TransformingYourCareerTransformingYourself

It was predictable - to use that current wealth-creation term - that some youth on Wall Street would be featured in Interview Magazine without their employers' permission. Essentially the four were positioned and packaged as lads about town. They were from Goldman Sachs, Barclays and PwC. Not at all the right image for buttoned-down institutions handling global funds.  What they might have sensed is that they no longer had to accept the hazing culture of Wall Street. That ranges from impossible hours to top-down authority. Now, you bet, there are options to making it big. One lad - Demarre Johnson - is already gone from PwC. Details not disclosed. But I have a hunch Johnson isn't skipping a beat in his journey to become wealthy. Things have changed a lot since David Solomon started out. Wall Street could be forced into oblivion. See, among the seductive emerging career options is the prediction markets or what's known as the "collective intelligence." Back when ...

The legal sector recalls the multiple guerrilla-like poaches of Kirkland & Ellis' UK talent by Paul, Weiss. The "value" of those quickly became evident as the latter gained prominence in that location. Although it had been operating in the UK since 2001, only recently did Paul, Weiss become a power player. The UK now is a major profit center for the US law firm. Well, Paul, Weiss did it again. In the Brit legal tabloid RollOnFriday competition for the law firm providing the best creature comforts for employees Paul, Weiss comes out: Tops. The satisfaction rate is 95%. Ahead of Kirkland & Ellis. This law firm receives a 94% rating. So delighted are staff at Paul, Weiss that wild praise is shared with media. One senior solicitor puts it this way: “It’s like working in the Ritz but without the high class hookers” Also citied was the amazing free cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I wonder if anyone stuffs their attache case or backpack with some of that to fee...

  Two from Astronomer were caught on camera kissing during a Coldplay concert. Both were married to someone else and it was a boss/subordinate situation. They were CEO Andy Byron and HR executive Kristin Cabot. Both stepped down last July.  Since then , Cabot shared on an Oprah podcast,  she has been unable to get another job. And she needs one. However, Byron had had promising activity on his own job search.  When there is a corporate scandal, is there still a double standard? We all know that at one time it was standard when an inappropriate romance was uncovered, the woman was the one to leave the job. The man stayed on, unless there were ethical considerations such as abuse of power or favoritism.  Could that still be the way it goes?  I'm not sure. In the Epstein files scandals both males and females have been punished severely. There will probably be no coming back for Larry Summers and Leon Black. The same could hold for Kathy Ruemmler and former Har...

 This could be the good times rolling before the perfect storm upends law firms, both large and Main Street.  The time frame US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts sketched out in his Rice University speech is four to five years. After that, things could be "tough" for young lawyers. AI can do many of the tasks they used to do. He adds that, of course, there will always be a place for the best and brightest. But in addition they will have to learn to be "nimble." Partners and judges will also have to change. AI can be leveraged to predict expected outcomes. That will put pressure on partners and judges perhaps to do what is forecasted to be the winning moves. Partners don't want to lose trials and ground in transactions. Judges don't want to have what they oversee appealed. Law firm players actually in the trenches, ranging from Brad Karp at Paul, Weiss and John Quinn at Quinn Emanuel, have been more specific on how much of the manpower at law firms co...

  There's the old joke about becoming partner at a law firm. It's like a pie-eating contest. That's how you get there. And winners get to eat more and more pie. Well, after taking part in the coup at Paul, Weiss which landed him the job of chair Scott Barshay gets piled on to his practice pressures leading a law firm in crisis.  That crisis has been going on for a year, ever since March 20th when the deal with the Trump administration was announced in order to lift an Executive Order. It was contended that the EO could have put the firm out of business. The terms and conditions involved pro bono assignments.  In Bloomberg Law , Roy Strom provides the details of that very bad year for Paul, Weiss. Those include: Reputational hits. Of the nine firms which cut deals with the administration Paul, Weiss was singled out for the worst of criticism. That's because it was the first in and seen as establishing the template for how the EO could be handled via pro bono assignments....

Puzzling that influential work network LinkedIn retains a slot in your profile for where you got your degree.  This is at a time when not getting a degree carries increasing social status. And social status, as Toby Stuart hammers in "Anointed," is what keeps opening doors to opportunity. Once society "anoints" you as worth chasing after, your prospects are golden. Back to no-degree. Well known is that OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman doesn't have a degree and that billionaire Peter Thiel pays you not to get one ( Thiel Fellowship ). Look at how far Jeffrey Epstein got without a degree and how he duped all those Ivy graduates, ranging from Larry Summers to Leon Botstein. The objective of the LinkedIn alma mater identity is probably so that you can loop in with other alumni for help in getting, holding and moving on to better work. But the reality is that those alumni might themselves have become powerless to aid. They have been unemployed. Knowledge workers are lo...

