Over-50

Baby Boomers Remember When Scandal Wasn't So Sticky

Recently, Chelsea Clinton had been star-snapped in the Hamptons. Of course, that wasn't meant to capture a positive experience, such as the former First Daughter enjoying some exercise.

Like all recent photos taken of well-known personalities, it likely was meant to expose a part of the ugly underbelly of that one-time location for relaxation for society's respected leaders. 

And the particular underbelly was the legacy of Chelsea's dad Bill Clinton. Soon coming to you is FX's "Impeachment: American Crime Story." 

The message of the photo was: What is Chelsea thinking about that expose of Papa Bear? 

Essentially the 10-part series captures, through the conversations of two co-workers in D.C., the comic sex antics between a U.S. President and a chubby outsized-smiling intern. The latter seemed all too eager to please.

As a result of those stolen moments in the White House that U.S. President got legally strung up in an impeachment. 

What is most interesting about all that, though, is not the events themselves, ranging from horrific violation of friendhip by the late Linda Tripp to the evidence on the blue dress.

The real takeway is the long- and short-tail of scandal.

The intern Monica Lewinsky was saddled with the long tail. Only in the last few years had she been able to reimagine her brand and wind up being a professional success in media. 

On the other hand that rascal Bill essentially was able to shake it off. His power remained intact, at least enough to motivate a sitting U.S. Attorney General - Loretta Lynch - to have a chat with him on the tarmac at the Phoenix, Arizona airport.

At the time his wife and Chelse's mother Hillary was under investigation by the Department of Justice. The issue was how she used email when U.S. Secretary of State. No surprise, after her term of office was over, Lynch didn't land another job for 17 months. I assesss that she is in the long-tail category of carrying around scandal like a dog turd on a shoe. 

Incidentally, Hillary didn't come across looking too great in the recent star-snap of her in the Hamptons, with Bill. Overall, though, Hillary too has looped out of that scandal. Maybe it's sympathy that she was "cheated out" of being the first female U.S. President. Who hasn't experienced what a bitter bill disappointment can be.

Then there is the Jeffrey Epstein scandal to ponder. There is yet another book on it. This one had just been published this year. It's "Perversion of Justice" by Julie K. Brown. 

Surprisingly, "Perversion" ranks relatively high on Amazon - 13,162. But, who really cares any more about the Epstein Everything, especially about those who had been caught looping in.

Currently one who suffered from guilt by association - financial wizard Leon Black - seems to be in the short-tail category. The process of making a list checking it twice to see who's naughty and who's been nice has primarily entrapped Prince Andrew.  Incidentally Bill Clinton has also been able to shake off most of the Esptein connection.

The Black blackened brand has mostly resurfaced as the fat aging (born 1951) guy allegedly played by his long-term Russian mistress. The legacy could be more about there's no fool like an old fool than being part of the Epstein kind of fun. 

The takeaway here is: There's no telling if scandal will stick to you. That's you in the Hamptons or you as a first-year associate in a law firm. 

There used to be the conventional wisdom that if you get in any sort of trouble, just lay low. Soon enough someone else will be screwing up and everyone will stop looking at you funny and gossiping about what you allegedly did. 

Now, in this media era, it's impossible to predict who will bear the burden of any sin right into the first line of their obit. 

Let’s talk about success. How can you boost that in your own career and the trajectory of your business? ON YOUR OWN TERMS. You owe yourself a complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail (no selling).

Baby Boomers - Remember Our Dumpster Diving in the Name of the People!

This does not underestimate the brutal need of the current poor who can only survive through dumpster-diving. Some of us try to make their daily runs easier by leaving outside the dumpster what they could use. That frees them up from digging through or even having to leap in.

But, that's only one version of dumpster diving.

Another is the political. 

During the counterculture we who abandoned a suburban ethos for a minimalist lifestyle dumpster dived as a political statement. The objective was to send the message that you didn't need a job in General Motors (our base in the revolution was Ann Arbor, Michigan) to meet your basic needs. In addition, we participated in operating coops: Take what you need, leave what you don't. Donate a couple of bucks. As for other necessities of life such as medical care and psychotherapy (we were the first therapy generation) there were free clinics. 

Habits die hard. What was placed outside dumpsters in this small town I have picked up to furniture my new home. The finds range from a high chair for my elevated meditation table to a few lamps (they work). No political statements, this time around. Just a quick eye for what is free to take. Should I feel guilt that I might have denied the really-down-and-out what they could use? 

