Over-50

Remembering the Counterculture - The Barbarians Did Get in the Gate

The plaintiff class includes those rejected in their applications for admission to elite universities and/or who contend the value of their current or coming degree could erode because of this scandal.

The lawyer filing this class action lawsuit is John Medler Jr. of Irvine, California. Here is a copy of the 30-page complaint.

That represents the first bit of litigation filed after the outing of what could be labeled "EliteAdmissionsGate."

The defendants include 7 universities, ranging from Sanford to Yale, mastermind of the scam Rick Singer, and the companies he had been associated with. Here are more details from Courthouse News. 

A reality in this injustice is that applicants, many middle class or lower income, have to pony up about 80 bucks to fill out an application for Yale. Then, as plaintiff Erica Olsen laments, she was turned down. A less qualified applicant could have been admitted based on fraudulent credentials.

Many more lawsuits could be filed.

This scandal could be the tipping point in the rage against the Gilded Age players and perceived inequality.

Could there be an analogue of the feelings associated with the Russian Revolution? Will those who view themselves as "screwed" in a rigged economic system occupy the mansions of the entitled in Greenwich, Connecticut?

I had published a comic novel "The Guy From Greenwich." Now out of print, it had been #60 on Amazon in 2009. 

An economic slowdown, with declining employment opportunities, could increase that rage, becoming a solid platform for filing lawsuits.

Today The Wall Street Journal reports that economic experts are cutting their projections for GDP growth and job creation for Q1 2019. Already I have felt that in my business. There is an upsurge in the demand for marketing content, which is standard at the beginning of a recession. Also, in my specialized niche of career-transition content there is an uptick in orders. 

Should graduates of low-ranked universities and colleges not be able to land jobs they could easily be recruited for class actions in litigation as well as days of rage. The last time the latter broke out en masse had been during the counterculture. No aspect of the establishment was safe from the reformers. The mantra was: Power to the People. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Your Professional Network - How Outdated Is It?

The signature of ivy educational institutions had been Forever Professional Networks. 

That was then.

The reality is that in this globalized, digitalized economy, we in professional life have to keep changing. So must our networks.

The barbarians are at the gates. Protecting and scaling our business are ongoing musts. Connections from the past - with the past being as recent as two months ago - may be more of a burden than a help.

A sign of that is the sustained brisk sales of the 2011 book "Necessary Endings."

Authored by executive coach Henry Cloud, it ranks on Amazon at 5,055. Here you can order it. Cloud presents example after example of what can happen to a career - and an entire organization - when past connections aren't ditched. 

Not that the decision to assess our network is an easy one. There seems to be a human tendency to create and hang out in comfort zones. They make us feel safe, simplify our daily living, and even seemingly keep us in the not-getting-into-trouble box.  

But they can also create increasing distance from awareness of and access to emerging opportunities.

A classic example in communications is any rigid bonding with those associated with old-line corporate thought leadership. The very tone of that can alienate target constituencies. Here are some reflections on how the "style guide" is changing.

In order to evaluate what connections continue to be useful and what new ones have to be developed is challenging. There is also no guarantee of making the right moves. That's because it requires figuring out what in our business is working, what isn't, and what needs to be added. Given the massive ambiguity, we can be frozen into sticking with the status quo.

Cloud suggests escape routes from the past. Yes, order the book.

Here, free to download, is my own book on finding the ramp out of what is and developing the courage to follow a fresh route of human connections. It is directed at the over-50 but the fundamentals apply to all generations. My iGen intern thinks it will help her shake off the "college experience" and go after that first real job as a "certified adult," as she puts it.

Another tool could be investing in a seminar custom-made to change behavior. Among them are what tutorials have been developed by Dale Carnegie Systems.

When my niche specialization in traditional executive communications collapsed, I enrolled in a Dale Carnegie hands-on workshop for marketing and sales. Job number-one was determining what we were going to sell.

