TransformingYourCareerTransformingYourself

In traditional society, corruption has a bad rep. But, that could be the only way things can be done effectively and efficiently. Isn't it naive to attempt to eradicate it. The objective might be just to keep a lid on it. There's an old saying in New York City: As long as the rats stay in the basement and don't come upstairs in the restaurant to dine with the guests, consider that things are fine.  In "The Sopranos" Tony Soprano manages well. His operation achieves its results. The members, with an exception here and there, are loyal. His style provides useful lessons in leadership.  Likewise in the 2002 -2008 television series "The Shield," major character Vic Mackey is the one parachuted in for crimes that urgently need to be solved. Yes, he's a dirty cop. That includes profiting from the drug trade and other underground activities. As with Soprano's organization, Mackey's special group of detectives would take a bullet for him - literally....

The depth and extent of Jeffrey Epstein’s web of relationships – that’s The Wall Street Journal’s preoccupation these days. For a number of months, it has been outing the large number of outsized global personalities who had been invited in – or made it their business to get in. They range from former Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin to venture capitalist/kingmaker Peter Thiel. So, given this big picture about Epstein’s reach Leon Black seems like, well, a small-time player. Sure, he achieved billions in wealth and created billions for Apollo clients. There was respect for him in finance. He had a presence in the art world. He could bring together people so that they could get an edge through access. But, his orbit of influence and power was not quite that of various other Friends of Epstein. After all, billionaires have become a dime a dozen. Sure, that association probably brought professional and personal advantages for Black. Yet the fallout from it seems out of pro...

“In my opinion, Jasper is not a worthy long term investment. I wouldn't be surprised if the company went bankrupt within the next year. ” - By Justin Gluska, Goldpenquin, August 26, 2023 The Wall Street Journal reports today: “Jasper, a generative AI writing tool for writers and businesses, saw declining user growth for four consecutive months ended in July. The company, which raised $125 million last fall, conducted a round of layoffs in July and cut revenue projections for this year, people familiar with the matter said.” This back-down-to-earth phase of the potential mainstreaming of generative AI could be a pause before another big takeoff in usage. Or it could represent the reframing of the technology from “hey-look-at-this” to a “watch-but-don’t-bet-the-ranch,” ranging from funding to incorporating it in operations. This isn’t the first time some of us in communications have tried AI “assistants” and wondered if they were worth putting up with how they made us work ...

To survive a corporate job in this crazy economy you have to have down cold power. To do that you probably have to unlearn all those oughts from a more simple time or a sheltered background. For example, in school (gum in your hair) and the old neighborhood (you and your bike knocked into the street) you were socialized never to rat. Smirk. Where did I learn about power? I had been a research assistant for a senator, worked full-time and as a consultant for the Fortune 50, studied organizational theory and behavior at Case Western University and coached since 2008. Overall, the best insights about power come from coaching clients. The snitch doesn't wind up in the ditch What my clients observe both in pop culture and in gunnersville corporate is that knowing how to leverage being a narrowly defined rat can heal rifts, open doors to new networks, protect during layoffs and establish the reputation that you should be promoted.   On the TV series “The Shield” a cop loses her job,...

“Furniture brand Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams shut its doors suddenly on Saturday, after more than three decades of business … Other brands like United Furniture Industries and Klaussner’s have also shut down in recent months, as the entire furniture industry struggles to recover from slumping sales after the pandemic. ” LinkedIn News , August 29, 2023 We’re a mobile society. Anyone who has struggled to sell furniture before relocating knows that is a hard sell. If there are takers they want the sofa or dresser for peanuts. Because there is such as glut of that kind of merchandise it’s likely even charity won’t haul it away for free. After paying for the transportation and dumping we get it that at our new location it’s a bad investment to buy new furniture. Yes, hit the consignment/thrift shops/online selling platforms. The only hitch could be, if you don’t have a Pickup truck, you have to scout up help transporting all that. The employment insecure, among all generations, hav...

