Over-50

Laughing at The Rules - We Never Grow Up Totally, Do We!

“'These men shoveled thousands and thousands of dollars of foreign money to U.S. politicians, laughing about how they were breaking the law along the way,' [Aline] Flodr [Assistant US Attorney] said in the prosecution’s opening statement in the trial [of Lev Parnas, et al. ]'"  - John Gerstein, Politico, October 15, 2021.

That hubris ethos mirrors the confident values of the members Sopranos tribe, especially as they enjoyed themselves at Bada Bing. 

And that could probably what irks the prosecution: scorn for the standard rules of law. Humor is one of the most cruel and effective weapons. That observation goes back to John's Milton epic "Paradise Lost." Satan heaped humor on righteous values. Ouch.

The trial is about Parnas' alleged filtering of $100,000 from Russian businessperson Andrey Muraviev to political candidates as a kind of bribe nudge. It's contended those funds were intended to grease the wheels for Muraviev to establish a cannabis enterprise in the U.S. Parnas is connected to Rudy Giuliani.

Parnas' lawyer is Joseph Bondy who argues that his client did not know the alleged stealth agenda. Of course, ignorance of the law is no excuse.

With "The Many Saints of Newark" in movie theatres, the fascination with the Sopranos hubris is back. That could hover as presence in the courtroom.

Few of us have outgrown our adolescent love of expressing scorn for the rules. And outwitting the system. Even supposedly fully grown up, we admire the bad guys.

It would be wise for Parnas not to smirk during the trial.

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Glamorizing Hustle Culture - We Baby Boomers Started That

Our parents simply went to work. Some even were in white-collar jobs like accounting or middle management. Then they came home each evening and that was that. No bringing work home. Instead they turned on the evening news.

On the popular televsion series of the 1950s "Father Knows Best" employee in the insurance industry Jim Anderson was home for dinner every night. And he was "there." He listened to everyone's problems and shared their joys. 

Then we baby boomers came along.

Low-cost college education and the opportunities of the post-war economy unleashed in us intense ambition. There was a shot at making it big and we went for it.

Along the way The Career Advice industry emerged to guide our every move.

Yes, go for the M.B.A.

Here's how to comport yourself if you sense the boss will be fired.

Dress like those do in the position you're heading toward.

We were our work.

Parents, both males and females, weren't home for dinner. There was a struggle to hire and retain the best nannies.

Single women without children like myself were what employers wanted. We could hop on a plane without notice to solve a problem in the plant in Canada or Mexico. 

And born was what LinkedIn News calls "The Hustle Culture."

Even though many of us currentlyy are beyond normal retirement age we are still our work. We can't shake that our professional identify is the primary one.

Those of our colleagues forced to retire and who can't put a Work Next together usually wither. I have observed that when I visited former college acquaintance Kathleen Huebner in Oro Valley, Arizona. Although she had had a succesful career she opted to retire in one of those retirement communities. Mostly what I had heard was those gushing about their previous careers. There was no there in the present. 

Now, The Hustle Culture, which we made glam, is being vilified. It's been fingered for everything from burnout to an inability to connect on a deep level.

In my coaching those over-50 the focus is on simply easing up, even a little, on the compulsion to keep achieving. There is no expectation of being totally liberated from an ethos which anointed work as sacred. The irony is that those letting go even just a bit become more successful. Essentially they drop the story line of past whatever and immerse themselves in the now.

As for younger generations, they are a fragmented bunch.

Some Gen Zers have decided work will be just a part of their lives and on their terms. Those include operating remotely.

Then there are the strivers captured in "Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life." It's by former Yale Professor William Dersiewicz. That subculture within youth is trapped in a constant hustle. They fear making a mistake or getting a bad grade. Therefore, they freeze into cartoon characters chasing what they have been told are the rules for success.

The good news is that hustle can be tamed. The silver lining in the pandemic was that, with one's life on the line, there was reflection about how that life was being lived. What has resulted is a deep rethinking about work. Insider reports that recently in one month five million workers quit. They refused to do The Hustle.