That, of course, goes back to the Ted Levitt insight about the importance of broadly defining what business we really are in. Had the railroads recognized they were in the transportation one, not the narrow railcar box, they could have continued to scale in the era of airplane travel. 

There is also the advantage of having a one-on-one coach. Unlike therapy, the objective is professional success. The focus is not curing but determining how to bypass what gets in the way.

My communications clients who hired coaches report that the most effective kind of coaching is that which operates narrowly on achieving the objective. That seemed to them far more important than developing a relationship with the coach.

The need to purge the past isn't new. Way back in the 20th century Judith Viorst published what was then groundbreaking. That was the book "Necessary Losses." Essentially it gave us permission to dump those relationships, ranging from graduate school to our first few jobs. No surprise, it still ranks high on Amazon. Here you can order it.

The good news is that technology has provided a convenient (but still brutal) way to signal a good-bye. We can unfriend, remove, and block. Usually, it's a lousy investment in time to "talk it over." That only invites anything from defensiveness to an attack.

Reflection: There is a meme in some self-help programs. That's Drop The Rock. In the 21st century, that rock is usually an outdated network. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Bad Day Predicted for DOW - What If We Just Kept Working, Stopped Worrying about Money

Of course, the weak jobs report - only 20,000 of them created last February - means the DOW will be down today. And for how much longer, we don't know. 

Financial planners hammer us that "at our age" our portfolio might not have the time to recover its losses. So, we are prepped to listen to their strategies for ensuring financial securities. Meanwhile we are supposed to worry worry worry about money.

Actually, there is a fairly simple way out of all that. It's to keep working.

Unless we are in a nursing home, there is little justification for not staying in the labor market for earned income or launching our own business. Those whose health is not that hot can do jobs from home totally online. Those range from operating inbound call centers to grading high school student essays. 

The best opportunities, though, are in geographic locations which tend not to overly age-biased. Their median age is higher than cities where youth dominates.

For example, when I was based in Tucson, Arizona, I easily found well-paid part-time jobs in selling in a store within a store in consumer electronics retail, an inbound call center, and a service involved in academic testing. 

However, when I relocated to the Youngstown, Ohio Metro area I was called in to interview for part-time jobs ranging from loss prevention to project management. There was not one follow-up second interview. Of course, there was not one job offer. 

Yes, place matters. 

Increasingly, I am preparing job-search materials for those nearing 70-years-old. They had either retired or scaled back on how many hours they put in. Then inflation, particularly in food prices and renewal of leases for apartment rentals, kicked in. It's almost magical: Once they began a serious search for work, they stopped worrying about money. Here is my book, free to download, on how to land, hold, and move on to better work, no matter one's age Download Outwitting ageism.

"Work," after 65 carries less and less stigma. In fact, in some circles being able to be hired confers status.

I became a celebrity of sorts when, in the 100-unit rental complex in AZ, I picked up a $13 an hour + commission selling gig. There was continual knocking on my door for advice on how they too, some near 80, could return to working or score a higher paying job.

In addition, one 40-something asked me if I were interested in interviewing at his employer's pawn shop for 20 hours a week. The place needed someone who could relate to other baby boomers and he had told the owner about me. However, I already had enough income for two jobs and running my own two businesses. I had to say "no." That killed me.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Retirement: (Mostly) Unafforable in Any State in US

Retirement has passed the threshold of affordability.

That's even in low-cost cities such as Cleveland, Ohio. According to GoBankingRates.com, there, over-65 households need $38,147 annually to just make it.

And retiring has become nearly impossible for households over-65 in locations such as New York City, where they need about $100k a year.

Here are more details in MarketWatch. 

The conclusion: Maybe retiring shouldn't be on a bucket list. Instead of envisioning total freedom from work during The New Aging, it might be more realistic financial planning to just save for some fun travel on vacations from work or between gig contracts.

More and more of the assignments for my two communications businesses are associated with preparing work-search materials for those who assumed they were retired.

Here is my guide, free to download, on how to navigate that shift.

