TransformingYourCareerTransformingYourself

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Bill Gates has been a long-term user/abuser of reputation rehab. The Wall Street Journal article about that notes: "Employees around Gates have spent years carefully cultivating his portrayal to set him apart from his combative years fighting antitrust charges while leading Microsoft, according to internal documents and Gates employees." More recently there's the detailed campaign to reposition Gates back as the noble presence first in tech, then in philanthropy he once was before divorce and the Epstein files fallout. Read all about it in the WSJ. Stomach turning, isn't it.  But, there's more. Obviously, it hasn't been effective. The Gates brand continues to collapse. Individuals such as Warren Buffett and entities such as institutions in India have distanced themselves. And Gates gets it. He himself had decided to not attend Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting. Previously he had been a regular. The same lack of results from message managing is happening...

  It's already operational. A 375-lawyer firm in Ohio has created an AI twin for some of the partners. On Reuters Legal , Sara Randazzo reports. "Working with an AI-focused research lab at Stanford Law School, Vorys has developed  'AI personas' of ​ 19 of its partners, which can be embedded within generative AI tools to offer responses to questions and edit documents in the style of individual partners." As I interpret this, the twin platform for each partner would essentially include: The unique kind of critical thinking, that is the strategic approaches Stylistics in everything from arguments to language Comprehensive examples of work products  Access to legal fundamental such as statutes. So, how could the twin be of use in-house?  In many ways.  For instance, a second-year assigned by a particular partner to a M&A deal can access the twin to carry out the tasks exactly as would the partner. But, without requiring the usual amount of partner time. Ideally...

  The challenge posted all over the internet used to be: How to work for a younger boss. Whether that's full-time or on a contract basis.  Smirk. That became standard and we all got to know the drill. In 2013, my client and the administrative assistant were 30-something. Only once did I make the mistake of referring to a 1950s popular television show. Now the reality setting in is how to be hired when the gatekeepers are in their early 20s. Yes, they are the ones doing the interviews. Even the 35ish can, as the Reddit headline reads, feel like a dino. And, of course, wind up not being let in. Here's a snippet from that post: "The actual interview was conducted by two guys who could not have been older than twenty-three. One of them spent the first five minutes explaining their 'vibe check' process while leaning back in a bean bag chair." (For some reason the Reddit moderator has removed the post.) Sure, not all the promising work situations are startups or AI...

In Today's Opinion section of The New York Times  Matthew Wollin has lots negative to say about the power and politics of large law firms.  The usual word count for such op-eds ranges 1,200 to 1,800. His stretches to 2,230. Obviously his five years as a lawyer at WilmerHale didn't train him to be concise. It might, though, have entitled him to more than the typical space to present a point of view. Wollin is now a writer and filmmaker. But, and this is cute, he leverages the prestige of his former line of work to attack the prestige and more of Big Law.  However, more to the point.  Those I speak with about this oped wonder: How skilled was he as a lawyer if in this lengthy piece his arguments come across as absolutist, simplistic, reductive and even contradictory. For instance. he confuses the role of representing clients - even the very wealthy - with a capitulation to their particular values. Being entitled to the best defense - and Big Law is known for delivering...

  The laments by the jobless on tech anonymous professional network Blind, as well as more general platforms such as Reddit, might shift to this: advice on the exploding opportunities at smaller companies. BusinessInsider captures that disruption in this one sentence: "Smaller companies can often offer employees more ownership, faster decision-making and promotions , and the chance to work directly on cutting-edge AI products."  In this situation BI is referring to AI Swedish startup Lovable . It employs 149. Yet, it will be hiring 400 in the near future.  In contrast Google employs almost 191,000 and Meta about 79,000. But both, as with much of Big Tech, have become corridors of pain. Yes, all the layoffs, with those jobs probably not coming back.  The same employment pull force toward smaller is happening in the broader employment market. Financial media CNBC  documents:  "In an increasingly challenging labor market , small businesses may offer newly min...

