Over-50

Baby Boomers, Whether You Became a Billionaire or Not, You Still Didn't Win in America

"Father, forgive me. I had acquired wealth."

Finally, sizes up Bloomberg, the Apollo Fund is moving out of the shadow of scandal. Investors are re-committed. 

The specifics of the previous Apollo brand tarnishing included media-grabbing tidbits like association with Jeffrey Epstein. 

Okay, Epstein was a bad guy.

But the intensity of the hit to the Apollo brand and its one-time head Leon Black is not really about that, is it? The root of the self-righteous hysteria seems to be this: America's ambivalence about wealth. Both institutional and personal. 

On the one hand, the Puritan ethos had the acquisition of wealth as a the play-out of the right moral values. The lack of it was interpreted as a lack of those. That's not gone away. Shame on you. You're not on the list of billionaries under-40.  

On the other hand, there is the embedded meme: Money is the root of all evil. Had Black not possessed such personal wealth he wouldn't have been able to have become involved in a romantic dalliance resulting in a lawsuit against him and a countersuit by him, right. We're certain of that. We praise MacKenzie Scott for giving away so much of her wealth.

The problem is that the ambivance (along with the certitude) is growing. That means so much confusion. 

On an individual level, the Hamptons had become a symbol of decadence. The media does photos of disgraced "Today" executive Matt Lauer you know where: the Hamptons. 

As for institutional wealth. Where to begin. Yes, folks want the returns on their investments in public companies to be amazing. Simultaneously they want the corporations producing them not to showcase wealth in terms of power and influence.

No, they shouldn't be dictating where the employees are working from.

No, they cannot choose whom they want to hire.

No they can't just operate the business when there is so much suffering in the world. And, the brass is getting paid too damn much. Wall Street? You don't want your kid training there as a junior analyst. And as a lawyer do you want to work at a BigLaw firm representing Wall Street? 

A proven out public relations firm like Edelman might have to be parachuted in to design a campaign for rebranding wealth as an economic-growth necessity. It's like the car industry is the 1950s. What was good for GM was good for the creation of the middle class. Only the creation of more wealth now will restore that middle clas. Tighten that up as a message.

In addition, corporate leadership has to get smarter about identifying where the landmines are on this one and how to not step on them. That's the rub. What was a standard value a month ago is verboten yesterday and today who the hell knows. Check your values before you start announcing policies this morning.

That's why law firms' ESG (environmental, social, goverance) practices may be evolving into the most critical service to current clients and to prospective ones. That could be inventing a new category of what law firms do, in addition to the traditional transactional and litigation segments. Actually, that could be more important than the latter two. Will law firms come to declare that the real busines that they are in is saving American capitalism? Part of that is figuring out social justice for the clients.

Paul Weiss, chaired by Brad Karp, has captured that new core function of a law firm in how it has  positioned and packaged its own ESG practice mission.

Essentially the language is code for how to succeed despite what's happening externally and internally (employee activism). The current cultural upheaval doesn't get corporations off the hook for producing over-the-top financial performance. But they better do that and communicate about that in ways that walk the line on the perception of wealth.

Here is the Paul Weiss mission:

"Business leaders face greater pressure to increase their organizations’ resilience while simultaneously addressing social issues of importance to stakeholders. Our advisory practice helps companies navigate the legal, business and political ramifications of developing and implementing ESG initiatives. We advise on matters such as stakeholder engagement, corporate governance, crisis management, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, ethics and compliance."

Meanwhile, the Delta variant has introduced more uncertainty. Folks don't like that. Individuals and organizations with wealth will likely be taking it on the chin. There could be greater expectations of help from them as well as vilification of what they are assumed to be about. Give us your money and get out of our sight.

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Baby Boomers - Remember How Mom Mandated We Be Practical about We Were Going to Earn a Living ...