And, here, also free to download, is my book on how to get, hold, and move on to better work, no matter one's age Download Outwitting ageism.

One day those who have retired wake up and have that brutal moment of clarity: They are sliding into debt. To pay off that debt and prevent its return in the future, they need more funds coming in.

Yesterday, a 67-year-old currently unmarried male came to my office. During the past week we had discussed options for marketing services he could provide. The best shot was a niche within higher education.

For several hours we knocked out the must-needed promotional material, then moved on to retrofitting his social networks. The next step would be to set up a website, along with a blog. This weekend in the loop will parachute a friend of his to produce podcasts for the enterprise. 

Like so many retired he had come to the fork in the road: Return to working, even full time or research relocating to overseas locations such as Ecuador or Mexico.

Regarding the latter, the International Living folks are operating a very successful line of business. The chatter on social networks among my age peers is increasingly about permanently settling near a beach outside the US. Some of those are also looking into launching online businesses in their Expat Paradises.

Meanwhile, some over-65 could wind up to be in the front lines of what could be a new trend: Nomading.

They bite the bullet and relocate from, say, ABC to X or Y. But that first plan doesn't pan out. They can't take the heat. They miss the familiar lifestyle. They are unable to develop new friendships. The rentals surge in price. They want to be closer to the grandchildren.

So, they move yet again.

The typical example is the couple who left Pennsylvania for Louisiana. The wife still picks up personal-care gigs. To make ends meet more easily, they recently sold their motor home. Now they are in Ohio. Will you settle in here? That's what I asked them. Their response is becoming typical. It's: We don't know. 

In 2014, I pulled up roots in the New York Metro area and assumed I was going to make my new life in Tucson, Arizona. That got pricey and too careerist. In 2016, I drove four days to Northeastern OH. Here I earned enough from my businesses and invested enough to afford to try again at finding Paradise. That will be at the end of August. If that disappoints, the next stop will be outside the U.S. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

We Got Over Being Perfect, At Least for a While

Extreme negative reaction to mistakes

Harsh self-criticism

Nagging self doubt

An increasing inability to focus conscientiously on tasks (hell, you figure, how can I manage to do well, given that I am already such a screwup).

And, an emotional unraveling at a relatively young age. 

Those traits, found researchers Simon Sherry and Martin Smith, characterize perfectionism.

That syndrome has become an epidemic in western society among millennials. Here is a description of their meta analysis. 

It was also that maladaptive perfectionism which Joanna Litt contends drove her husband to suicide. He had been Gabe MacConaill, a partner in BigLaw. Here is Litt's open letter published in Law.com. 

Among the factors causing the epidemic, Sherry and Smith state, are:

Dog-eat-dog work world. It's all too easy to take success much too seriously. However, given that so many industries have become a zero-sum game, it seems the only shot at success is to be totally focused on doing everything just right. 

Harsh, over-controlling parents. They aren't new per se.

When I was the kid from the hood in an accelerated program in high school, I first ran into the 60s' version of helicopter parents. They harped on my female classmates about their weight and the male ones about earning a letter in sports to get into an Ivy. When they noticed me at an academic awards function they told me to bleach the dark hair on my arms. 

What is new is that parents feel compelled by social media to feature perfect offspring on Facebook. Their Offspring R Them. 

Media, both third party and social, had created unattainable standards for everything from appearance to achievements. Some of my colleagues in public relations contend that The Media is the most powerful force in current times. The force has more influence than governments, businesses, and even political leaders. 

Way back when, youth usually had been preoccupied with one person whose abilities and accomplishments made them feel less-than. That was captured in the best-selling novel at that time -  John Knowles' "A Separate Peace."

By the end of college, most could shake off that obsession with The Other by simply gliding into one or more of the standard rites of passage:

• The female gets married
• The male gets the first real job
• The female gets a traditional job such as teaching
• Both sexes go to professional or graduate school.