  “OpenAI … said it was launching a business version of ChatGPT as its artificial intelligence sensation grapples with declining usership …ChatGPT Enterprise will offer business customers a premium version of the bot, with ‘enterprise grade’ security and privacy enhancements … Yahoo Finance, August 29, 2023 Already influential players such as Carlyle and PwC have adopted the business app which operates on ChatGPT version 4.  The challenge, though, is: Will this attempt to provide reassurance about security/privacy catch on enough among businesses to halt the pause in buzz? Buzz is everything. Perception IS reality. And OpenAI is getting less and less buzzy. It is not impossible that this blockbuster technological development could deflate to a fad. Or, at least it could experience a delay in its going mainstream. That would be much like how the implementation of the metaverse fell off the cliff. It's not done but it is now buzzed as "futuristic." During both June a...

"Is consulting dead/dying ? At least it seems to be, due to the 2008-2022 QE era coming to an end. I have talked with colleagues across multiple consultancies and even many partners seem to be somewhat concerned ?  " - Posted on Fishbowl Consulting, August 27, 2023 Of course, the jury is out on that one, as it should be. The craziness of the 21st century shamed the experts who had been so smug about predictions and such busy bees with what must be done.  Eseentially, though, the postings and responses on Fishbowl Consulting lean into no resurrection of a golden age of consulting. Some of us alumni of the Fortune 100 vividly recall those consultants from brandname firms prancing around the corridors sniffing around about what strategies were an anachronisms and, therefore, what jobs would be cut. Now, more and more of that sizing up is being conducted in-house through internal resources. In general, here's the representative opinion that the management-consulting niche wil...

The process of “reassignment” is filled with questions for workers. That current human-resources policy entails employers’ claim that workers’ roles are no longer strategically needed. So, those employees are being transferred to a function that is. They may or may not have the background, experience and temperament to be a good fit for that role. The behind-the-scene techie could wind up in client-facing operations or even sales. The process is binary: Take that internal change or leave. The Wall Street Journal reports that Adobe, IBM and Salesforce are already among the players using reassignment or as some nickname it “Job Purgatory.” On the one hand, in this era of volatility and uncertainty reassignment makes perfect business sense. Strategies are in flux. It really is just-in-time management or seeing the future through the lens of what-if scenarios. Disney is reeling. Watchers sense the boomerang CEO Bob Iger didn’t anticipate the intensity of threat. Generative AI is...

Student job p/t © craigslist - Map data ©  OpenStreetMap google map  compensation:  Tbd employment type:  employee's choice job title:  Worker Looking for a sugar baby Healthy, fair complexion, <30, female Reply with pics No pros, pls Weekly or more depending on how we get along   Posted on Craigslist, Ohio, August 27, 2023, at noon This kind of work, despite all the warnings about its dangers on crime, fictional and real-life, shows. 

  The best analysis of why RTO has triggered extreme stress is posted by a PwC consultant on Fishbowl Consulting: I am not an introvert but this [extreme exhaustion] happened to me as well. It's the commute plus being surrounded by too many people and having to act certain way." Even simply doing short time on a client site can knock players off their game.  A boomer like myself and I were talking yesterday about the peak years in our careers when there was no WFH. Everything from investing in brandname clothes to, yes, "having to act certain way" had us daydreaming at our desks about retirement. However, then we could retire but didn't. That was because most of how we earned our income could be done remote. Only RTO would have forced us to retire.  Data or the gut for your careers and communications? Both of course. Complimentary consultation with intuitive coach, content-creator, and Tarot reader Jane Genova (text 202-468-8579,  janegenova374@gmail.com ).

  "Kirkland & Ellis advised Apollo (NYSE: APO) in connection with the sale of Broad Reach Power, a Houston-based company specialized in battery storage, to French multinational utility company ENGIE, by co-investment partners Apollo, EnCap, Yorktown Partners and Mercuria Energy." -  Posted on  Kirkland & Ellis website,  August 24, 2023 This was not a new client for Kirkland & Ellis. In November 2021 it had advised Apollo in acquiring a 50% stake in Broad Reach Power. For several years Apollo has been a major client for Paul Weiss.  As many watchers of the intensified competition between Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Weiss know, the latter recently raided the rival's London and Los Angeles offices. However, Kirkland & Ellis did not allow those optics to dominate for long. As  Law.com  reports it has been restocking its London Office.  This rapid move by Kirkland & Ellis goes back to the fundamental in reputation management: It's...