"The Daily Beast spoke with 17 former and current support staff members who’ve worked as script coordinators, writer’s assistants, showrunner’s assistants, executive assistants, and production assistants. All of them said their jobs’ relentless demands and poor pay are unlivable. Even worse, they said, is doing this essential work in the same room as colleagues performing the same amount of labor for tens of thousands of dollars more than them." - Laura Bradley, Daily Beast, July 25, 2021.

Hollywood assisants could follow employees from Burger King, Chipotle and Dollar General out the door. 

However, when it comes to Hollywood assistants, mainstream America may not be sympathetic. After all, trying to break into Hollywood represents a wild dream. Hasn't the crazy economy since the post-9/11 recession chastened dreamers? Instead, get certified in X or Y field at the community college. Or, major in business or computer science in college.

In addition, as baby boomers well remember, our mothers hammered us to play it safe. For women it was to get a teaching certificate or train to be a nurse. For males it was a degree in accounting or to go the distance and plow through three years of law school. Glam? We were warned not to go there.

Then affluence filled the land. And the next generations were even encouraged to go to The Big City and pursue a glam career in whatever. Give it five years, they were told. The M.B.A. crowd, the lawyers - way too buttoned-down. 

Now, we could be circling back to extreme practicality in earning a living. When college students contact me for coaching they are caught between dream/glam and a career path that will pay off student loans and open them to those rites of passages such as starting a family.  

However that binary way of thinking might be total anachronism.

The Future of Work might create whole new models. Instead of careers in the traditional sense, Willis Towers Watson projects working as a continual path of acquiring new experience and skills. That will be the portfolio those wanting to make a good living will carry around. The game will be about income. That journey won't be linear. Last year the work was in apartment leasing. This year, by leveraging the regulatory part of that experience, it's a manager's position in a collection agency. Significantly more income. Title? Not so important. Status? Hey, that never did necessarily pay the bills. 

In a sense some of that has already kicked in. In marketing my communications and coaching boutiques the pitch is not the backstory or what's on a traditional resume. Instead it's about what I can accomplish right now for clients as a fee that fits that fits their budgets. Usually I leverage just-in-time experience. Pedigree? Not that relevant. The shift is to focusing on results. 

If those results are satisfactory to them then I can put all that in my portfolio. For now. Of course, there is extreme pressure to keep that portfolio up-to-date. Only very recent experience can be marketed.

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Also guidance for pre-retirement. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Baby Boomers, Maybe You Wouldn't Have Retired If VanLeeuwen Mac & Cheese Ice Cream Had Been Available

This is the way it is.

Professionals on the verge of burnout are continuing to experience the hour-to-hour angst of deadlines in their home offices. Piled onto that is more unhinging since they are uncertain if and when they will have to pivot back to that ultimate pressure-cooker: the office. Yeah, it's back to having everyone watch them while they watch everyone else. 

There are also the leaders. Take the chairpersons of law firms such as Brad Karp of Paul Weiss. They have to bring into synch clients' encouragements where work should be done and what associates prefer. 

And there are those new graduates of all kinds of academic institutions searching for jobs. Most of those fields are glutted with talent. 

The good news is that they can now have their 2 favorite comfort foods - mac and cheese and ice cream - in 1 serving. 

That's the miracle concoction VanLeeuwen Macaroni and Cheese Ice Cream. CNN Business reports that Kraft Heinz partnered with Brooklyn-basedVan Leeuwen Ice Cream. Retail it goes for $12 a pint. 

Here is the promo from VanLeewen.

This comfort-food experience had been rolled out as a limited edition in New York, Texas, New Jersey, and California. At the time it had been available both online and in ice cream specialty stores. Immediately it had been sold out. But it will be available nationwide. 

On social media, though, some panned this remedy for the Overwhelms.

But, mac & cheese ice cream might have prevented Baby Boomers like yourself from throwing in the towel on working. After all, there is no reason to retire. Fox media tycoon Rupert Murdoch is 90 years old.

Meanwhile, I am euphoric knowing I can pivot from the usual Nutella Hazelnut to VanLeeuwen Mac & Cheese ice cream. That might reduce the stress to the point that after a weekend of working full-time Monday doesn't feel like late Friday afternoon. 