Since we started The Hustle, we can be in the front lines for reducing its influence. The first step is to humanize how we work. Be kind to our employees and vendors. Find  in satisfaction in serving employers and clients/customers. And, forgive ourselves, if we didn't quite make the big time. 

Intuitive guidance about your career. Drop your story line and open to extreme possibility. Sliding Scale Fees. Please make an appointment for a complimentary consultation at janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Material Girl, Turned 63, Turns Desperate

"Madonna wreaked havoc during her appearance on “The Tonight Show” Thursday when she crawled across host Jimmy Fallon’s desk and flashed her tush to the audience." - New York Post, October 8, 2021.

The Material Girl was there to promote her documentary "Madame X." But all she did, at age 63, is flash the message that she can handle aging. When Fallon was having none of it, she ended that caper by giving the audience a peek at her black underwear.

With so many of us now over-60 and going on about our work and our lives just fine, getting older has lost much of its stigma. However, obviously, Madonna hasn't been able to take that leap into accepting no longer being young.

Meanwhile, actress Helen Mirren, in her 70s, maintains her dignity and continues to remain employable. 

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Lost and Can't Be Found - Young Tony Soprano as Portrayed in "The Many Saints of Newark"

Maybe it was the tragic and premature death of James Gandolfini. That could have shortcircuited any infatuation with the power of the mob. In so many minds of the viewers of the HBO "The Sopranos" James was Tony Soprano. We sensed James fought some of the same demons Tony had struggled with.

Therefore, it's predictable that David Chase, creator of the "The Sopranos," would cast darkness on the background of how Tony came to be. His film "The Many Saints of Newark" doesn't romanticize gangsta life.

Pain is at the root of the behavior of the young Tony, portrayed by James' son Michael Gandolfini. His mother couldn't connect. His father is a lightweight criminal who winds up in prison for four years. Also, the young Tony himself leans out of social norms. Even in grade school he's in trouble for running a numbers racket. 

The young Tony's idol and mentor is his uncle Dickie Moltisanti, played by Alessandro Nivola. Dickie had been abused by his father and witnessed his mother also being treated so badly. The rage is palpable. It breaks out and Dickie murders that father and his mistress.

Also, sure there are the big dinners around the big table. But the aura of brotherhood isn't there. It is a fellow made man who offs Dickie. That's for laughing at him when he fell on steps. 

Meanwhile, the mob has to be as worried about competition as any orthodox Fortune 50 corporation. During that turbulent time young Tony is coming of age Blacks are becoming activists. Newark is on fire during the riots of 1967. One Black man who used to work for Dickie sets up his own racket. He also has sex with Dickie's mistress. When she confessed that to Dickie, he drowns her. He is never the same after that.

Rather than fascination with how power is acquired, protected, and grown, we probably experience this film with sadness. Social workers should see "The Many Saints of Newark" to understand how people get lost and maybe cannot be found. Psychotherapy didn't help the adult Tony. 

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It's Coming Back: The Original "Law & Order"

Except for reruns, we have been without the original "Law & Order" for 11 years. But, soon it will be back on NBC, reports TVSeriesFinale. Dick Wolf is its iconic producer.

Details remain sketchy, including about who will be the cast. 

"Law & Order" had been a must-enjoy from 1990 until 2010. There had been 456 episodes. 

Law students really did learn plenty from watching it and analyzing how emotion, points of law, and politics came together.  

Jack McCoy was the idealist. And he battled his demons. Arthur Branch was the politico. He was cool as a cucumber. Often the two clashed. So, law students also received a tutorial on office politics. 

Since Wolf derives the plot material from current events we may get episodes on judges who should have recused themselves on cases which involved their own stock, social networks pitching to preteens, and executives who failed to address problems in their organizational culture.

Yeah, it will be like old times again. That was a more simple time. 

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Even We Baby Boomers Want Fun, Not News

No, audiences are not obedient animals. Not any more. They have broken the habit of tuning in to televsion at set times to catch a certain news presentation. As Bloomberg reports, the number of viewers for Fox are down 15% since 2017.

