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Both on professional anonymous networks and during my coaching-practice sessions more and more the question is: Am I being forced out? Today that is a headline on professional anonymous network Reddit Big Law : Am I being pushed out? Responders point to the red flags. Yes, there could be indications that signal that you could be facing being pushed out. For example, you are being included in fewer high-profile projects, you have already thrown shade on yourself by missing deadlines, performance reviews have been lackluster and some in power have started treating you without respect.  However, there is also the real possibility that there are no signs. That can be a standard strategy to keep you working hard until you are called in by Human Resources and terminated. A classic example is that you are sensing something is "wrong." You ask your superiors. Some might provide useful feedback that you leverage to turn around the situation. However, they might assure you that things

    "The last boomer competition is not just about how long you live. It is also about how you die." -  Michael Kinsley,  "Old Age: A Beginner's Guide,"  Published by Crown, 2016. As a tarot reader, of course, I channel into those energies which cluster around the mystical end-of-life dynamics.  The oldest of boomers is 78. Since they made it "that far" they tend to experience a sense of triumph that they are still here and many peers aren't. Part of that smugness is the assumption that they will be also blessed with an easy transition from this dimension to the whatever.  Sure, there is the very human denial of death. But mixed into that is the need to know a bit more about when the passage will take place and how. So here we are: It's the seminal tarot reading between me and the boomer.  Ethically I have to handle that probing very carefully. It is downright wrongwrongwrong to share insights, if not asked.  When asked, you bet, I also must be

  The proposed gender discrimination class action "Tolton, et al. v Jones Day" was hailed as what could break open Jones Day's black box. The media coverage was heavy and continuous. Then that went poof, based on the agreement by both sides.  Now, watchers of Jones Day have a real shot at looking at how Jones Day really operates. The high-profile father-rights in parental leave lawsuit - "Savignac, et al. v Jones Day" has been allowed to go to trial. It was filed in 2019. In breaking news - yes, it's that big -  Bloomberg Law  announces: "Married lawyers [Marc Savignac and Julia Sheketoff] suing former employer Jones Day will get a trial on claims that the firm’s parental leave policy for newborns discriminates against biological fathers and that they faced retaliation for complaining about it." What has triggered so much attention along the way to this victory is that the couple  1) Are media savvy  2) Are representing themselves  3) Had been form

  The latest law firm to begin practcing law in London is China-based Yingke. With a lot of hoopla it opened its London office. That's part of its master plan to expand beyond China with 100 more international locations by 2026. Currently Yingke is the largest law firm in the world in terms of lawyer head count. Right now that totals 16,205. Yingke is entering a war zone of competition.  Long there have been the Magic Circle firms such as Clifford Chance and Linklaters. There are also the US firms which have been there since the 1970s such as Cleary Gottlieb. Then there are those which have entered a bit later such as Kirkland & Ellis and Jones Day.  The most recent to set up shop has been Paul Weiss with its focus on leveraging client bases in Europe. Paul Weiss' own kind of hoopla was created through its two raids on Kirkland & Ellis' star talent. Meanwhile, well known is how hard the associates must work in London. Financial Times documents: "Associates

There had been that anecdote floating around: Genius about media Roger Ailes (forget his personal flaws for now) told staff at Fox that the business was not about getting awards. It was about the actual number of eyeballs that juiced the stats to pitch to potential advertisers and to hold on to the regulars. In my own startups, sure awards came my way. But unless they required no heavy lifting I ignored most of the opportuities to apply for them. Usually the process entails hours and hours of presenting data and creating persuasive writeups. Instead I pitched 1) Results I had recently delivered and 2) Strategies for obtaining the same results for the prospective client or increasing business with a current one. As Business.com reports, yes, awards can be a multi-dimensional tool for branding, client/customer loyalty and actual sales. But, is their power as strong as it had been in a less complicated era in business?  Does a large financial firm just sued by the Department of Justice c

"In the last year alone several trends have pointed to the rapidly fading relevance of the Ivy League-plus coterie of higher education institutions." -  The Hill, September 2024 Those trends are already well-known to those focused on whether or not to invest in matriculating for an academic degree, especially at one of the Ivies such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford. At the top of the list is the reality of the disappointing Return on Investment from those degrees at all levels - undergraduate, graduate and professional.  Even before the current severe White Collar Recession, media ranging from The Wall Street Journal to Slate published detailed exposes on how the cost of the degree, specifically from elite universities, didn't correlate with the ability to land well-paying jobs. Or, any jobs. Underemployment, that is working at something not requiring a formal academic degree, had been growing. More recently media outlets such as The New York Times presented the dismal