If you want to loop back into the workforce, you can download free this guide Download Outwitting ageism.

What is your comfort food? Please let this blog know janegenova374@gmail.com.

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Also guidance for pre-retirement. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Baby Boomers - Finally, We Don't Have to Be Rich to Have Power

"For decades, large swaths of low wage service work have proved difficult to unionize because of fissured workplaces and aggressive union-busting by employers. Now these workers, many of them women of color—have taken the next best option, protesting through mass resignation." Lauren Karori Gurley, Vice, July 23, 2021.

Soon enough it won't be a story when the whole workforce walks off the job. And that isn't a strike. It's a quit. Like, we're not coming back. 

Currently it is the story, though, at Burger King, Chipotle, and Dollar General. A more sophisticated version of that is happening on Wall Street. Young analysts have been exiting for more humane work cultures. And, just the threat of walking out in BigLaw by junior lawyers has been shaping back to office policies (at least before the Delta variant). 

Meanwhile, freelance players have re-learned that they can make a good buck in the underground economy. No, they don't have to pitch over and over for assignments in the above-ground economy. So, obviously, if the balance of power between business and workers doesn't shift, the government is going to lose on plenty of tax money. 

Nothing is static. This use of quitting to send a message will evolve into legislation and litigation. Employment law practices will continue to blossom. 

And, all of us who exchange our labor for money will be making an existential assessment about what "work" means. That is part of how the Future of Work is playing out. 

Of course, corporations will stumble. That's where law firms ESG practices loop in. They provide both preventive guidance and fix-it operations for business when power is being redistributed.

JPMorgan Chase head Jamie Dimon can have all the money in the world. But that no longer ensures that he will control the levers of power. Already, he is being mocked for pontificating where work has to be done. And, Generation Z preferences about the values of the workplace are making Dimon look, well, old-line. 

Yes, Dimon has just re-opped with JPMorgan Chase. And, yes, that institution will probably still make lots of money. But there has been an unbundling of money and power.

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Also guidance for pre-retirement. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

We Lived through Watergate, But What We Probably Didn't Analyze Back Then

Even Richard Nixon's most critical enemies had to admit he had been a brilliant political strategist.

The new chronicle of Watergate "King Richard" by Michael Dobbs captures him as dark force which knew how to unleash the politics of division.

That is, of course, the oldest of ways to control people. The serpent leveraged it to turn Eve against her Garden of Paradise landlord.

Such a mindset came naturally to Nixon. He saw the world through the lens of enemies and how to get revenge. 

It is interesting to remember that Roger Ailes, who invented Fox News, had been a political consultant for Nixon. The mission of Fox News seems to be polarization. As with Nixon, it sells well.

It's too much to hope that the majority of Americans would believe that they are being manipulated by those hammering conservative or liberal ideology. So, polarization will likely continue indefinitely. Even the catastrophe of COVID couldn't establish the recognition of common ground.

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Also guidance for pre-retirement. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Baby Boomers - We Knew Not To Be Funny Ladies (what Kamala Harris has not yet learned)

That shouldn't have happened.

Harris should have known how a vestige of pre-feminism is that females are not allowed to lean in to humor. At least not too much of it. The exceptions are those whose living is in the funny box. Think Tiny Fey.

And, like money, politics isn't funny. I hammer to my clients in financial services to hold any humor in their marketing materials.

Sure, SNL can make politics funny. But for the majority of both voters and those voted for or not voted for, the art and science of politics don't involve humor. Politics is serious business. Everything from tax rates to workers' rights depends on it.

In addition, Harris is not dealing from a position of strength. She has made many myriad mistakes. Also floating around is the growing assessment that she is not up to the job. Instead of showcasing mirth she should be adopting a persona of gravitas. 

If the White House had hired a presentation coach for Harris it should fire that vendor. Search for one more tuned in to what the mainstream expects a woman to look, speak, and smile but not laugh.