  What constitutes "verbal abuse" as well as "bullying?" It's reported that apparently BP chairman Alpert Manifold met the criteria. Those alleged behaviors, along with alleged mishandling of confidential information, are cited as what triggered his abrupt dismissal. Could this open the door for "victims" of such treatment throughout business, including the tense corridors of professional services, to lobby the leadership to also take action?  Large law firms, from what I hear as an intuitive coach/tarot reader, are notorious for those with power indulging in yelling, throwing objects and blackballing subordinates. However, unless that crosses the line to various interpretations of sexual misconduct, no one jaw-jaws to authority. The fear is too great for being shut out of a system which can withhold the assignments which result in billable hours. Without enough of those there is no carrot (bonuses) and soon enough the stick (termination). Usually I ...

 A big part of the euphoria over Work From Home (WFH) was being liberated from the in-person social aspects of the office. You know, how everyone watches each other, the fear about the poison in the grapevines and the oversharing by colleagues. Yes, the office pests. So, the outcry in BusinessInsider about how getting tasks done with AI tools is reducing that human interaction might represent the opinions of outliers. The rhetoric reads: " AI  is unraveling the social fabric of work." Essentially that fabric had been woven by necessity through the technology of the Industrial Revolution. Labor moved to the factories where the machines were. And out of the home where craftspeople had operated for centuries in isolation.  COVID brought back the opportunity to again earn a living at home. Those I coached were unhinged by Return to the Office (RTO). For one thing, they experienced a falloff in creativity and productivity. After all, back again were all those interruptions b...

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  Influential Law Fuel  confirms what Reddit legal sector posters have been complaining about: First-year salary has been frozen at $225K, with no signals that an increase is on the way. Milbank introduced what was that magic number in 2023. The current major beef is how inflation is reducing what $225k can buy and how much loan debt it can pay off quickly. The last two salary jumps - to $215k and the $225k - essentially resulted from peak periods in transactional law practices. There was fear that without a juicy enough carrot associates would leave, the work undone. Smirk. There was even bravado speculative talk about why not form unions. Obviously, juniors had power.  With AI tools proliferating to do grunt and even more complex tasks gone is so much of that partner angst. Any residue about holding on, at least for now, to the help can be handled with bonuses.  Bonuses represent discretionary payments, not fixed items on the balance sheet. The talent war is restr...

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  Confirmed by what was disclosed in the Epstein files is how much Big Law operates through elite networks. Or, it did. Referrals came through relationships. And that we can size up as one probable reason Kathy Ruemmler got so chummy with the "connector" Jeffrey Epstein when she was a partner at Latham. However, that reliance on relationship-building could be lessening.  In the UK, a survey by the influential legal tabloid RollonFriday found out this: The number-one reason in-house selects a law firm to represent it and will continue to use that service provider is the quality of the answer to a very specific legal question.  As RollonFriday reports that's what differentiates firms. That is, how tailored the response is to the legal matter. No generics. No trotting out the same-old templates. No relying on ChatGPT.  For that, in-house is willing to ignore the web of relationships formed with law firms. It will go with the supplier known to come up with fresh persp...

The retired don't need a survey like the recent one from Schroders  to have confirmed that their financial situation is getting scary. Inflation, medical expenses and fear of a stock market crash have pushed them into fearing they will outlive their money. Only 4% experience being retired as living the dream. Meanwhile, the worried fret there is no "second chance" for shoring up their financial situation. If that is how you feel you might be caught in a doom loop. But, no, you don't have to tumble into that abyss.  There are second chances.  A number of retirees have come to me for coaching about how to re-enter the labor market. Those willing to dumb down their resumes and how to present themselves do land full-time/part-time jobs and gigs. The dumbing down includes: Leaving off job search materials all academic degrees beyond the BA. The exception will be formal education related directly related to job duties. For example, you apply to be an adjunct at the universi...