Where politics has taken on a social-networking signature is with the dumpster diving in Mahattan of influencer Anna Sacks. The Guardian covers her daily trash walk. Her activist message is that we are a throw-away culture. A subtext is how much organizations waste. She videos her journey and collections and posts them on social networks such as Instagram.

Will Sacks be able to accomplish ESG Moments and encourage business to recycle rather than toss? For example, she showcased a hairbrush that, if sterilized, could be given to those who need one.

Sacks is a hero of our times. But, unlike the era of the counterculture, her activist message might not have reach.

Let’s talk about success. How can you boost that in your own career and the trajectory of your business? You owe yourself a complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail (no selling).

Want to Know What Your Much-Younger-Than-You Bosses Are Thinking? - Connect with TikTok

It's been light years - at least in digital time - since TikTok was a video platform for cool dance moves. It evolved into a source of financial advice for the under-30. And, even - and this is where you loop in - career guidance for Generation Z and the younger Millennials. 

Here, for example, selfmademillennial does a highly expressive presentation on why the viewer didn't get the job. The reason: The applicant didn't transmit the message that she or he really wanted that particular job. Not just a job. 

By tuning in to TikTok you can get a real-life feel what your young bosses are thinking and how to interview for jobs and gig asssignments with those decades younger than you. Here is where to sign up.

Immersing yourself in TikTok can help you break the generational code.

Not that you will ever try to talk, walk and dress like youth. But you can access their values. Time travel to your early career. Remember how "they" the career gurus told you to think like the boss. That is, figure out what is on the boss' mind. Then figure out what we can do to deal with those whatevers.

Well, you now have to think like your much younger boss. That person also has stuff in his or her head that relates to getting things done at work. Where is your part in all that? TikTok can provide information and insight.

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

Unexpected Benefit of WFH - Your Job May Be Safe (at least until employers figure out correlation with performance)

The Wall Street Journal reports that right now employers have backed off from firing or even introducing with employees performance issues.

One reason, of course, is compassion. Terminations would throw workers into an uncertain job market. Along with that they would lose their health insurace. The court of public opinion, which shapes the organization's brand, would push back.

But the more powerful driver is that employers can't figure out how WFH shapes work performance and how to measure that for the team and the individual. What, for example, are the key variables?

Eventually, some employers could discover that workers' performance declines when there are young children in their work setting. So, instead of firing, the fix could be parachuting those from WFH back to the office as soon as possible. 

If the entire team's performance declines, then employers might have to contract with consultants to study that dynamic. After all, using videoconfering for work teams is nothing new. 

Given the ambiguity, employers who fire could also run into lawsuits.

These developments provide time to workers to search for other jobs if they sense the powers that be or their own team members view their output negatively.

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

  

Six Degrees of Separation or Weak Ties - Those Bonds Broken by COVID

There are all those casual relationships.

They range from the aunt of our roommate from college to the retired head of the accounting department. 

At one time, those kinds of loose bonds had been referred to as "six degrees of separation" or "weak links." Using the latter term, sociologist Mark Granovetter hammered how important non-intimate connections were to our professional success. That aunt knew the managing partner at a large law firm where we wanted to pitch for marketing communications assignments. She allows us to use her name. We got in. 

Because of COVID, Amanda Mull reflects in The Atlantic, those social connections have gone poof. If we're lucky, we can hold on to those close ties, be they family or those in the direct loop how we earn our living. Otherwise, the humans we had interacted with as part of simply being a social animal probably have gone out of our life. Perhaps permanently. All that human equity wasted. 

The reason is not only the isolation created by COVID. In addition, so many of us are plum exhausted being hypervigilant about what's going on or could go on in the variants of the virus, vaccine distribution, the stock market, economic upheaval such as whole hospitality niches wiped out and the reality that none of us is getting younger in an era of intense age bias. 

However, giving up on trying to hold on to those ties via Zoom, Face Time, texting, email, social networks and old-fashioned phoning can inflict permanent professional damage. That applies to those on a career path, gig workers and the semiretired struggling to continue to make ends meet. 

We are our networks. That's what Granovetter made crystal clear. It's through people that doors open. Without those connections, the doors could stay shut - and we might not even realize it.

Solution: Stay in the loop. Find sincere reasons to make contact. Often those we reach out to are thrilled to hear from us. They are also isolated and anxious about not being in touch. 

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Dianne Feinstein - When Should We Admit Our Career Is Over?

Influential The New Yorker has brought center stage the issue of cognitive decline in professional life.