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Baby Boomers - Will We Make It Through This Round of COVID?

WHITE HOUSE DEBATES NEW MASK PUSH
LA RESTAURANTS CLOSE
HOSPITALIZATIONS HIGHEST IN MONTHS

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Also guidance for pre-retirement. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Of Course, We Are Going to Continue Living Frugally - So Much for the Experts' Extreme Optimism During Delta Variant

"The highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 doesn’t pose an immediate risk to the strength of the U.S. economic recovery, with analysts expecting a robust expansion to continue in the second half of the year. Many economists are maintaining forecasts for solid economic growth due to expectations of steady hiring and continued spending, driven by accumulated savings and Americans’ desire to travel and socialize more than a year into the pandemic." - The Wall Street Journal, July 21, 2021.

Oh, really? I will have to run this by the conspiracy experts at Fox News. 

Meanwhile, this is from the World Health Organization:

"The highly transmissible delta variant of COVID-19, now present in 124 countries, will become the dominant strain globally in the coming months as it is rapidly outcompeting other variants, the World Health Organization said Wednesday." - Clara Linnane, MarketWatch, July 21, 2021.

That Mid-Career Moment: It Isn't Pretty and It Starts at 45

Around the world - not in just youth-preoccupied America - 40% of those 45 years old and older are unemployed. And they will take longer than those younger to find new work. That's what Generation found in its recent research on aging. Here is that study. 

Yes, it's due to ageism. Generation positions and packages that phenomenon as the "Mid Career Moment." Those hiring are usually under-45. The assumption is that those 45 or over will resist learning new technologies - or whatever else is new. 

That's the reality.

The solution?

Openness to learning.

Training is available and it can be low-cost. That can even provide the platform for a new career path.

The former manager of marketing can retrain as an addiction counselor.

The forced-out journalist can acquire credentials in Google Adwords.

The mother yearning to return to the workforce after her last child goes to college can train to write grants. 

Much of this pivot can be done DIY by you. If you need assistance, I am here for you as a coach specialzing in staying marketable despite aging. Please contact Jane Genova for a complimentary consultation at janegenova374@gmail.com

 

Shut Up, Jamie Dimon - We Have Been through Too Much

Vanishing into the ether is that buzzword Post-COVID. 

COVID hasn't gone post.

And all the planning, announcements and drama involved in the shift from full-time remote to hybrid and full-time in-the-office essentially have gone poof. 

Bloomberg reports that Apple has delayed the return to the office until October. The arrangement is hybrid. COVID, of course. Previously, that had been set for September.

Meanwhile, Apple employees have sent their second petition requesting no back to the office at all for a year and openness about where on planet earth the work can be done. They mean business. In a survey, 68% indicated they would leave if the corporation isn't flexible about working arrangements. Could Apple head Tim Cook wind up rattling around the corridors of innovation and no one is there?

Silicon Valley law firm Cooley has been cool about all this. Bloomberg Law notes remote stays in effect there.

But Bloomberg Law also reports that Greenberg Traurig has indicated it will comply with the Morgan Stanley mandate for bringing all lawyers associated with that account back to the office.

Stuck in Work Past seem to be both Greenberg Traurig and Morgan Stanley.

In fact, much of Wall Street seems looping backward.

There is a flight of young talent to other niches such as tech. BigBanking is losing a generation of workers.

When JPMorgan Chase head Jamie Dimon extols the wonders of working all together in the office he sounds like an out-of-touch old man. The new values ushered in by the catastrophe of COVID have undermined his power. During that ordeal we got it that we could do just fine w/o Dimon, et al. The money he represents. We will manage w/o that too. 

Meanwhile, the tone of the Morgan Stanley memo about all back in the office ...'Those  reading it in the UK and Europe experienced it as bullying. Remember when pre-COVID ambitious careerists would put up with all that to have a shot at the big time?

Stuck can come to harden into a perception of toxic. Law firm Jenner and Block could be parachuted in to investigate a hostile work environment at any of those not-flexible-enough organizations. 

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