  The last line on the Bloomberg Law coverage of yet another litigation heavy leaving Paul, Weiss says it all: "The market has been keen for insights into [Scott] Barshay’s impact on the firm’s litigation group." Exiting for Paul Hastings is Roberto Gonzalez. He had been co-chair of Paul Weiss’ economic sanctions and anti-money laundering practice group. In other coverage, that is by Law.com , it's reported that litigation partner Andrew Enrlich is also leaving at the end of this month. He is co-chair of Paul, Weiss' securities and enforcement practice.  The watching creates a looping situation. The more the scrutiny the less probability the turbulence will calm down. As long as it exists the more will be the watching. In itself that can trigger more partner exits and difficulty poaching stars in their practices.  Obviously not cooled down is the upheaval created by multiple hits to the firm's reputation. They include the deal with Trump administration to lift...

  Cultural/branding shifts are happening all the time in this crazy economy driven by political issues, cost-efficiency, AI and offshoring.  ESG (remember that movement) shoe maker Allbirds  became an AI business called New Birds AI. Job search platform LinkedIn is terminating the jobs of more than 600. Aggressive financial player Apollo has taken on the role of reformer of higher education, allegedly on company time (intel via Freedom of Information Act). So, it should seem just more of the same that law firm Paul, Weiss has been mutating from a progressive change-agent with deep litigation roots to a business focused on corporate, that is, transactional practices. Way back in September 2022 journalist David Enrich summed up that evolution in "Servants of the Damned" as the prevailing ethos in Big Law. In the rush to boost the monetary metric of Profits Per Equity Partner large law firms were no longer serving the public interest. The game was all-business. Max those...

 Freedom of Information requests as well as other sources turned up this: Apollo CEO Marc Rowan used the company email account for his political campaign to reform higher education. The Financial Times cites that as wrong because of: " ... company ethics language stating that employees engaged in personal and civic affairs must make clear that their views and actions are their own, not the company's." In addition, Rowan is accused of using Apollo staff to do work on the project. This story exploded yesterday when the American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors sent a letter to Apollo's audit committee about these issues.  This matters to the unions because Apollo manages their pension funds. And it should matter to Apollo because if the story has legs there might have to be another attempt at reputation rehab. Many recall that when Leon Black was CEO at Apollo a major scandal broke out after it was discovered that he paid Jef...

  "I am afraid. I don't know if I can get up on two wheels and stay up." That's what an aging client lamented when they heard the delivery gig involves 1) having an e-bike and 2) using only it for handling those packages. More businesses, ranging from Amazon to mom-and-pop eateries, are shifting from the traditional van or auto to some version of e-bikes. In Manhattan, documents The New York Times , this use of e-bikes to deliver cargo started in 2024. In Europe, with its narrow streets and embedded cycling ethos it's been around for much longer than that. The good news for seniors is that there are mass-produced and customized e-tikes. Those have three wheels and are equipped with a large basket in back for parcels. Some also have a basket in front. Amazon lists them, starting at about $700. In Sierra Vista, Arizona M & M Cycling are among the growing number of shops which will customize an e-trike. That includes setting the miles-per-hour to be in complianc...

  A silver lining in this brutal entry-level job market and AI: No longer will new college graduates have to endure that complex, soul-wrenching rite of passage of adjusting to the real world. A Boomer, I recall how the laddie and young women's magazines briefed us on the transition from college to whatever.  Everything from get a haircut to be fitted for a good suit.  CNBC documents how the higher-education industry is making the shift from education-for-the-sake-of-education to education-as-platform-for-earning-a-good-living. Here's a snippet: "CUNY’s chancellor, Félix Matos Rodríguez [said] 'It’s not enough for students to graduate with a degree ... they must leave with direction, preparation, experience and connections.'" That changes so much about those four years. Some institutions such as Seton Hill University have developed three-year programs to be more cost-efficient.  For example, frats may no longer be for fun. They will be reset as a key strateg...

