TransformingYourCareerTransformingYourself

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...