  "Have you considered taking your MBA off your resume?" -  Response posted on Reddit Career Guidance to unemployed professional who can't land a job, August 2023  In a job market that keeps mutating this suggestion might be on the money. Employers are unwilling to pay for higher education not related to how that work is to get done in the now. Also, overall, skills/experience win the day, not academic degrees. One more thing: There seems to be growing bias toward what is perceived as "overeducation." To accelerate your understanding of what to put out there in a job search a Tarot reading could be useful. That mystical process of conjuring up clarity, dating back to the 14th century, has been helping traditional professionals get with 2023 employment realities.  A key card in that has been The Tower. Its message is that the past has collapsed. The choice is: Stay stuck staring at the catastrophe or walk confidently away determined to build something new.  Until...

  Sad, isn't it. On professional and social networks former prominent players in their fields attempt to remain relevant. They post items such as joining this organization or that (but who wants to network with someone w/o current influence/power), taking a vacation (like who cares) or publishing a book (which winds up in Amazon rankings hell). The odds for positive branding could be lots better if, yes, they started in a new game.  For example, I coached a former big wig in healthcare communications. After retirement attention faded fast and soon enough freelance assignments dried up. What this professional did was enroll in a master's degree in public health. Now they are a consultant, well positioned enough to have enough business. That's just one example. There are plenty more among the wise.  Takeaway: Don't lose your confidence chasing after a former professional identity. Data or the gut for your careers and communications? Both of course. Complimentary consultat...

"Kirkland & Ellis advised Apollo (NYSE: APO) in connection with the sale of Broad Reach Power, a Houston-based company specialized in battery storage, to French multinational utility company ENGIE, by co-investment partners Apollo, EnCap, Yorktown Partners and Mercuria Energy." -  Posted on  Kirkland & Ellis website,  August 24, 2023 This was not a new client for Kirkland & Ellis. In November 2021 it had advised Apollo in acquiring a 50% stake in Broad Reach Power. For several years Apollo has been a major client for Paul Weiss.  As many watchers of the intensified competition between Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Weiss know, the latter recently raided the rival's London and Los Angeles offices. However, Kirkland & Ellis did not allow those optics to dominate for long. As  Law.com  reports it has been restocking its London Office.  This rapid move by Kirkland & Ellis goes back to the fundamental in reputation management: It's not wh...

“Don’t do consulting it’s dying industry” - Post on Fishbowl Consulting, August 2023, warning a new M.B.A. to veer away from starting career in management consulting. Could it really be happening: The glam job classification “management consulting” is a declining category of what’s in demand? Remember those days when we worked full-time in the Fortune 100 and consultants from McKinsey roamed the corridors … what power they had. We feared for our jobs. Boy, were we nervous when a McKinsey team member interviewed us. So here we are. It is agreed that there is a scary slowdown in that professional service. That is, management consulting. So many are on the bench – that is, without projects.  However, the optimists about its future note that the falloff in demand also has hit large prestigious law firms and pockets of the finance industry. Aren’t all of those cyclical! Stop the panic. They also point out that some such as Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Weiss are doing jolly fine in ...

  “Command and Control.” That’s the 21 st century post-pandemic way of talking about the leadership/management model for corporations. The most blatant sign of it is the rigid mandates about RTO. Insider documents that CEOs are insisting on this and, yes, will get away with it. Goldman Sachs, for example, insists on 5-days a week back in the office. It got it that those jobs are high-paying ones. How many will balk? When we boomers started our careers in the mid-20 th century the formal phrase for that style of leadership/management was the “military model.” Because it had been so successful winning the war to end all wars – WW II – business embraced it. There was no wiggle room in the rules. If you went over the boss’ head, you were fired. You better not be overheard badmouthing the organization. Blind loyalty was expected. Of course, you didn’t sue your employer. We trudged into the office every day early and stayed late. That kind of face time, often extreme, had been deman...

There you are, finding out that you have been selected for the Reduction-in-Force. Your mind might be racing: How did you get "chosen" to be laid off? After all ... Well, keep your speculation from blaming the folks in Human Resources. The Wall Street Journal , which outlines that selection process, hammers that HR is rarely in the loop for determining those who will be cut.  The decider is usually the head of the business unit, in conjunction with those on top.  That decision will be made on some or all of these factors: Skills. Which ones are needed now and which ones will play a part in achieving the business goals for the next three years.  Salaries. Of course a high one, no matter if it's for a high producer, puts a bullseye on the back of the worker. A new recruit with less experience can be brought in for much less.  Performance. That doesn't only pertain to what's in the performance review. It is also about the capacity to adapt to changes.  Strategy to...

