TransformingYourCareerTransformingYourself

  " I wish we didn't pay for our daughter's big wedding." That's what one distraught Boomer lamented during a complimentary consultation for coaching. They, like a growing number of those who need work to pay bills, can't find it.  The Wall Street Journal  describes them as part of the "jobless boom." It looks like this: " ...  total payrolls shrank in July , the fifth time in the past 12 months. Private payroll growth has averaged a little over 50,000 per month for the last year. These sorts of trends are virtually unprecedented outside recessions." Meanwhile, companies are producing great earning. Predictions from a recent Stripe survey are for economic growth for the next five years. Very smart people are in this pickle. Perhaps it was the blind faith in their high intelligence which drove the assumption that they can live the good life to the fullest. No need to embrace financial realities. In contrast, there are the Boomers who have li...

  A joke in comments to The Wall Street Journal coverage of the University of Michigan's eliminating freshmen letter grades is this:  "A puppy on every dorm floor." But actually that might do the trick of reducing the stress of adjusting to college. Experimenting with that, instead of tossing traditional grading, could improve mental health. What every pet parent has known for years has been documented by researchers at the University of Vienna. The results, published this month in the Cell Press Journal iScience , provide concrete evidence that the border collie 1) Can read human facial expressions, such as joy or sadness and 2) Respond appropriately. About the latter, if we are up, they share the elation. If down, they move in with comfort.  So, when we are with our dogs, we can unmask. Not take on the face which warns the world not to mess with us. A public display of unease could invite predators to pounce. Yes, exploit us in an infinite number of ways. But there...

A key metric for assessing where a law firm is and where it seems to be heading is its success in recruiting star lawyers.  They, not the brandname of the firm, are what brings in business. And with the talent war increasing in intensity and money spent, that's what the media, clients and members of the legal sector monitor.  Way back in 2021 in a Bloomberg Law  interview partner/rainmaker Brad Karp explained that dynamic. Especially how critical it was to the business of practicing law. Firms without the financial resources to do that kind of high-stakes poaching could collapse. That's because they wouldn't be able to grow.  Well, this signal of a law firm's overall health is flashing positive for Paul, Weiss right now. At least in its corporate department for capital markets. Law.com reports:  "Peter Byrne [is] joining from Cooley as partner, and Tristan Van Deventer, joining as a partner from Ropes & Gray ... both based in New York ..." This ability to...

The formal name for this growing problem in aging is "decumulation."  Essentially, that's the phase in aging when you begin to prudently withdraw from the funds you've saved/invested.  And for too many of us, even guided by a financial advisor, that generates existential angst.  Yes, it's a "good problem" but still a problem. As The New York Times documents bearing witness to the numbers going down bit by bit conjures up mindsets of worst-case scenarios: Will there be a stock market crash Inflation could get lots worse What about a healthcare event not covered by Medicare and its supplements Having to ask children to help out financially Not being able to leave anything to the next generation And, yes, winding up homeless. As a result, a lifestyle can be circumscribed.  For instance, you would like to join the current tourism trend, especially to Europe, but don't.  Everything in you screams that the LCOL (low cost of living) location you relocated...

  All around, the blind faith in satisfaction from knowledge work and how being very good at it can build wealth are becoming as out-of-date as having large families .  The Financial Times , Noema  and more document the necessary shifts in the way humans approach the requirement (at least until policy makers come up with something more realistic) that they have to support themselves by the sweat of their brow.  So, instead of pestering children with the dream of making a living doing what they love, from the get-go socialize them to put together a life through other values. Already, the successful white-collars who still have jobs are turning to pursuing hobbies and taking refuge in fantasies about disappearing.  Sure, driving that is the role of AI in reconfiguring jobs, as well as work in general. When I had been working full-time in communications I derived tremendous satisfaction from really digging to research the speech, article or ad.  Currently, muc...

As yet, the prediction markets aren't trading on Paul, Weiss. But suppose that starts. There could be monster implications for making money and gaining influence on the law firm. I focus on those possibilities in this post on Substack. Careers. Forget all that. It’s about earning a good living, no matter what. Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova, StreetSmart Coaching (janegenova374@gmail.com)