  Dow Jones Industrial Average INDEXDJX: .DJI 46,553.24 −440.02  (0.94%) today Mar 18, 12:41 PM EDT  •  Disclaimer UPDATE: Dow Jones Industrial Average Index Index: DJI Compare 46,389.44 USD ▼  -603.82 (-1.28%) today March 18, 3:06 PM EDT  ·  Market Open

In business, we learn the most from our clients. And clients have been telling me that they halted the pleasure of having a few drinks and maybe a bottle of good wine with dinner because of the cost. Not health reasons and not because they're aging, as The New York Times reports about what's primarily driving the collapse of restaurants. And the cost factor is confirmed in the comments to the Times article. One comment reads, that with drinks ordered: "A $50 dinner become $85" In a niche in which 60% of revenue comes from serving drinks, as people drink less that sector will face hard times. Predictably some restaurants will have to shut down. Some already had. Okay, Gallup documents that 54% of those surveyed indicate they do not consume alcohol. That still leaves a lot who could be enjoying drinks with a special meal out. Another okay, the health warnings. But forbidden fruit has never deterred the human species, dating way back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Ede...

  The New York Times , which leans liberal, details how teaching in higher education has become constrained by Trump administration policies. For example, professors have to think through the layers of interpretation and opinion they embed in the instruction. And, as some of the comments following the article hammer, maybe that's a good thing.  Anyone who has succeeded as a student in the educational system - or even survived - knows that there was always heavyweight ideology. Rarely pure presentation of material. Ironically that's confirmed in the article by former professor of the history of healthcare at Emory Dr. Kylie Smith. She laments that in this new era:  "There have been times in class where they have asked me hard questions, and I would normally get up on my soapbox ..." Getting up on a soapbox? That should never have been. But it was.  We students had to put up with it, actually feed that point of view back in blue-books exams and papers. A good grade fre...

Four years and seven months is a long time to be a junior lawyer in Big Law. Careers can start creeping toward the phenomenon of "aging out" in that  up-or-out system.  In coaching I have guided others who lasted longer in Big Law but eventually had to reset. For all, the experience was emotionally wrenching. Most created their own small law firm. Universally they regretted "hanging on" in hopes of partnership instead of "taking care of themselves" before they were overqualified for myriad other options.  Well, last July, litigation associate at Paul, Weiss Matteo Godi, after hitting that time situation, moved on to academia. As his LinkedIn profile details he is an assistant professor at the USC Gould School of Law. From my own experience in academia that career path can also be up-or-out. Lots of junior members are hired at elite institutions of higher education and lots disappear.  But even before the possible challenge of "aging out" Godi...

Fortune  documents: Ambition has been changing a lot. For example, what seems like it might be in decline - women like Maly Bernstein are accepting lesser titles - is really just going for bigger future payback.  But there have been other big swerves in career ambition which seem triggered by what had tumbled out from the Epstein files. An intuitive coach and tarot reader, I have observed 5, at least.   Self-forgiveness. Obviously, the competition doesn't happen on a level playing field. Those who already have access to the wealthy, powerful and influential keep gaining more and more access. That's their edge. In addition, they position and package their offspring to also pass smoothly through those gold-plated doors. Smirk, so much for the party line in America how far intelligence, hard work and, yes, a good education will get you.  So, you can let up on beating yourself up for not achieving more. Actually chip-on-his-shoulder late mayor of Providence, Rhode I...

My mother cried when she visited me in the firetrap where I was bunking in New York City. For me, a starter writer, it was heavenly austerity. I gloried in having to skip meals.  And, like so many creatives back then I did make it, at least according to the adjusted metrics for success for those in the arts. We got it that we would never be Wall Street material. That career held up for 40+ years. Then there was severe glut with a side dish of burnout. Then AI.  Currently, as a career coach, I dash the dreams of the youth (and talk straight to their parents) considering heading out to New York City to launch a career. Bloomberg seconded that today. It documented that in the past few years starter jobs had plunged 37%.  Meanwhile, there are fewer firetraps to bunk in. The average rent for a studio apartment is $3,630. Since surrounding areas have gentrified there really is nowhere to pursue a life of poverty-with-a-purpose.  The direction I recommend is to explore opp...

It was F. Scott Fitzgerald who nailed it. He observed that the rich are different from the rest of us ordinary strivers.  One way that they're different is that they are not bound to play in the middle class sandbox of correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. Evidence of that is presented by The Wall Street Journal in the communications of Jeffrey Epstein, Jack Dorsey and David Ellison. They float above giving a darn about what such errors could signal about them. But, as a coach I warn job searchers as well as those interested in marrying up that option isn't open to them. "Proper English" or the standardized rules continue to function as socioeconomic class markers. That ranges from how you will be perceived in a client-facing role to what his/her parents will think of you as a future in-law. During grade school and high school we oldest of the Boomers were being prepped for going to college and having a role in the coming economic expansion by having those commu...

