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Larry Summers Leon Black  Kathy Ruemmler. The feeling is almost universal: They got what they deserve.  In contrast, there's the great divide in the legal sector and more how humans feel about Brad Karp, superstar lawyer and former chair of elite Paul, Weiss.  Today, on Substack there's a conversation between two legal journalists Vivia Chen and David Lat about that binary situation. Like myself they have been obsessive in covering what the Epstein Files have disclosed about Karp's relationship with monster Jeffrey Epstein, the internal coup which stripped him of his chairmanship title and his current state of being. As so many know, there are those who are outraged that Karp, unlike Summers and Ruemmler, still has a job. Essentially they perceive that as a continuity of the abuse of power that the Epstein loopings were all about. If Karp didn't control about a nine-figure book of business, so goes the thinking, he would have been purged. Shame on Paul, Weiss for its m...

Here we are in the volatile and uncertain 2026. We wonder what - be it a dominant institution or powerful individual - will survive for the next 10, 20 or 30 years.  Back in the early 1980s some management consultants looked into that and became famous. Who in business doesn't know the name Tom Peters. They published their findings as the book "In Search of Excellence."  Among the companies which didn't make it was Wang Laboratories (it remained a closed system, sticking with stand-alone word processing as the world was moving toward PC). On a downward trajectory was IBM (which only recently regained its former aura). To duck that fate, the consultants mandated sticking to the knitting, staying close to the customer, being values-oriented and more. Well, more recently Chuck Klosterman has applied that age-old reality - nothing fails like success - to the NFL. In his provocative book "Football" he explains how the business will sour.  The drivers range from...

  Work has become one-dimensional. At least if you want to get in, stay in and maybe move on up. It's all about stardom, that is being an extraordinary performer.  Have doubts? Just take the direction of AI. Who's hired, whose kept on, who gets the stock options are those heavyhitters who can handle the strategy, oversee the bots and edit. BusinessInsider chronicles this development. It extends from tech to sales.   "Workers who are decent at their jobs — but not superstars — are facing a tougher slog in industries like tech, where employers have the upper hand, and AI threatens to automate their roles." It used to be, of course, that the world of work was binary. There were the stars and the good-enoughs. The former got to the top. The latter were able to survive if they didn't mess up politically. The dawn of the star paradigm was outlined by litigation star at elite Paul, Weiss Brad Karp back in 2021. In an interview with Bloomberg Law Karp hammered how the b...

  Some who have lost traction because of the Epstein Files have a next.  They will have to lay low, do good works and then orchestrate a credible reset. They are likable.  As Hedrick Smith hammered in his iconic book "The Power Game," likability is a force field. It allows power players to get significant things done, usually without a lot of heavy lifting. Among those with a future, despite Epstein fallout, probably include former US President Bill Clinton, former leader at law firm Paul, Weiss Brad Karp and Yale professor Dale Gelerneter who was a victim of the unabomber.  Others in this volatile economy, driven by technology, should pay attention to the Likability Score. During the depths of The Great Depression Dale Carnegie was saluted as a genius in human relations. He systematized the fundamentals of how to be liked. First in the courses he taught at the Y, then in his bestseller right up to current times "How to Win Friends and Influence People"  Carneg...

  Sure, the glory days of public relations are over. But brand equity still counts a lot. And the value of that should be eroding at Goldman Sachs, all-too-loyal to its top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler. Shareholders push-back , among other pressure points, has already triggered her stepping down. But she's been allowed a genteel exit. That includes staying on the job until June 30, 2026. There was also the gush by the institution's CEO David Solomon in the official announcement. But, now that nicely positioned and packaged soft landing should be blown up. Ruemmler should be sent packing now. And what about implications for compensation, including stock options? That is, if Goldman Sachs wants to remain credible to its constituents, especially shareholders. Today the stock price is down 13.22 (11:30 AM ET). The latest and perhaps most damning snippet from the Epstein Files is what was just made public: Ruemmler's handling of non-public information back in 2012. It was related to t...