  The last bit of humane seems to have gone out of laying off workers. That had been the massaged rhetoric of how difficult the decision has been to do this, with a mea culpa tagged on.  In its latest round of rolling RIFs - 8,000 this time - Meta makes no apology, reports CNBC . The message is totally delivered in capitalistic terminology. That is, the language of efficiency. Also, there's no softening that this will be the last of the massive RIFs. There could be more in August. So, here is the worker in America. The state of being is as raw and as uncertain as the Industrial Age depicted by Charles Dickens in his novels such as "David Copperfield."  In coaching, I hammer that careers no longer exist. The professional objective is no longer for climbing the ladder.  Work has mutated into the need to make a living, hopefully a good living. The ranting on Blind or Reddit about how it used to be showcases how many are locking themselves out of the current reality. Ext...

America, the land of optimism about improving ourselves, was a sitting duck for the businesses of psychotherapy, becoming educated at college and more to take off. And that they did. The therapy sector  is almost at $100 billion. Higher education  is at almost $218 billion. And, BTW, another category of self-improvement, that is,  managing our weight that's at about $90 billion. So, it's predictable there is an outcry about the overuse, misuse and abuse of both psychotherapy and what had been heading to be the universal rite of passage of going to college. After all, they are businesses. And most nations, including the US, had to establish a regulatory framework to oversee business. Consumer beware.  This week psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert is blowing the whistle on other players in his line of work. Published on May 19th is "Therapy Nation." Alpert's beef: Essentially therapists not only side with their clients' perception of grievance. They reinforce it. ...

  Reputation management is the core of public relations.  But there is a but. In the process those doing that managing could wind up requiring their own reputation rehab. In the past, examples of things going very wrong for public relations firms doing fixes include Bell Pottiner, Burson - Marsteller and Hill & Knowlton.  Most recently it's Terakett which just took a major hit. On its website Terakett describes its mission as: "Securing, protecting, and supporting your reputation in search and AI chat experiences." In great detail today  The New York Times  describes the fixes Terakeet has done for clients such as Goldman Sachs' head David Solomon and investment expert/philanthropist Robert F. Smith. And how it does them. However, as the old saying goes, no one likes to know how the sausages are made. The "making" seems to involve lots of technological manipulation, plus aggressive positioning and packaging of positive narratives. Obviously, readers can ...

"The Caesars Palace Coup" and "Servants of the Damned" probably will be the last exposes on the big-money law firms. Likely there will never be another smash hit like "Boston Legal." Arguing in front of the US Supreme Court? Just a client assignment. The cultural fascination with elite law firms and brilliant lawyers is over. Poof. Attention and aspirational whatevers have shifted to entrepreneurs and the AI crowd. The lawyers representing them have lost their glam. Come on, you'd rather imagine yourself being Dario Amodei than part of the legal teams representing Anthropic.  Of course, there are exceptions.  The gov's insider trading probe triggered a bit of tsk-tsk. The kind of way too ambitious types you bump into law school are being fingered for organizing a ring of intel on proposed mergers and acquisitions. One has turned cooperative so we know this isn't some kind of witch hunt. Bits and pieces to rant about have popped up on social and...

  It used to be that if your employer was holding up financially, you didn't worry about your job security. Now, that doesn't matter. The emerging dynamic is that, like Cisco, LinkedIn, Paul, Weiss and more, the ax swings even in the best of financial times. TechCrunch reports: "Technology giant Cisco is cutting fewer than 4,000 jobs, or around 5% of its workforce, despite reporting better-than-expected profit and revenue in its fiscal third quarter."  In addition, LinkedIn cut even with 12% increase in revenue. And Paul, Weiss has been riding high in Profits Per Equity Partner and still terminated litigation associates.  What else is becoming common is that help may not be on the way. Sure there are policy proposals to cope with the impact of cost-efficiency, AI and offshoring. But very little real experimentation.  Sure, you're told to network. But with fewer and fewer opportunities all that may get you is a decent-paying work situation, for a while. Then you ...