The transitions were such an ordeal that there was no energy left for peeking outside their own box to wonder how it would be playing in someone else's box.

Right now, the only box which matters is the media one. 

In his book "Excellent Sheep," William Deresiweicz describes that generation as one which fears making a mistake and has difficulty bouncing back from failure, no matter how trivial. An adjunct professor of communications at several New York City universities tells us that his students all want "A" grades. That's even though they have been told that the "C" students become the bosses of the "A" and that many of us older generations regret single-mindedly pursuing top grades. 

The solution? Perhaps there needs to be several pilot programs about establishing whatevers, ranging from schools to video games, which deliver the Beatles' Message: Let It Be. Then measure the mental health and accomplishments of those groups compared to the mainstream population of their peers.

The reality is that the present perfectionism bites all generation in the butt. It wasn't until I decided on semi-retirement that my enterprises had a roaring comeback. I define "semi-retirement" as restricting my business to only the assignments I wanted to accept, with clients who treated with respect, and at the fee which I perceived as fair. 

An anti-perfectionist app might deliver self-talk that we have a perfect right to choose who we are, what we do to earn a buck (drop careerism), and how we look (which will never be perfect).

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374 Need @gmail.com. 

" ... the deck is stacked against working longer," Josh Gotbaum, Bruce Wolfe in WSJ

Of course, more and more of have found out that we will be working longer.

We have to for money.

And/or the reality that in capitalism once we leave the workforce we become invisible. Actually, being able to remain in the workforce is the new status symbol on our networks. 

Yet, the work - at least the dignified kind that pays well - is difficult to find.

In The Wall Street Journal, Josh Gotbaum and Bruce Wolfe put it bluntly:

" … the deck is stacked against working longer." 

So, what are the solutions?

Here is my book, free to download, on how to get, hold, and move onto better work, at any age Download Outwitting ageism.

Gotbaum and Wolfe also suggest:

• Setting aside a certain number hours annually to update our skills. Recently, I learned podcasting. Currently, that is more in demand than other communications services I provide. Here is my article on podcasting published this week in Odwyper.com. Last year I learned how to create and produce e-books. That skill landed me content-creation assignments in the career-transition category.
• Having government broaden the legal definition of "age discrimination." That would make employers re-think how they treat aging workers.
• Creating programs of phased retirement. Other nations already provide them. Instead of handing employees the golden watch at age X, design long-term programs so that they can stay with the organization beyond the usual retirement age.

The recommendation which makes the most immediate sense is to make it a priority to match skills with what's needed or what could be needed.

Too many older workers resist being proactive in staying marketable.

Yet, re-training can be low-cost or even free.

IT tech genius Ian Billen, based in the Youngstown, Ohio Metro area, showed me how I could take the first step on the way to mastering a technology new to me for $15. No, he didn't suggest I run off, take out student loans, and become certified in whatever. Yes, we can find human resources like Billen who talk to us straight about retooling - smart and cheap.

I learned how to use the PowerPoint software for e-books at a free seminar at the local library. The first time I tried out my new skill it was a disaster. But by the third attempt at e-booking I produced what I could include in my portfolio of content samples.

The reality is that time is not on our side. We can't wait for reforms in the system.

Instead, we have to figure out on our own what we can do to pitch and document that we can get the job done - as an employee or small business - better, faster, and cheaper than others.

The first scary step in that is usually to leave our comfort zones. Here, also free to download, is my guide on that. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That includes podcast scripts. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence without paying high rates,  janegenova374@gmail.com. 

 

Change Is THAT Hard

The newest version of "Who Moved My Cheese?" is "Out of the Maze." 

Both, by Spencer Johnson, M.D., turn the lights on the power of habit and belief. Of course, they provide exit ramps out of being trapped in yesterday. My own book, free to download here, dishes the same sort of insights and recommendations for the over-5o.

Well-crafted, well-intentioned advice on the need for change and how to do it sounds so sensible. But, the reality is that what has been usually hardens into concrete. It would take a bulldozer, such as a total career or relationship catastrophe, to penetrate all that.