Sure, there are those senior moments. Yet, most careerists can compensate for those and still function well enough or even quite well in their careers.

Apparently, not iconic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. Her ability to perform her duties is being questioned. Already she has resigned from a top job in the U.S. Senate. What the matter has evolved into is this: Should there be a mechanism to force her out? According to media reports, gentle nudges aren't fixing what more and more observers conclude is a bad situation.

Feinstein is not alone in being perceived as no longer up to the job.

But, cognitive decline is not the only reason those in the loop might want us aging professionals out. It could also be physical decline. We can't put in those 80-hour weeks any more and that's unfair to the team. Of, in a glam industry such as media, no one wants to have around anyone - horrors - who doesn't look young. That's reality. Brutal. But real.

Meanwhile, in this era of video interviewing for work - think Zoom - our aging is usually held against us. 

Society is not likely to tame its hostility toward aging. That means we have to figure out our own our unique situation. Can we still perform our professional duties as expected? If not, what other work can we do? Hanging up the career doesn't mean the end of the possibility of continuing to earn income from working. 

What aging can mean is that we have to adjust to the realities - both in how society perceives us and our own growing limitations. Here is my book, a free read, on exiting our comfort zones. 

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Zoom Doesn't Doom Your Hope for Landing That Job/GigAssignment

Yes, accept that invitation to interview via Zoom for employment.

I know, I know. Those earlier Zoom interviews resulted in nada. Probably the hiring team didn't even contact you again. The technology of Zoom can be more brutal on aging than SKYPE.

I was about to back out of a Zoom interview for a financial servicez assignment. It was scheduled for noon Saturday. I only bellied up to the laptop screen because during this period of social distancing I had nothing else to do. 

Well, the assignment did come my way. The founder of the startup in California notified me around 11:30 P.M. ET - 8:30 P.M. Pacific time Sunday that for once age bias didn't roll over me.

So, keep doing the Zoom interviews. Not everyone on the other side of the screen sees an older professional. That man or woman with the jobs could be seeing the solution to his or her problems.

Place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Age 64, Lost Job, So Far Only Rejection - Should This Professional Retire?

COVID-19 has been brutal for the employment of older employees.

The employers' need to cost-cut, along with senior workers' high compensation, has made aging employees a target for layoffs, early retirements and even outright firings. 

A 64-yer-old professional who was terminated from his job writes in to Greg Giangrande at the New York Post.

After the job was gone, in his job search he has encountered only rejection. Among his observations - and he is on the money - when the interview is via video, as with Zoom, he is bound to be turned down. His age, of course. The world is digital and it is tilted against anyone who isn't a digital native. The assumption is that older workers haven't kept up enough with technology. 

Of course, Giangrande answers "no." The man should hang in there. But he has to audit how he is searching for work, identify what isn't effective and experiment. Also, Giangrande recommends resources such as Workforce50.com and RetirementJobs.com. AARP is also in his corner.

Here also are the 5 tactics I found useful for those over-50 whom I coach:

At the top of the list is: Develop a positive mindset. Since you probably have to continue working to be financially secure, you will find work. 

Likely it won't be career-path kind. But that's okay. You are simply ahead of your time.

According to Willis Watson Towers, the career is 20th century. Instead, you will be setting up and updating a portfolio of skills and experiences. It won't be linear.

That applies to all generations, not just you. The members of the Class of 2020 could start out as a manager trainee in McDonald's USA. The next paid employment could be at a startup creating an app for reimagining the drive-thru aspect of fast food centers.

Number-two. Drop all concept of status. Work is work. And work leads to better-paying work. It's all about landing, holding, and moving to better work. A free read, here is my book on that fresh approach to bringing in income Download Outwitting ageism.

At age 58, I was a security guard in an inner city Home Depot. At age 59, I was putting together a boutique for digital marketing. That was way back in 2005. The loss preventing experience stated out as a contract job. Through hard work, I turned it into a full-time one with benefits. Management wanted me to accept a supervisory role. But, already I was on my way back to self-employment. Here is that story. Since I published it, which has had more than a million downloads, I have started up several new enterprises. You bet, I got over prestige.

Number-three. Reconfigure your network. Those from the past may be absolutely the wrong fit for you now. A useful book on how former networks can hold you back is "Necessary Endings" by executive coach Henry Cloud. As research on mirror neurons shows, we human being influence each other, cell by cell. Outdated influence can destroy your confidence in earning a good living, despite aging. 

