TransformingYourCareerTransformingYourself

  Pre-AI, as the law of supply and demand seemed to be shifting, a prudent strategy had been wait-and-see.  Given what AI can already do and what it's anticipated it will be able do, that could be classified as downright stupid. Those helping the software-as-a-service sector navigate being wiped out by AI recommend rapid resets.  For most industries negatively impacted by AI, I make the same recommendation. But even if I position and package that gently, I pick up that most aren't listening. There is magical thinking that hiring, promotions and employment security will return to what had been. The issue to them is when, not an if. Walking away from how you used to make a good living is so difficult for three reasons: Sunk costs. You got that MBA. You paid plenty of "dues" learning your field. The family life you sacrificed. Being so good at it. Hearing this justification for staying-put can be quite tiresome. I bite my tongue and don't point out that there had bee...

  As too many of us know, "consolidation" generates redundancies. The merged entity, for example, only needs one investor relations function. Workers' jobs go poof.  So, obviously the FCC's repeal of the 22-year rule that a media company can only own 39% of the audience should alert all functions in media of inevitable Reductions-in-Force. The sector breaks open to more consolidation.  The decline of those glam jobs will be accelerated. Last year, the cuts - numbering 17,000 - were up 18% from the previous year. Meanwhile, as I know from coaching, there's already plenty of tension throughout media workplaces. A shrinking industry sucks the joy out of doing what you love. Careers. Forget all that. It’s about earning a good living, no matter what. Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova, StreetSmart Coaching (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Television - remember that medium - actually had shaped the culture from the beginning of the 1940s until the late 2000s.  Part of that was developing our love and hate for lawyers. And much of the influence on us had been triggered by the drama embedded in the courtroom.  For Boomers, our first lawyerly love affair was with Perry Mason (1957 - 1966). That series had such pull power that even legal families, such as that of Paul, Weiss partner Brad Karp , gathered around the small screen weekly to enjoy the trial theatrics. Karp is a third-generation lawyer. Not only his parents but his maternal grandfather had practiced law. As the years rolled on the pro-lawyer shows became much more theatrically sophisticated as well as embedded in relationship dynamics. The model was probably "LA Law." Wedded and engaged couples watched Ann Kelsey and Stuart Markowitz navigate their own marriage.  The high point might have been "Boston Law." But holding its own had been "Th...

David Enrich described in the 2022 expose "Servants of the Damned," what he saw as Big Law's one-dimensional chase after Profits Per Equity Party. Ever since then there's been a railing against greed in large law firms. That reached a frenzy this week after The New York Times published the decisions Paul, Weiss leadership had made which were interpreted as necessary to bulk up PPEP.  Well, it's turning out that all that record-setting PPEP by firms such as Paul, Weiss, Quinn Emanuel and Proskauer isn't enough. At least not to fund the recruitment of star talent and integration of AI into strategy and operations. Consequently, they are exploring obtaining access to more capital in a way that doesn't violate the traditional rule against non-lawyer ownership of law firms. That "magic" path is through what's known as the management services organization structure (MSO). Already implemented in the highly regulated healthcare sector,  the MSO opera...

It's been a perfect storm for higher education, resulting in, oh horrors: laying off tenured faculty, in addition to other classifications of instructors.  The gale forces of change include: Reform efforts by the Trump administration. On Wall Street, Apollo's Marc Roman is pitching in on that campaign.  Demographic realities. During an era of fewer births there's a reduced pool of applicants for a college education as well as advanced degrees. Disconnect between the knowledge and skills acquired during matriculation for a degree and what's marketable in terms of the ability to earn a good living. You might not know that in 1626 the Puritans established Harvard as a trade school. It was to train ministers. Nothing ivory tower about that place back then. Cost. The average sticker price has more than doubled in the 21st century. Debt. The average student loan debt is more than $42K. Epstein files. How many star professors sucked up to the pedo for donations. The New York T...

  The client balked: They couldn't believe I recommended erasing the MBA from Stanford from their resume. But eventually, the 50-something with no offers in their job hunt and dwindling savings reset how they presented themselves. They quantified results from actual recent contract-work experience and restricted the academic background to the BS. Boomers who took calculus and the GMAT to be admitted to the MBA program vividly remember: The MBA had been The Ticket. In the late 1970s, I leveraged it, even from a non-top school, to shift from non-profit to Big Oil. In itself that "covered over" that my formal education background had been totally in the humanities.  Now, the MBA can actually be a liability in not only career change and a job search by seasoned players. The MBA also can be useless in landing those first few jobs.  Some Stanford, Harvard and Wharton recent MBA graduates hit a wall in their job search.   The big money is in the financial sector, right? We...