Such an absolute become obvious to me yesterday.

With snow predicted I had done what seasoned midwestern folks told me to do: Back in to a parking space and it will be easier to get out, despite the snow and ice. 

The problem was that I couldn't find a spot close to my apartment to maneuver into. So, I backed into a space in another part of the residential complex.

Yes, I moved my car.

Almost out of a Shakespearean comedy illustrating human nature, the response was this: great puzzlement among neighbors.

Where is your car, they asked.

When I explained where it was and why it was there they would not be placated. They wanted to know more.

No, change isn't easily absorbed or accepted.

The message probably was: Don't move your car again.

I won't, not if I can avoid it.

This experience reinforces how fortunate I have been since the turn of the century in being able to survive whenever my cheese was moved. 

First it was when the executive communications industry, as it had been configured, collapsed. After Enron, corporate leaders kept their heads down. Then with the 9/11 recession organizations became budget-challenged. I made my way to learning social media.

Then they moved the cheese again. Social media became glutted with talent. I made my way to learning the field of career transition. 

In the career-transition niche, it hasn't been that there was collapse or glut. Instead, clients and prospects wanted fresh ways to communicate. Obviously, the cheese was about to be moved. I leaped to getting the hang of podcasting.

Meanwhile, as  I assist clients with communicating about their clients who must get unstuck, I am grateful my cheese was first moved in my youth.

After years matriculating in a doctoral program to prepare to become a humanities professor, the demand disappeared. 

I wandered in the professional wilderness, lost and full of shame.

Then, I got it: The world had changed. I had to also.

As Johnson hammers in "Our of the Maze," what I really did, I realize now, was realize: "Old beliefs do not lead you to new cheese." 

The old belief I ditched was that my education made me special. A non-special version of me started over again at the bottom of the ladder in the communications field.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That includes podcast scripts. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence without paying high rates,  janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Power - Remembering When It First Came Out of the Closet

The next target of the #MeToo Movement could be all industries in which the power remains in the hands of males.

At the top of the list could be how the business of practicing law is conducted in the law firm.

CBS MoneyWatch reports the results of a survey by ZipRecruiter. Of the females interviewed in law, 59% indicated they experienced sexual harassment.

They refrained from reporting it because of fear of retaliation as well as the assumption that nothing would be done about that. 

It seems odd that those in law firms would allegedly engage in sexual misconduct. After all, they are lawyers. They understand the possible legal consequences.

However, the reality is that power often makes the miscreants (and sometimes they are female) assume they:

• Have a right to forbidden fruit
• Will get away with it.

There is not enough research on power as a source of delusion in the workplace. That is despite the proliferation of social media and anonymous employee sites such as Glassdoor. 

This problem extends way beyond sexual misconduct.

It could be the platform for allegedly inflicting all kinds of mind games on employees, interns, and consultants.

That allegedly took place, Glassdoor presents, at the high-profile public affairs firm The Dilenschneider Group.

Here are the employee reviews on Glassdoor of The Dilenschneider Group. All give the firm a rating of "1" out of a possible "5." That means the overall rating is "1."

In contrast, public affairs firm kglobal has an overall rating of "4/3" out of "5" on Glassdoor. Here are the Glassdoor reviews.

The irony - or maybe it isn't ironic - is that the founder of The Dilenschneider Group - Bob Dilenschneider - had been an early adopter of tutoring executives about power. His book, published way back in 1990 - was "Power and Influence."

In a sense, Dilenschneider brought power out of the closet. Before that, we in executive communications focused our ghostwriting and scripting on the subject of "leadership" - effective and ineffective. The term "power" had been taboo.

No longer. Once the door was opened on discussing power, books on its how became best-sellers.

On the dark side had been Gabriel Sherman's biography of Roger Ailes - "The Loudest Voice in the Room." In the realm of "educational" has been Walter Isaacson's "Steve Jobs."