  Unlike the media or what academia is supposed to be about, work is not the venue for free speech - or even the flow of ideas. That's what has always been the reality. However, the anything-goes conversational patterns unleashed by digital communications have created the illusion that employees can shoot from the lip.  The Wall Street Journal exposes the perils of candid sharing about work on Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat and more. Not only do employers have access to that. They can identify the poster. Of course, that can bite employees in the rear. In highly regulated industries such as finance, what is shared can be against regulations and can get you fired. The WSJ presents those posting risks well. But at the end of the article is this strange advice: "'The safest way to complain about work is live and in person,' says Rita J. King, founder of workplace consulting firm Power Pairs. 'Anything that you say in a digital format could easily come back to bi

Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse in 1928. Over the years that lovable, whimsical and wholesome character became the platform for the Disney brand, including the theme parks. Unlike other entertainment trends, the Mickey Mouse one obviously has held on a long time. Maybe too long.  Yahoo Finance covers the current slow down at the Disney theme parks. The analysts on Wall Street are sorting out if this is a temporary situation, triggered by the price hikes at the parks, inflation and consumer fear of a recession. Or, is it a red flag that Disney should return to the drawing board and come up with another blockbuster concept for a lovable, whimsical and wholesome brand presence. Along with that, reset the theme park aura.  Like football star Travis Kelce, Mickey Mouse might need to retire.  The lesson here, as I point out in coaching, is having the self-awareness to pull the plug on a career path before you need to. That is, go out on top. And that requires the optimism and confidence t

  The magic is gone from Travis Kelce's game. As the chatter goes: One off performance can be just a bad day. Two should create a red flad. Three, and the gossip contains so many of the issues we career coaches deal with daily. At the top of the list is the question of when is it time to transition from a long-term career path to something else. Or maybe nothing else, that is, retire. Daily Mail reports: "NFL analysts and fans are adamant  Travis Kelce  is hurtling towards retirement after his latest performance continued the worst form of his NFL career."  Of course, Kelce has lots of other things he's monetizing. However, he says with passion that football gives him purpose. The pain of walking off the field could be profound.  Another central issue is how to keep your eye on the ball, overcoming the distractions. For Kelce they could be a high-profile personal life, fame and perhaps the fear of aging and wondering if it shows in his game. To those I coach I give

  It might have happened quicker - Leon Black's current reputation restoration - had he not kept headlines going about his personal life in the lawsuits he had filed. But the beginning of a comeback did happen. Media centers are covering Black as they would any other successful big-time financial player.  However, Black hasn't halted his involvement with unleashing and sticking with the litigation. Right now the law is on his side. New York County Supreme Court Justice David Cohen ruled that Black's lawsuit against the Wigdor law firm and the former lover who had sued him for sexual misconduct and more - Guzel Ganieva - contending malicious prosecution is a-go.  Reuters Legal reports:  " ...  Black can move ahead with his lawsuit against the Wigdor law firm and its ex-client Guzel Ganieva over their failed case accusing the Apollo Global Management co-founder of defamation and rape ..." Black claims Wigdor knew that Ganieva's accusations of rape were not true

CNBC refers to travel as a luxury expense. And, of course, it has become just that. Boomers might recall the days of touring Europe on five-dollars-a-day and hitching across the US with a backpack.  Right now, travel, even those weekend trips (unless you camp), can be budget-challenging. About 10 years ago Motel 6 would bunk you and the dog for about $50 a night. Currently that can be closer to $90 in a growing number of metro areas, unless there is pre-booking through a service such as Expedia. That's why I, in my coaching, counsel those worried about the nut needed to retire to map out a life that can be experienced in their own backyard. Then they won't need the nosebleed figures projected to be able to retire and not outlive their money.  Therefore, it could be a budgeting mistake to relocate in retirement to a geographic area in which there is "nothing to do" and travel is a necessary "emotional escape." Large cities such as Witchita, Kansas and Toledo