  The oops no one even envisions in a nightmare. As FT reports and Reddit comments, elite law firm Simpson made the kind of mistake that could have serious reputational, new business development and malpractice consequences. Along with all that, lower-level lawyers such as associates or those operating as counsels could lose their jobs since they are those ones responsible for filings. Partners leave that task to them.  Essentially this is what happened. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett missed the deadline in an appeal. That was associated with the UK competition regulator decision to block a merger between Simpson client Aramark and UK catering group Entier. It was because of antitrust concerns. The appeal was filed one day late. Simpson contends that represented a misinterpretation of the rules. There was a refusal to extend the statutory time limit. Therefore, Aramark must unwind the merger. Aramark has indicated that it is thinking about other appeal options. Here is a copy...

 The meme I am hammering during intuitive coaching is this: Live below your income. That's even in retirement and semiretirement (that is, you're still bringing in income). Last year you may have taken a bucket list vacation. Next year you could be, as Rich Dad, Poor Dad predicts, homeless.   Right now futures are up. But that doesn't mean the market will be by its close tomorrow. Dow Futures 47,928.00 Fair Value 47,737.44 Change + 183.00   0.38%   Implied Open + 190.56 Be scared.

  It's become an evening habit, after-6: checking market futures. Right now (7:30 PM ET) here's what CNBC reports, with oil at $100 a barrel: " Futures  tied to the Dow fell 806 points, or 1.7%.  S&P 500 futures  and  Nasdaq 100 futures  each tumbled 1.5%." For us in BoomerVille that can mean our plans for enjoying life a bit have been undone.  In a more bullish time for our investments some of us have been considering lux experiences. At the top of my list is touring the locations in which great British literature and dramas had been composed and played. Yes, I would take my time. So what for the cost of inns and hotels.  We are able to move on, aren't we. Obviously I am over being bitter that my doctoral studies in literature and linguistics didn't result in a tenure-track academic job. After all, tenure itself has become as much an anachronism as a traditional career path. At the University of Akron, of the 70 professors laid off, some we...

  The subunit on Reddit for public relations jobs posts laments from both in-house and agency employees about the stress generated by superiors, clients including internal ones, journalists and even shareholders.  The classic example of that could be illustrated by what Goldman Sachs' spokesperson Tony Fratto has had embedded in his recent duties. At the top of the list was being out there often delivering the financial institution's stance on the ongoing employability of its top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler. Since it was all quite positive many of us took to decoding what the statements might be revealing. For example, there was speculation that whenever a corporation indicates a controversial employee has the full support of the board that support actually might already be souring.  Well, for now, Fratto is off the hook on the Ruemmler situation. As is well-known, she resigned. There is a distancing there.  Ruemmler is using the services of her own spokesperson Jennifer ...

  This time the axe falls on lawyers, not just professional staff. That's what's getting attention. The UK's Knights plc has been known for laying off service workers as redundant during mergers.  The story this time involves partners and senior associates, along with paralegals at the Leeds location. And the reason is different. As RollonFriday documents, the expected work didn't come in. However, CEO David Beech is jolly confident the work will eventually come in. Meanwhile those professionals were sent packing. When lawyers get caught in a layoff a tense feeling goes through the global legal sector. That's especially the situation during the intersection of so many economic and political factors. The situation is making for fear of a worldwide financial downturn.  This morning Dow futures are down. AI is such a wild card. In the US the job market news is disappointing. Worldwide gas prices surge. And the unpredictable Trump administration has about three more y...

  As every one of us oldest of the boomers on blood thinners (the new 80 is still 80 and the body starts to fall apart) knows: Today oil prices have soared and the Dow has plunged. The latter is down almost 700 points. But we grab joy where we can.  Yesterday I found out that insurance will take care of all but $1,000 out-of-pocket on a dental bill. Horrors. A front tooth, the specialist concluded, wouldn't hold up for a root canal. That mandates an extraction and that means some fancy replacement engineering.  Amid such jolts as the Iran war and climate change (polar vortex) in our golden years there are those snippets of tender mercies. At the Toledo Buddhist Temple I am learning the fundamentals of radical simplicity. We don't need much, do we. I recall when I "needed" one of those big old houses on the Gold Coast of Connecticut and a cottage at the Jersey shore.  But along with that there have been tender mercies. We grab positive happenings in whatever form the...