 The Department of Justice announced all the Epstein Files had been released. Whether the public believed that or not was irrelevant. It signaled that the fallout from those disclosures had peaked and those in the loop could move on to reputational repair. And their next. At Goldman Sachs top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler, after announcing she was stepping down, is reported to have hired a crisis-management firm. Look to the future ... But the heat has been turned back up. And in a different way: The focus on the identified "miscreants" be considered for legal action. Moreover, the whole influence dynamic - who opens doors for whom - could be subjected to greater scrutiny. Was well-connected Ruemmler properly vetted before being hired by the finance giant?  The game-changer is th e arrest of former Prince Andrew for alleged wrongdoing while in public office. In my coaching the fear is damage to the brandname of the individual and the institution. Not legal action. Usually that issue ...

  But, will Congress save our monthly Social Security payment from a 20% cut in six years? Can anyone envision the profound financial suffering that would inflict? Dow Jones Industrial Average Index Index: DJI Compare 49,809.74 USD ▲  +276.55 (+0.56%) today February 18, 10:02 AM EST  ·  Market Open

  Blessed. Those of us born after WW II. That's how it was. The GI bill was the beginning of universal access to college. The post-war economic boom would be kicking off. Unlike our parents, many immigrants, we wouldn't have been broken in spirit by The Great Depression. Authority figures were socializing us in the graces of the middle class and above. Always use correct grammar. Make friends and influence people. Go to a WASPy church. Yesyesyes, we could become that era's analogue of a Larry Summers, Leon Black, Kathy Ruemmler and more.  Now, through the Epstein Files we have confirmed that maybe the values we were born into were the right way to live. Was all that scramble to become upper middle class so misguided? Actually, impossible? Now we also know what it's like. There is the highly educated leader who held big jobs. Larry Summers. He expected sexual favors in return for snippets of mentoring. He uses the crude expression of going "horizontal." So, tha...

  Once glam and dripping with creative cool, the advertising sector is crashing, documents The Wall Street Journal.  The 3,000 jobs lost last December had represented just the tip of the iceberg. Bigger signs of existential trouble are these: "The market capitalization of Ogilvy parent  WPP  ... has fallen from more than $30 billion in 2017 to less than $4 billion today ...  Publicis Groupe  saw its  shares fall sharply  in February after its outlook failed to dispel investor concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on its business." Amidst this implosion one model is proving effective. Unlike the ethos of the old-line ad agencies it celebrates being midwestern and is based there for cost-efficiency, doesn't aim for rapid growth positioning that as stability, is low-tech and has a close interface with clients. That's the Bark Firm, housed in Casper, Wyoming. Operating in the brand space since 2009, it's thriving.  Could that...

 Some of us anticipated that, unless Congress intervened, our Social Security monthly payment would be cut. Now, we're finding out this : That could happen in six years and the percentage of reduction could be 20%. So, if you're receiving about $2,000 a month, that could be cut by about $400. Therefore, those of us blessed with investments in equities are downright obsessed with the stock market. That could provide one of the few options to make ends meet. It is getting more difficult for the aging to land work, any kind.  At 1:10 AM ET futures are down: Dow Futures 49,392.00 Fair Value 49,566.42 Change - 177.00 0.36%  Implied Open - 174.42 Another option to supplement Social Security is to become a solopreneur. I have been doing just that since 1987. Four years ago, I reset the business for another line of work. That edge the over-65 have in entrepreneurship is that we receive Medicare. In my coaching I'm hearing that younger generations c...

 If the university were a close friend, you would start ducking it. That's because it doesn't stop putting the muscle on everyone, not just alumni and the wealthy, for money. My mother, a cleaning lady residing in a bad part of pre-gentrified Jersey City, New Jersey, would receive pleas for donations. As an adult, I put my alma mater on the do not contact list. I warned about legal action if any communications got through. That chase after money, as The New York Times documents, has gotten higher education's leaders, at all levels from president to professors to administrators in a dental school, in trouble. Emails disclose they sucked up to Jeffrey Epstein. That gush might have been authentic, that is an assumption they were buddies, or what the job requires, that is gladhanding with deep pockets. The elephant in the room is this: Why can't higher education become cost-efficient like public companies. It's heavy with administrative manpower. Provides money-losing ...