  Bad news is the kind that grabs page views. So, establishment media and those on social networks are making merry focusing on all the reasons it is harder to land a job. Those range from the sheer volume of applicants to the longer time (around 44 days) it takes for employers to actually hire.  Such coverage usually wraps up this way: Given those factors, don't take all the ghosting/rejections personally.  That perspective is unhelpful, even dangerous. Unless you can live off other sources of income, a job search is quite personal. Having paid work is necessary to pay the bills.  In my coaching, those who are most successful in getting, holding and moving on to better work are those who ignore all those macro factors. Instead they take it very personally that they need a job or contract assignment. The overall strategy is to grab work, any kind. The cliche is really true: Nothing gets you a job like having a job. From that platform - being employed - you can migrate to other oppo

It is a Friday. The usual day to let loose. A man becomes intoxicated, threatened his girlfriend, plus a neighbor. People in this nervous era advise the latter two to "call the police." And that they did. The residential complex bulks up with not only a mass of cop cars but a fully staffed SWAT team. Just as in the movies there is a bullhorn plea for the man to come out of the apartment. The woman had already left and is sitting on the sidelines, with the neighbor. Then comes pepper spray. That does it. Several police lead the incapacitated (and not just from booze) down the steps and into a squad car. We are all coughing for hours. The property manager tends after our well-being. A police officer gives me a bottle of water.  The next day the girlfriend tells us that her boyfriend, now her ex, has been billed $20k for the intervention. She also tells us that she has been informed that she will have to move. Renting in Arizona is at-will. Takeaway: Even in this sleepy town 90

There is a pile-on of assessments of best places to retire, based on metrics ranging from affordability to weather to access to healthcare. But, as more, especially the semiretired, are finding out those are way too generic to be trusted guides. So, becoming common is the Goldilocks Approach. You try this and this is too whatever. You admit it and then try that and that is not enough whatever. If you are fortunate and learn from those experiences you will settle in finally and begin building the new phase of your life. What's critical to some may not be for others. For example, northeastern Ohio offers a lot: Low cost of living, Lake Erie with its free beaches and free parking, accessibility to the East Coast and because of climate change, relatively moderate weather. But given the close-knit social systems, a number of my clients just couldn't make friends. They exited for the more fluid society of the western US. Along the way what makes the experimentation more difficult tha

  Junior lawyers, management consultants, content-creators, software developers and those in a growing number of other sectors wonder: Is the Amazon shift from hybrid to five-days-a-week in the office a sign of what is to come?  This is a central issue that those coming for a tarot reading ask about. Overall, there has been an abrupt change from wanting to focus on relationship matters to what it will take to hold onto a job - or get hired. Meanwhile, on professional anonymous network  Fishbowl Consulting  there's this posting: "How likely is it that most firms force a return to office 5 days a week in 2025? Terrified of this" I don't predict the future. But in channeling into the energy (and connecting the dots on trend reports) I pick up that, given the return to employer power post-pandemic, total RTO is in the cards.  LinkedIn  reports: "Nearly 80% of CEOs believe their hybrid employees will be back in the office full-time by 2027, according to  a new survey

If you had a dog and traveled a lot Motel 6 became, as the cliche goes, "your home away from home." The price itself was affordable. It also welcomed pets and that was without an add-on fee. Predictable was a clean room with everything you needed if you didn't require luxury. It was worth driving the extra miles to find one of its 1,500 locations.  That was then. More recently on my cross-country travels, I opted for bunking with the competition. No longer was it the most affordable motel chain. Back in 2014, during my journey from New York to Arizona, a room ran about 50 bucks. Last April in my trip from Ohio back to Arizona that was closer to a 100.  There have been better deals around among competitors. Yes, you might have to request the senior discount but it is usually there. In our pet-loving nation the hospitability industry got it that smart marketing mandated making provisions for four-legged children. No worries about Fido. In addition, the competition added per

In the tarot The Lovers card sends the message of danger. On the left, for example, is the snake. In addition there is the existential problem that humans are separate beings. There will always be points of disconnect.  Simultaneously, though, there are the many symbols for the things that make us feel very good. Look at the signs of growth and abundance. And all too often, as in the alleged situation New York Magazine political reporter Olivia Nuzzi, feeling seems to dominate. Go for it. NPR  reports: "The magazine  said in a statement Thursday  that Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi had violated its standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures by engaging in a relationship with a “former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign” while reporting on the election." The speculation is this: Crossing of the line happened with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  The comedies of William Shakespeare feature how love is blind. As such, it gets the myopic into many ridiculous contexts.

