably the majority of them will  be treated harshly. At the very least is reputational ruin. More serious could be career collapse without a potential comeback.  That is already happening across the ocean to former Prince Andrew and former British Ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson. Arrogant guys. Here in America crude Larry Summers, despite his powerhouse academic credentials, and aging cliche of cheating on the wife Leon Black have little chance of a brand reset.   No question, there are those of us waiting impatiently for Goldman Sachs top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler to get hers. So far she's held on to her job. And tha...

  Jeffrey Epstein was a collector of people. He leveraged glam, favors, bling, access, praise, sex and more. And into his orbit ambitious men and women were drawn. Then destroyed. They range from former British ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson to influential economist Larry Summers to finance pro Leon Black. More names will soon be added as a result of the most recent Epstein File dump. Just like those women exploited for sex those three one-time leaders turned out to be victims. Not only is there reputational ruin. And possible ending of a career. There is the embarrassment of the world knowing that they were duped. Yeah, taken in by a master manipulator. Yet, most of that time likely feeling they were into a good thing. Networking is necessary. So is caution about those relationships. If you are being favor-bombed maybe you should interpret that as a red flag. Few of us are that in demand. But Epstein made his supposed friends feel just that way: very special. Succ...

The release of more than 3 million pages of the Epstein files and again the world is gawking at what the rich and famous have allegedly got caught doing. But here we Boomers are, as usual, on a Sunday evening preoccupied how the market will open Monday morning - and then proceed the rest of the week. Time is not on our side in waiting for what could be big losses to turn around and go in the opposite direction. It's now 8 PM ET and Dow futures are down. So far, lost is 143 points.  Who isn't concerned about ROI on AI. So far it seems lots of projecting.  Not much of the hard numbers happening in real time. And we've been there before.  Also pulling down the overall market is that health insurers are spooked with the proposed unexpectedly low rate of increase for Medicare Advantage. So many of us seniors love Medicare Advantage. Now we worry if the insurers will drop that option. And how much is the wild weather denting economic growth? No one I know is out shopping....