TransformingYourCareerTransformingYourself

The meme about the “next generation” not being willing to jump the hoops to climb the ladder - or even having that as a goal - is nothing new. HEY, I JUST WANT TO BE A SPEECHWRITER Even way back in the conservative 1970s in Corporate America Human Resources thought leaders discussed structuring career paths so that "specialists" could remain just that, not becoming managers or more. The speechwriter wouldn't have to move on to become Director of Executive Communications. The in-house lawyer wouldn't have to be developed to take on the mantle of Chief Legal Counsel. The secretary wouldn’t have to mutate into Assistant to the President of X or Y unit. UNCOUPLING AMBITION FROM PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT However, in this era in which protecting mental health at work is an obsessive whatever the issue of not doing what it takes to climb the ladder is hardening into a demand. Both some  Millennials and members of Generation Z  have made it clear that they have none of...

 We boomers (usually in angst about our money) can take on the ethos of our mascot Alfred E. Neuman: What, Me Worry. At least as we slide into this Thanksgiving. 35,264.83 USD ▲  +176.54 (+0.50%) today November 22, 2:06 PM EST  ·  Market Open UPDATE: 35,281.27 +192.98  (0.55%) today

  The escalation of geopolitical tensions, generative AI as Black Swan along with the OpenAI board coup and massive layoffs of Knowledge Workers should have made the Leon Black story (Rise and Fall and too many Legal Actions) so yesterday.  BUT IT’S THE MARC ROWAN SHOW Anyway, come on, the guy who got his CEO job when he stepped down at Apollo - Marc Rowan - has been grabbing sustained digital front-page coverage. That has ranged from transforming the private equity firm into a credit player to organizing a campaign against institutions of higher education which he perceived as not adequately supportive of Israel. RELAXING WITH, OF ALL THINGS, LEON BLACK ANYTHING But here we are. It is the day before Thanksgiving when hard-chargers are sliding into relaxing somewhat. That gives them "permission" to read slowly and not just scroll through the very long-form  feature on Financial Times about Black.   Quite peculiar we are presented with Black anything again. ...

  The world woke up to find that Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, is back as CEO of that organization. But in this era of intense focus on governance more of the analysis of the recent turmoil at OpenAI could be on the structure and operation of boards.  At OpenAI there is a new board. It is headed by former co-CEO of Salesforce Bret Taylor. Joining it has been economics heavyweight Larry Summers. The latter, former head of the US Treasury, is no stranger to conflict. He had been forced out as President of Harvard. The boards began to be a high-profile issue when the Little Engine That Could Engine No. 1, despite its small size, managed to get three eco-friendlies on the board of Exxon. In addition has been the issue of the passive board. The first fall of WeWork and the collapse of Theranos were partly blamed on boards which just went along with the persuasive founders. Currently activist investors could push through a hostile takeover of Disney. Meanwhile proxy fights are ...

   Bloomberg  documents that those in the major management consulting firms might only be pulling down a million or so, with the topper at about $6 million: " ... a select group of senior partners at consulting firms such as McKinsey can take home $6 million a year, some of the people estimated. At the lower end of the range, compensation is about $1 million to $1.5 million, a person with knowledge of the situation said." In contrast, in large law firms the Profits Per Equity Partner can be over $6 million - that's an average figure of the funds that will be distributed among equity partners.  In Big Law 2022 was a down year but still the PPEE was better than what most management consultants even in the MBB loop (McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain) were earning. Here's how the law firms did last year: Kirkland: $7.51M Wachtell: $7.29M Sullivan & Cromwell: $5.98M Paul Weiss: $5.72M Davis Polk: $5.55M But the stars in large law firms can earn annually about $2...

  The post on Fishbowl Big Law asks about the best firm in New York City for becoming proficient in the art of M&A. Of the 40 responses the voting leaned heavily to Paul, Weiss as the number-one. That beat out Latham, Gibson and Sidley. And while at P,W you could also gain unique experience in Private Equity. That said, there was the usual grousing about the heavy-duty workload. One on Fishbowl described it as not ending once you reach your billing quota. The expectation is that, no, you won't just coast after making your numbers. You will continue to produce.  However, as we know, that extreme work ethic is standard in all the top NYC law firms. Given that, at some point the game becomes binary: You can put in the long hours on a sustained basis and absorb the stress or you can't. If the latter you can go in-house or to government or even off the legal career path. If the former you can become moderately wealthy and maybe even famous.  In coaching, I move the client...

 So here is the bonus scale from litigation boutique Wilkinson Stekloff, thanks to Abovethelaw : Class of 2023: $26,250 Class of 2022: $$35,000 Class of 2021: $52,500 Class of 2020: $100,625 Class of 2019: $131,250 Class of 2018: $157,500 Class of 2017: $183,750 Class of 2016+: $201,250 It could take plenty of funds sucked away from Profits Per Equity Partner for the high-charging law firms in 2023 to match or whizz beyond that. They include Kirkland & Ellis, Paul, Weiss and Paul Hastings.  But that could be a must. Otherwise there could be the flight of litigation talent to Wilkinson Stekloff as well to others who meet or beat that scale. Meanwhile, will Milbank start playing chicken with its financial resources, blow away Wilkinson Stekloff and kick off the bonus war of the century? The bonuses will be distributed mid December. So how many emergency partner meetings will be scheduled early this week in Big Law? While they are at it the partners can also take a look at th...