  At or hovering near 42,000 the Dow stirs up good feelings for Kamala Harris who represents the current administration. That is, she can contend it was her leadership in the White House that engineered the makings of this surge. Some label this development an "election gift. But there is more. MarketWatch documents: "The U.S. stock market is one of the best predictors of whether the incumbent party will win a presidential election." If this upward trajectory can be maintained the Harris-Walz ticket wins. Of course, a rising tide lifts all boats. Big time careers can get bigger, at least in branding, influence and power, with a Harris administration. Had Hillary Clinton won in 2016, there was speculation that her former press secretary earlier in her career - now Paul Weiss law partner Karen Dunn - would become the head lawyer in the White House. Since Dunn had coached Harris so spendidly for the ABC debate she might do what Donald Trump election legal advisor Jones Day

  According to 2023 data , 49.4% "partners" at law firms are non-equity. That's up from 40% in 2013. 85 of the largest 100 law firms by revenue use this classification.Most recently Cravath, Paul Weiss and Wilmer Cutler have adopted the model.  During 2023 itself the number of non-equity partners had increased 5.3% and the number of equity partners had declined. Obviously the smaller the pool of equity partners the larger the Profit Per Equity Partner for those who are actual shareholders.  "Partner" is put in quotation marks because those lawyers in that tier are not partners in the sense of being an owner. That and more have made the non-equity status the subject of three lawsuits this year. The most high-profile is the class action requesting a jury trial "Garland v. Duane Morris." Here is a copy of the complaint.  And here is an analysis by Bloomberg Law. The plaintiffs allege a "massive tax fraud."  That is, law firms, they contend, are

In the intensely competitive (and increasingly downsizing) field of professional services students seem to be frantically looking to get an edge, any edge. Of course they have heard about the importance of networking.  So, no surprise on professional anonymous network Fishbowl Big Law,  a successful lawyer poses the question: With so many law students reaching out for networking touch points such as coffee chats how much obligation is there to respond? That's part of the issue. How much do those who have made it have to pay forward? The other part, which ambitious but inexperienced in the world of business students might not realize, is this: Approaching networking wrong can be counterproductive. In the process, at the very least, they could be traumatized by a harsh reception. More seriously, they can find shade thrown on their emerging brand. People talk - a lot.  The reality is that networking is a complex process of white-collar horse trading. Sometimes that goes by the term &q

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  As digital dried up traditional opportunities and reduced compensation for myriad categories of content-providers at the beginning of the 21st century some of us lamented: We should have majored in IT. The worst part was being told, "You're a dime a dozen."   Well, as The Wall Street Journal details, myriad categories of tech workers currently are in the same pickle content-creators had been in - and still are. For example, Indeed documents that since February 2020, job listings for tech workers are down 30%. So far this year tech companies have laid off 135,000. All this is analyzed as not a periodic downturn but a massive reset. Part of that reset is shifting the focus to the large langauge models that power products. Tech workers with those skills, unlike those from the pre- Gen AI era, are in demand. They can earn per year a million bucks.  In contrast, even senior associates at a prestigous law firm such as Skadden, Paul Weiss or Latham might only be pulling down h

" ... getting a PhD makes it more difficult to get a job in the industry, because you dedicated so much time in academia and you are not seen as industry-focused. Nevermind how they believe you're overqualified so they assume you demand a higher pay, or that you "lost" the time you could spend on industry experience in a PhD." -  Reddit Career Guidance , September 2024 The same is playing out with, for example, the MBA. Once the ticket for opening doors and moving-on-up, it can be a liability in a job search. You are classified as "too expensive" and maybe too full of your own academic-derived notions about how things should get done.  Currently, as the Financial Times documents today, the market for knowledge workers, with the exception of health and AI slots, is brutal: " ... hiring is stalling across professional sectors from finance to tech to administration, leaving white-collar workers facing much stiffer competition than some have become u