  " Apollo Global Management was sued by an investor seeking information about $570 million in payments the private equity firm made to founders Leon Black, Josh Harris and Marc Rowan after Black’s ouster over his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein." -   Financial Times, August 23, 2023 The plaintiff is pension fund Anguilla Social Security Board. It wants documents explaining those payouts made to the three founders plus Scott Kleinman and James Zeiter. Those were arranged and approved by Perella Weinberg Partners as part of the restructuring after the Epstein fallout. As a result of the scandal Black stepped down as CEO. Later he also gave up the Chairman title. The plaintiff contends the arrangement contained conflicts and procedural unfairness. So, as CEO succeeding Black Rowan has been nicely distancing himself from Epstein Past that old issue has hit the headlines again.  Is the lesson in this for leaders: Your associations can put the whole organization in r...

  " I am almost 11 years out and still never feel secure. I'm not a rainmaker or anything, so I'm constantly worried about getting shitcanned. My perception, right or wrong, is that everyone will tell you everything is fine, until one day it suddenly isn't."  Fishbowl Big Law, August 2023 But even rainmakers and high billers aren't sitting pretty. If that track record gets halted or there is a power shift in the firm they too could be forced out. That's the dynamic of Big Law. Actually it's become typical of most businesses currently. More of my coaching clients are focused on job loss rather than chasing a promotion.  For exactly that reality wise lawyers in large law firms grow their networks in other facets of the legal profession. Sooner than later they could be getting the signal they are no longer assessed as creating enough value in the firm. Good thing they have made contacts in government, clients' businesses, politics and academia. That i...

   It's the brutal irony: Focusing one-dimensionally on getting another "good" job often prevents getting any offers. Even for a "not-good" job.  That's because of the simple reason that with all the hoops you have to jump through (such as submitting unpaid case studies and marketing plans) and all the rejections you lose your confidence. What those hiring see is someone who probably won't add value because they don't have the confidence to roll with what comes their way and to take risks. When a job-searcher comes for a Tarot reading too often they are in that pickle. The Magician card comes up. It has the message that within them is everything they need to create magic. That everything, I explain, is what will bring back their belief in themselves. Suggestions for that? Pick up a gig, any gig such as delivering food or walking dogs,  driving for a ride-hail service or working as a security guard. You can also launch a micro business such as selling...

  Overall, human beings don't like change, particularly during the period of uncertainty before they know what's what. So, it's predictable that they select scapegoats to assign blame for the unease. According to Financial Times journalist Robert Armstrong, that's the dynamic sticking to Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon. In  today's analysis in FT  Armstrong depicts Solomon as the designated target for what makes a broad range of constituents unhappy with that large bank. As we all know, there has been a media pile-on, ranging from The Wall Street Journal to New York Magazine. Oh, yes, the times are a-changing for Goldman Sachs. Over is its golden age when it had been  the  force field in traditional forms of finance. That influence and power have shifted to alternate investment management firms such as Apollo. Weekly in the news is glowing coverage what Apollo CEO Mark Rowan is up to.  A rising tide lifts all boats. Along with that gush, including in profes...

  The odds are that wheter you are an entry-lvel of a job-changer you will be hired at a lower salary than those already in the organization, documents The Wall Street Journal. Also, don't expect sign-on bonus. That's one more sign of the changing situation for workers now that, after the pandemic scramble for talent, management is firmly back in power. Professional anonymous networks for law firms note that it would be unusual if associates receive a mid-season bonus.  The haircut on compensation follows PIPs (Proposal to Improve Performance) becoming standard to reduce manpower legally and often without severance or unemployment compensation. Of course some PIPs are structured to save the job. But they are atypical. Being put on a PIP could be code for: Start the search for work somewhere else. There is also the push back to the office. Skadden law firm, for example, has mandated four times a week. Some leaders in Big Tech are becoming equally adamant about RTO. In this...