Now, thanks to #MeToo and niche law specialties such as Sanford's employment-law practices, we could be entering a new era on looking at power. Those who abuse it in any way could be positioned and packaged as entities to be purged from organizations. That would be no matter their talent or the results generated.

Takeaway: Males and females who play fast and loose with power should get it that their behavior will be observed, assessed, and, if proved to be even inappropriate, will be punished. What is treated as "inappropriate" could include the alleged yelling by partners at law firms. 

Just as there had been Nader Raiders for consumer fraud, there could be Power Outers for zeroing in on possible abuse.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation jane

Yes, Panic

It is 10:16 A.M New York Time. 

The DOW is down 361.07. The Wall Street Journal isn't bullish that the downward trajectory will reverse its direction today.

Of course, those who are retired or semi-retired should be plenty worried. It isn't only the possibility of a gutted stock portfolio. 

If they haven't sold their family home, that piece of their retirement plan doesn't seem rosy.

One 60-something I coached has resigned himself to not doing a FIRE (financial independence, retire early). His McMansion isn't what the market wants. Families are smaller, energy costs keep rising, and property taxes (especially in good school districts) are also increasing.

The only way he figures he can unload the house is to cut about $250,000 from what he lists it at. Meanwhile, he's biting his fingernails about holding on to his good job.

There's a target on his back because of his age and high compensation. Come the economic downturn and then he's really in a pickle. Lesson to those planning retirement: Begin what's necessary early in the game. 

What if he does lose that good job? Here, free to download, is my book on how to land, hold, and move on to better work, no matter one's age Download Outwitting ageism.

Another worry for the retired is the rising costs in supposed Retirement Paradises. Those in California got it that they could no longer afford to retire there. So, they migrated to Arizona. No surprise, that massive influx boosted the cost of living. Some had who relocated there from the Northeast Corridor now are in high angst that they will have to relocate, yet again. A real possibility is to become an expat in Mexico, Ecuador, Belize, or even the Philippines. 

Perhaps the takeaway in this 2nd decade of the 21st century is: Treat planning as tentative. No one, including the so-called experts, can predict tomorrow. 

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

Those Very Good Girls from College

A sign of a cultural shift: "Good Girls" will be returning to network television in March.

NBC found there is an audience for a series about those soccer mom types who are forced into a life of crime.

The trigger, to use the pun, is financial desperation.

Of course, the pickle they are in mirrors the situation of so many U.S. households which are struggling to make ends meet - and sometimes just can't pull it off. 

But, the bigger cultural statement is this: Being a good girl is not cool. There's no payoff. And the whole lifestyle is not at all interesting. No, mamas, don't raise your daughters to be good girls.

What should mamas raise their daughters to be? The jury is out on that.

But what I have observed is that good girls are thrown off their game - fast - in the 2nd decade of the 21th century. That is especially the situation as they age.

It's almost a re-play of what happens to the highly educated characters in Mary McCarthy's "The Group." They put their trust in elite schooling. Then they get out there in the real world and things don't work that way.

Perhaps too many females from my generation assumed they could play by the rules of being a good girl.

I was not one of them. Back then, of course, I suffered.

But as the world, especially the business and social ones, kept changing, I had and have the ability to also keep reconfiguring my game.

In contrast, many of the very good girls from my college days seem stuck - and boring. That's sad. They face 10, 20, or even 30 years more of living on planet earth.

Irony: About six months ago, I decided to semi-retire. A funny thing happened on the way to semi-retirement. More relaxed and thinking more out of the box, I attracted plum accounts. In addition, LinkedIn selected two of my articles of the Editors' Choice. 

Reflection: Do good girls, unlike the characters on "Good Girls" and myself, lack resilience? Should there be a 12-step program to deprogram good girls? Here, free to download, is my book on how older professionals can escape their hardened comfort zones. It could save their jobs and they won't have to turn to a life of crime with GangBanger.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.