A Sweater Will Never Be Just a Sweater Again: From Bill Gates to Marc Rowan and More

 The sweater industry might have gotten a major boost in marketability since it's taken on symbolic importance.

The media, ranging from The Wall Street Journal to Fox News, has been having a few very good days detailing how the message-management folks employed by Bill Gates focused on his sweaters. The objective is reported to be to soften the negatives in how Gates came across. There was even the lofty expectation that this tycoon, once accused of being a monopolist, could be reset as a techie version of Mr. Rogers. 

The buzz on social network "X" has extended the weighty matter of the sweater to Apollo CEO Marc Rowan. It was called to our attention that maybe just maybe Rowan also was attempting to retrofit his persona with a sweater topped off with a cute white collar. Ever since Tom Wolfe's satire on Wall Street "Bonfire of the Vanities," Masters of the Universe like Rowan have come off badly. A little humanizing can go a long way.

Well, shame on me. I never connected the dots about the Rowan sweater. That was even though in my long-term analysis of law firm Paul, Weiss and partner Brad Karp I frequently dug into the mergers done by Apollo and more recently the campaign to reform higher education. Apollo is a Paul, Weiss major client.

But I should have picked up on the Rowan sweater. After all, I myself have been leveraging that strategy since I relocated from warm Arizona to Midwest sweater country. 


My objective or fantasy is positioning and packaging myself as athletic, you know outdoorsy, not overeducated nerdy. I manifest myself out there. And hope others loop into that. 

Meanwhile, though, the whole lucrative business of impression management, including reputation rehab, has taken a hit. That was set in play with the expose on Terakeet by The New York Times. That secretive fixer failed to reset Goldman Sachs top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler's digital identity. The first entry on Google zeroes in on her association with Jeffrey Epstein. Would Sweater Strategy wind up being more effective?

As Jill Biden is being vilified by some Dems for her memoir "View from the East Wing," a photo of her in a cable knit light blue sweater keeps popping up. Is that to signal Everywoman and purity of intentions?

So, will the fall editions of Vogue and GQ feature lots of sweaters?

In coaching I am observing a shift from power dress to what signals approachability. 

Careers? So Over. It’s about Earning a Good Living. No matter what.

Complimentary consultation. No Pressure. Street-smart Guidance. Contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.



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