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  Reputation management is the core of public relations.  But there is a but. In the process those doing that managing could wind up requiring their own reputation rehab. In the past, examples of things going very wrong for public relations firms doing fixes include Bell Pottiner, Burson - Marsteller and Hill & Knowlton.  Most recently it's Terakett which just took a major hit. On its website Terakett describes its mission as: "Securing, protecting, and supporting your reputation in search and AI chat experiences." In great detail today  The New York Times  describes the fixes Terakett has done for clients such as Goldman Sachs' head David Solomon and investment expert/philanthropist Robert F. Smith. And how it does them. However, as the old saying goes, no one likes to know how the sausages are made. The "making" seems to involve lots of technological manipulation, plus aggressive positioning and packaging of positive narratives. Obviously, readers can ...

"The Caesars Palace Coup" and "Servants of the Damned" probably will be the last exposes on the big-money law firms. Likely there will never be another smash hit like "Boston Legal." Arguing in front of the US Supreme Court? Just a client assignment. The cultural fascination with elite law firms and brilliant lawyers is over. Poof. Attention and aspirational whatevers have shifted to entrepreneurs and the AI crowd. The lawyers representing them have lost their glam. Come on, you'd rather imagine yourself being Dario Amodei than part of the legal teams representing Anthropic.  Of course, there are exceptions.  The gov's insider trading probe triggered a bit of tsk-tsk. The kind of way too ambitious types you bump into law school are being fingered for organizing a ring of intel on proposed mergers and acquisitions. One has turned cooperative so we know this isn't some kind of witch hunt. Bits and pieces to rant about have popped up on social and...

  It used to be that if your employer was holding up financially, you didn't worry about your job security. Now, that doesn't matter. The emerging dynamic is that, like Cisco, LinkedIn, Paul, Weiss and more, the ax swings even in the best of financial times. TechCrunch reports: "Technology giant Cisco is cutting fewer than 4,000 jobs, or around 5% of its workforce, despite reporting better-than-expected profit and revenue in its fiscal third quarter."  In addition, LinkedIn cut even with 12% increase in revenue. And Paul, Weiss has been riding high in Profits Per Equity Partner and still terminated litigation associates.  What else is becoming common is that help may not be on the way. Sure there are policy proposals to cope with the impact of cost-efficiency, AI and offshoring. But very little real experimentation.  Sure, you're told to network. But with fewer and fewer opportunities all that may get you is a decent-paying work situation, for a while. Then you ...

  In Q2 this year LinkedIn's revenues rose 12% . Despite that, that platform for job search is laying off 5%. A poster on Reddit claims it's more: "My brother works at LI, and things look really bad internally. The 5% figure is not accurate; the actual number is much higher." A higher number could happen through performance-based terminations. They are not classified as "layoffs" but a cause-related firing. The cause may or may not be perceived by onlookers as justified.  The terminations  include roles in Microsoft's owned Global Business Organization, engineering, product teams and marketing. About the latter: Marketing has been getting hit hard across myriad sectors, including the practice of law . Once glam and prestigious, it's now targeted. Creative thinking is in demand. But less so those in actual creative professions. In addition, LinkedIn is cutting back on investment in parts of its business . Among them are use of vendors, customer eve...

  What a difference half a century makes.  In the late 1970s the MBA was the  ticket. For getting in, for being promoted, for the knowledge assumed to be required to start a business. In order to transition from non-profit to the private sector I took calculus, the GMAT and coaching for my application to be admitted to the MBA program. I was right: One semester in, I landed a plum job in Big Oil at more than double my salary and with an expense account.  Now, as The Wall Street Journal has been telling us for a few years and again today: The marketability of that degree has declined. That's because employers not only value hands-on skills more than education. The MBA sends the wrong signals. Those include: Expectations of higher wages Entitlement for special treatment Stuck in school-learning that has to be unlearned. Too clever by far. There is the stigma of being branded negatively as the smartest kid in the room and, as with Jeff Stilling who was a Harvard MBA, w...

  Today, faculty at Harvard vote on the issue of limiting "A" grades.  The perception has been that too many of those have been handed out but not earned.  It's common for Harvard College graduates to go after jobs in finance and consulting and apply to top law schools. Those require high grades. That's the first cut. Without those grades the edge of the investment of a Harvard education could be diminished. Hell, you could have gone to a state school. Obviously students oppose limiting the number of "A" grades. The playing field on which they compete for a future could be made more level. Earning a Good Living in 2026 Involves Mental Combat. The enemy is usually your own thinking. Complimentary consultation. No Pressure. Solid Guidance. Contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.