  Capitalism is conducting what The Wall Street Journal calls A  Grand Experiment. The top leadership job - that is, the CEO position - is experiencing churn. One in nine CEOs in public companies has been replaced. And who's taking their place are younger and less experienced players. Driving this are: " ... the swift rise of artificial intelligence, the unraveling of long-established trade practices and an unsettled economy and geopolitical order." Why put value on experience when everything is changing? The deciders are giving a new generation a crack at achieving growth in unprecedented times.  Other institutions might also get the message.  The comments to this WSJ article hammer that so many of the aging in public office should also be replaced. The noise is full of mandates for term limits.  Higher education is in shambles, ranging from a declining pool of applicants to the scramble for funding to the Epstein Files. Apollo CEO Mark Rowan is in the front ...

The big guns in AI are giving it straight off the shoulder about the impact of that technology on knowledge work. The CEO of AI at Microsoft Mustafa Suleyman , for example, anticipates catastrophe and at an accelerated pace: "So white-collar work, where you're sitting down at a computer, either being a lawyer or an accountant or a project manager or a marketing person — most of those tasks will be fully automated by an AI within the next 12 to 18 months." Iconic author of "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach" and professor at UC Berkeley Stuart Russell is equally pessimistic about a broad range of white collar tasks. He puts that at 80% unemployment:  "He suggested that sectors once considered safe — from driving and logistics to accounting, software engineering, and even medicine — are likely to be swept up in the coming wave of automation." Russell also projects surgeons will be wiped out by robots. CEOs aren't safe either. A world with...

  In professional services - public relations, management consulting, law, financial and more - we start out this way: We assume our fierce intelligence, knowledge base and honed talent will get us a prominent place in the sector.  Then we are hit with this: Lots depends on the kind of client service we provide. Part of that comes from high Emotional Intelligence. But an even bigger part results from a willingness to pitch in without complaint doing favors for those in the clients' orbits. For example, since I had made it into Harvard Law School I was asked by the client to guide his romantic partner in her applications to law schools. I knew not to balk. No, there was no extra compensation. Yes, I was too dependent on the client to bring that up. That's how the business operates.  Those who make it big learn to play that game especially well. Maybe they even look for opportunities to cross boundaries.  And that could be how top players in law, ranging from Kathy Rue...

  According to Brit legal tabloid RollonFriday survey Paul, Weiss has placed sixth among about 80 law firms as a great place to work. The metric is based on how management is assessed as energized and engaging with employees. The specific rating is 81% - that is the percentage of those who are "very satisfied." This determination reflects the former leadership of Brad Karp during the period the research had been done. Major competitor Kirkland & Ellis is 34th, with "very satisfied" at 65%. Brad, your style will be missed in the front lines.  Success is a mental game. Failure comes from being done in by the “committee” in your head. Together, we liberate your thinking. Then we change your story. And, unleash success. Meanwhile, we focus on bringing in income. That puts you in a position of strength. Intuitive Coaching. Special expertise with transitions, becoming a solopreneur and aging. Psychic/tarot readings, upon request. Complimentary consultation with J...

  Dow Jones Industrial Average Index Index: DJI Compare 49,639.03 USD ▲  +187.05 (+0.38%) today February 13, 1:43 PM EST  ·  Market Open Meanwhile, they say there are many with less than 1,000 bucks saved for retirement. A better way of framing that state of being is this: Never expect to stop chasing income. The oldest of the Boomers, I continue to build my business. Success is a mental game. Failure comes from being done in by the “committee” in your head. Together, we liberate your thinking. Then we change your story. And, unleash success. Meanwhile, we focus on bringing in income. That puts you in a position of strength. Intuitive Coaching. Special expertise with transitions, becoming a solopreneur and aging. Psychic/tarot readings, upon request. Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova (Text 203-468-8579,  janegenova374@gmail.com ). Yes, test out the chemistry. Zero risk. Don’t give up before the miracle.  

 In 2025, confidence in business plunged to 15%, down from 30% back in 1999. A column in Bloomberg puts it this way: "By characterizing their [Ruemmler/Epstein] relationship as strictly professional, Goldman sent the wrong message about what companies should consider appropriate behavior." Now, though, Ruemmler announced she will step down.  In terms of reputation, economist Larry Summers and Apollo co-founder Leon Black don't seem to have a shot at redemption and forgiveness. At Paul, Weiss chair Brad Karp ended his very successful era of leadership, contending his interactions with Epstein were a distraction. Again, business could be undergoing another era of reform. Remember Enron. Remember global financial crisis of 2007.  Values could be reshaped. Leadership will have to be Mr. and Ms. Clean.  Standards of transparency would be ramped up. What kind of vetting did Goldman do when it considered hiring Ruemmler? Maybe ordinary citizens should be put on boar...