Even before the pandemic remote work had been catching on, at least in progressive organizations such as tech, the freelance economy and a distributed global workforce.  Currently, though, it's increasingly under attack. Amazon, in its announcement of a full-time in-the-office arrangement beginning next year, could be it is feared giving "permission" to other businesses to also adopt that policy. For a while now there has been speculation that many professional services firms - management consulting, law, public relations and finance - have been waiting for bigger, more powerful businesses to make the move. In response to Amazon's shift its employees are speculating on the internal Slack platform and in social networks such as Reddit about what the hell this is really about.  Some size up the initiative as a masked layoff device. Talent could quit rather than cave to the mandate. In this era of cost-efficiency that saves the corporation mega bucks in severance. Too ma

Recently, among 68 million knowledge workers, only 1.3% percent received a promotion , the lowest number in five years. Personal anonymous networks Glassdoor, Reddit and Fishbowl chronicle the disappointment and frustration.  One reason is the uncertainy. It is difficult to figure out where the economy is going. That difficulty is enhanced during a general election year.  This is also the era of cost-efficiency. Bumping up an employee to manager or team leader means paying out added compensation.  Meanwhile high interest rates have been making the cost of business more expensive.  Overall, after the pandemic shift of power to the worker, the employer has regained much of that in white collar sectors. Pandemic over-hiring has created a glut of talent in organizations. The focus is on reduction of a lot of that, not motivating hanging around through promotions.  However, in the distressed consulting business, there is a notice that there will be promotions. The wrinkle on that is that t

  The work world will pound you hard. So much of it is political. There are promotions you sacrifice so hard for and somone else gets them. Recessions and changes in organizational strategy - and you are out on the street. No we were not special.  That's something those re-engineering the national ethos after the big war never told us baby boomers. The bill of goods the "they" sold us was to go to college, obey the rules, love America and for females, don't get pregnant before marriage. And all will be well. Mickey Mouse guaranteed that.  Sure, we bought in, for maybe a decade. Maybe a bit longer. And, sure, during the post-war boom there was plenty of opportunity. But, shocker, we really did start daydreaming about, yes, retiring. But too many of us didn't. And that's why Peter Coy brings up the subject in The New York Times that younger generations resent us for supposedly clogging up the paths to upward mobility in organizations.  Me? Over-75 and onto my t

"Anyone else get bad anxiety when they are slow?" -  Fishbowl, September 16, 2024  Whether you're a law-firm associate, a car salesperson or an intuitive coach like myself, slow knocks us for a loop. Confidence plummets. There are all those escape fantasies about hopping on another career path. And we compulsively compare ourselves to colleagues who seemingly are quite busy. The worst part, though, is the assumption that we shouldn't feel that way. America is the nation demanding perfection. That includes how we perceive ourselves. And that perception is that we be totally self-assured, resilient and problem-solving all the time. Slow? The expectation is that we will do something about that and fast. During this typical general election year filled with uncertainty most of my clients are experiencing a pause in their business. Of course, they are uneasy. The ones practiced in how to navigate this kind of ordeal develop other sources of income and satisfaction. No, it

" Donald Trump  was the target of a second apparent assassination attempt Sunday when Secret Service agents opened fire on a gunman at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Fla., where the former president was golfing just a few holes away." -  The Wall Street Journal , September 15, 2024 The former president is safe.  The alleged potential shooter - Ryan Wesley Routh - initially fled but was arrested soon afterward. He faces criminal charges. At this time it is unknown if he took any shots. Of course, this development has unleashed condemnation of what seems to be political violence. Also, there will be scrutiny how Routh came to possess a military-type weapon. Since he had video recording equipment there could be an outcry about how easy it is for violence to catapult a miscreant into stardom.  But there is also the very immediate issue of how this could could affect the Harris-Walz positioning in what is turning out to be a volatile and tough campaign. It is not insensitive to

  Two days ago, a poster on Fishbowl Big Law noted that Milbank paid its summer bonus ahead of time. Implicitly that posting is a statement about the reality that no other law firm has matched Milbank, at least not yet. A sign of such a long delay is that there are fewer mentions of that bonus on professional anonymous networks. So, it's overdue to look under the hood on this lack of a match or, remember the old days, a topper.  One thing we might find is the play out of Kirklandization. As many know so well, Kirkand & Ellis is the most successful law firm in the world.  No fools, as competition keeps ramping up globally for getting and holding both business and star talent, more law firms are embracing the Kirkland & Ellis model. And pulling away from lockstep. Without lockstep firms can ignore what supposed market-makers do. Milbank is increasingly classifed as an outlier. Part of Kirklandization has been to establish the non-equity partner tier. Recently Paul Weiss and W