There's a new version of you out there searching for work.

Number-four. Learn new skills. The process can be cost-effective. For example, at a community college or trade school you can become certified as a substance abuse counselor or expert in a software. In a relatively short time you can earn your license as a long-distance truck driver. The tuition for that ranges from free (if you agree to work for that company for two years) or less than $7k. Yes, loans are available. 

Public libraries provide free seminars in software packages. And universities often provide free non-credit courses to seniors. Some of them require a small fee such as $5 for registration.

Number-five. Ask for help if you sense you are "stuck." That could be in the form of a close friend, significant other, clergy, therapist, or coach such as myself. The answers are all inside yourself. But sometimes you need a guide to help you find them.

Anecdote: One of the handyman in this residential complex has that full-time job. In addition, he has three other side gigs. He owns a super-large SUV and a giant camper. His secret to remaining working, even in his late 60s: He tells those hiring what results he can get for them and how. He doesn't present an abstract laundry list of credentials.

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

 

Let's All Stop Talking Like Lawyers - At Least, Those of Us Who Aren't Lawyers

Dating back to the heyday of consumer advocate Ralph Nader, filing lawsuits was sexy. In fact, it was the signature of people alert to their rights and putting themselves through the ordeal of litigation for justice.

That was then.

Sure, folks are still suing. But the cool has been sucked out of it.

The influence game is more fun. It's faster. And for those who have down cold its dynamics, it's could even be free. Just invest some time and creativity.

The ways of influence are almost infinite.

There are:

Podcasts

Social networks ranging from LinkedIn to Instagram

Old-line blogging

YouTube

In-person theatre in the streets (protesting as during the counterculture)

Email/texting campaigns

Connecting with government officials

Paid newsletters such as Substack and Ghost

And, more to be developed.

Along with the shift away from litigation as a form of personal branding there is this: a recognition that maybe talking like a lawyer isn't all that effective. Better to first use soft skills or Emotional Intelligence. During the past five years of Perfect Storms, I have used both for everything from shaking loose payments from clients to getting out of leases with bad-actor landlords.

The common response when the talking like a lawyer card is played is that those at the other end simply shut down the game. They refuse to continue the conversation. That usually means we really will have to follow through and use legal means. Those can be expensive and slow-moving. In addition there is no guarantee of success.

On the other hand, when we do a Dale Carnegie - "How to Win Friends and Influence People" - the conversation can continue. Eventually both parties will wear out. We are ready for compromise. Likely we both get more of what we wanted than we had anticipated. In contrast, litigation is highly uncertain as to outcomes.

Applications to law schools are way up. But that has nothing to do with how we non-lawyers navigate our little lives, our obsessive feuds and our big causes. It might be downright smart to leave all the lawyer rhetoric to the lawyers. 

Place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Here are 6 tips for search engine optimization (SEO) in 2020. Contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

"Fresh Start" - Smirk Smirk

One version of the American Dream is The Fresh Start.

But, is it possible?

The mistress in the Chris Watts's saga - Nichol Kessinger - has applied for a name change. Daily Mail reports she is seeking a whole new identity including relocation. The recent Netflix documentary had made her even more notorious than she had been.

Of course, from the get-go the court of public opinion judged her harshly for "not knowing" (doesn't a woman somehow always "know" something is fishy about the man who claims to be separated) Watts was married. At the time the wife was pregnant. There were two young children.

In addition there was the matter of Kessinger's internet searches. They include the how-tos of anal and threesome sex. 

Years ago it had been suggested that the infamous intern Monica Lewinsky change her name. And, move to Europe. But immediately what was brought was the old adage: Wherever you go, you bring yourself. At the time, it was obvious Lewinsky remained the the same person who had gotten herself into that mess with a U.S. President. More recently, the issue is: Has she changed? Or, has she only become more adept in personal branding?

Back to Kessinger. Her two years of being out of the public view but not out of the zone of public vilification may or may not have changed her. The odds, though, are against it.

Even in that transformational 12-step program Alcoholics Anonymous, there is recognition that often the most that could be hoped for is: The miscreant stops drinking. That stops the harm to society. Also, to himself or herself. And, that's about it. There is even the gallows humor: You can sober up the horse thieves but they will still continue to steal horses.

Yes, there is the second chance in America. But few are able to use that platform to become the person or the professional they can be. 

The Future of Work. Ghostwriting on those issues and coaching for job search, transition, personal branding, re-entry after recovery and reputation restoration. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)