  Well, it happened. Finally.  After so much attention to Kathy Ruemmler's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein (Uncle Jeffrey) an exit from the top-lawyer job at Goldman Sachs is announced.  So genteelly.  It's positioned and packaged as her decision to leave. As the days go on we'll probably learn more. No crisis-drama rush out the door. She'll be around until June 30th. Time to tie up loose ends and such. And gush from Goldman CEO David Solomon. The Wall Street Journal reports: “'Throughout her tenure, Kathy has been an extraordinary general counsel, and we are grateful for her contributions and sound advice on a wide range of consequential legal matters for the firm,' Solomon said." My, my, this is quite tidy. At ag 54, she should still have lots of career runway. But will the reputational damage be as severe as it has been for other Friends of Jeffrey such as Leon Black, Larry Summers and Casey Wasserman? During her career, before the Epstein Files, when...

With job and actual career loss becoming so standard, everything from identity to a sense of belonging goes kaput. The human tendency is to rush into modes of what is known as "status repair." Most are not only ineffective. They can also label you as stuck in the past, out of touch, even a nuisance. Therefore, not employable. The leap into repair usually is defensive. For example, there's an obsession in presenting who you used to be and how successful you were at all that. In the past. Often that narrative includes great detail. There was the crisis (boy was it in the news) that you and your team pulled all-nighters resolving. Obvious to listeners and to those who could hire you or guide you into another line of work is that you're defending yourself against the current professional nowhere abyss you're stuck in. Another defensive move is gushing how much happier you are now that you're out of that toxic situation. The current reality is that a job, no matter...

  Maybe the 1950s medium of television, by popularizing Westerns, did it to the American mind: Dividing life into the bad guys and the good guys. With some exceptions - like Tonto who assisted the Lone Ranger - the Native Americans were in the former category and the heroic cowboys and adventurous pioneers were in the latter. So, it's predictable the still-sticky global story of the Epstein files and the fallout have hardened into that simplification. Much of what's popping up online has entered such a divide. The specific subject is elite law firm Paul, Weiss. In that chatty force field are David Lat on Bloomberg Law , Ankush Khardori on Politico  and the many posters and responders on Reddit Big Law (one snippet). The reality is this: The culture of Paul, Weiss, as a result of the end of the Brad Karp leadership era, is accelerating its change. That's from a litigation-proud progressive firm to a more conservative one focused on transactional practices. But, ironically...

Ford, Lyft and Astera are among those having disappointing financial performance. For more details on earnings reports go to CNBC . But, here it is 8:30 PM ET and futures are up. I stopped asking my financial advisor for what's what. No one really knows, do they. Dow Futures 50,391.00 Fair Value 50,266.10 Change + 118.00   0.23%   Implied Open + 124.90 Success is a mental game. Failure comes from being done in by the “committee” in your head. Together, we liberate your thinking. Then we change your story. And, unleash success. Meanwhile, we focus on bringing in income. That puts you in a position of strength. Intuitive Coaching. Special expertise with transitions, becoming a solopreneur and aging. Psychic/tarot readings, upon request. Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova (Text 203-468-8579,  janegenova374@gmail.com ). Yes, test out the chemistry. Zero risk. Don’t give up before the miracle.

 My, my. Another nice opening for the Dow. Dow Jones Industrial Average Index Index: DJI Compare 50,342.24 USD ▲  +206.37 (+0.41%) today February 10, 9:31 AM EST  ·  Market Open But, so many Boomers still can't choose where we want to live. Okay, given the direction of the Dow, we're not going to be homeless - as "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" Robert Kiyosaki has been predicting for the Boomer generation. Still, the reality is that we have to cope building a life in a location that's not our first choice. Affordability is everything. When that collapses we might even have to pull up roots and relocate, maybe several times, to a no version of Paradise. In 2014, I "had" to leave the New York Metro area. Everything from car insurance to rent was getting scary. Also I had aged out of that market. Tucson, Arizona provided financial relief, along with a surge in business. Until it didn't. Ohio was where I then headed. Most parts remain the best deal in the nation fo...