TransformingYourCareerTransformingYourself

 Esquire Magazine has a section "The New Middle Age." In the September edition, sports journalist Jesse Dougherty reflects on losing his dream job . That was 16 days before his daughter Eva was born. The essay is in the format of a letter Eva. Oh, he admits how catastrophic it was or so it seemed at the time. After all, he was to become a father for the first time. He sobbed. His wife sobbed. He warns Eva not to make a job so much of an identity. Maybe Eva will pay attention. Younger gens, I am bumping into as a coach, tend to reject the old-line hustle ethos which made the job all-consuming. In addition, he confides to Eva how the loss (along with fatherhood) has changed him. Now he feels fear all the time. Is the takeaway you want to pass on to your offspring during this reversal of fortune (hopefully temporary) to choose a line of work that doesn't operate on existential angst? No, all ways of earning a living aren't equally uncertain, performance evaluated with e...

  Talking about a "movement" can position you as, well, so out-of-touch. So 20th century. That's when influence was a highly centralized force field.  Back then, there were leaders, such as Gloria Steinem , carrying the activist banner. You joined organizations. You marched, following the institutional scheduling. You funded those institutions. Your identity was linked to them. Yes, you were a feminist.  Now, influence is decentralized. That's primarily because technology has created the era of the network. And those networks can generate a kind of collective message, with myriad nuances. And continual revisions. The sources of influence include: AI, especially chat bots Internet Social media Newsletters Podcasts Online communities Tik Tok, YouTube Professional platforms, both anonymous and functioning with bylines Lawsuits, digitally placed in the court of public opinion Reset legacy media Comments posted on legacy media's articles Prediction markets. A viral pos...

 Like too many institutions of higher education Syracuse University bills at about $100k a year for the four years of undergraduate learning.  One of the major benefits of that, it is claimed, is creating and nurturing curiosity.  For example, an op-ed in The New York Times states:  " ...my undergrads ... I expect, will approach the material with energetic curiosity. They always do."  The gigantic elephant in the room on that one is this: Why is that necessary? Observe any toddler in a store or on the playground and it's obvious that human beings are inherently quite curious. Even annoyingly so. Obviously, though, many will lose it along the way to being 18 years old. And defenders of the university will feature that pursuit as a main item on the menu.  We have to ask, of course, why curiosity is so easily erased as the human matures. But, equally important to look at is the wealth-creation reality that some hold on to the craving to explore.  Mark Zu...

  When looking for a job or even when in a job , now normal is this: reduction in compensation.  What's driving that could be as simple as employers having the upper hand and knowing they can get away with lowballing pay. And/or, the business contends more funds have to be invested in growth strategies such as implementing AI. Another possibility is that financial performance is dismal. Being offered compensation below what you expected isn't new, though. One of my first coaching clients had been a laid-off speechwriter who decried that a freelance assignment was for $1,000. Normally that was a $2,500 contract. Back then the I'm Insulted theatrics were standard. But the pragmatic guidance I gave was: Take it. It's a fresh sample for your portfolio. Your skills don't atrophy. It is income. Hold the drama. Essentially, I give the same advice now. My signature mantra kicks in: Work gets you work. That job or contract assignment serves as a platform to hustle for som...

Sure, chat bots like ChatGPT make it easier for non-lawyers to file a lawsuit (pro se litigation). And recently, more have. Those filings have surged from 20,000 a year to 40,000 in federal courts. But, come on. Our fantasy life of how to get the bast**ds usually plays out in a bigger more glam more sexy context. We want the kind of legal representation that financial founder Leon Black has had and continues with. The brandname law firms have ranged from Paul, Weiss to today's Hogan Lovells. Bloomberg Law reports: "Hogan lawyers filed a lawsuit for Black Thursday morning, asking a judge to halt congressional demands that the former Apollo Global Management CEO provide documents and testimony as part of their investigation into Epstein ..." The case is "Black v House Oversight Committee, et al." Here is the complaint. Black, who walked out of the last House Oversight Committee meeting, is having none of it.  Maybe because he can afford the star-lawyer representa...

  The quest in business is to create a moat.  Essentially that's a competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate. It positions the business as the go-to. And that's the distinct edge Big Law firm Kirkland & Ellis has maintained. Have a high-stakes legal matter? You want K&E. The branding is that K&E always wins. In coaching former employees I heard over and over again that, even though they were relieved to be out of the New York office (Chicago wasn't as stressful), they respected how the firm manages to outfox the opposition. But moats need to be reinforced. Recently K&E did just that with investing $500 million for a proprietary AI platform. That will capture and store the total results-oriented genius of K&E case management. No longer will their lawyers have to start from scratch.  One seminal benefit will be to reduce the fee-for-service. FT reports that banks, which are major consumers of Big Law services, are demanding a piece of the cost...