No slouch when it comes to course correction, Fox's prime mover Rupert Murdoch is filling that gap with entertainment. The content won't be behind a paywall. Instead it will be funded through advertising. To pull this shift off Fox hired AMC executive Charles Collier. The entertainment niche at Fox after it had sold so many assets to Disney.

Fox's most recent acquistion is TMZ, which is oriented toward youth. The television presentations are fun. The text articles are breathless captures of what's going on in entertainment. They don't miss anything.

In general, news is a dying category in television business, be that old-line broadcast or cable. So many have tuned it out. Many more just don't believe what is foisted on them as supposed facts. Also, most news is bad. People are weary of being pulled down. 

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Oh, Please, Not The Blue Dress Again

The infamous White House intern in the blue dress - Monica Lewinsky - has been a busy bee throwing shade on her former boss Bill Clinton and others involved in that so-long-ago scandal. 

Lewisnksy's activities not only include producing the 10-part series (but will anyone stick with it, after the first episode) "Impeachment: American Crime Story." She also is out there on in influential media spots such as "Today Show." The latest, though, is the most over-the-top. As Daily Mail reports, she contends she will need lots more therapy after the experience of producing the expose. 

We don't know Lewinsky's intentions in dragging all this up, yet again. Is it supposed to provide a step in healing? After all, post the sexual antics in the White House she contends she was suicidal. Or are the motives darker, ranging from increased fame to money?

We don't know.

But, what we do know in communications is that scandal peaks and then that's that. Afterwards its half life might be long but not intense.

Just consider how effectively and efficiently Clinton has been able to put together his Nexts. He retained that important commodity in America: power.

That included having enough power to have then U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch confer with him on the tarmac of the Phoenix Airport when his wife Hillary was being investigated by the Department of Justice.

As for Lynch: Yes, she had a struggle finding work afterwards - her job search had been 17 months. But she's back in the big time as a partner in an elite law firm. In black bias lawsuit "Christine Crawford v. McDonald's USA" she is the lead defense lawyer. If it gets to trial it could be another "US v Elizabeth Holmes." Not a soft landing but Lynch did land on her feet and rebuilt her professional space. 

Here's the reality: Those who conjure up scandals through exposes or struggle to keep them lit through lawsuits and more frequently are perceived as even worse than those they make it their business (and usually it is a business) to undermine. 

Take another busy bee - former Russian model and former Leon Black mistress Guzel Ganieva. Through a lawsuit and then an amendment to it, Ganieva got the media's attention. And ours for about 15 mintues. She contends everything from rape to Black's attempting to pimp her out. So? 

Post that media dustup, Black seems to be laying low, which is the fundamental in reputation restoration. Also, he took the right first steps toward the Next. Those include putting past identities behind him such as heading Apollo Global Management and chairing the board of the Modern Museum of Art.

When the appropriate time comes Black can do a kind of Mike Milken. Post-prison Milken created branding as not only a philathropist but also a medical research innovator. 

In the process or reimagining his branding Black will probably render, in the way folks see things, Ganieva a kind of public nuisance. His legal team was smart in filing a countersuit.

Also, Clinton could pull off attracting sympathy for himself from myriad constituencies when pounded by "Impeachment." Everyman and even Everywoman could figure: The guy had been shamed enough. And enough is enough.

Lewinsky could also be repositioned and repackaged as a kind of public nuisance. Her hold on attention could go poof. She will become total past tense.

The reality is that we are a nation of screw-ups. The Puritans came to the New Land because they weren't making it in the Old Land. But once in fresh space they made something big for themselves and the American economy. 

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Baby Boomers, Maybe We Were Blessed: We Didn't Acquire Wealth (at least not much of it)

"Father Forgive Me, I am wealthy (and I expect uncconscious bias by the jury)."

Acquiring wealth, which is part of the American Dream, can be the wrench in the works if you wind up in front of a jury. Or, a target of media outlets. 

That's one of the concerns of the two defendants going on trial this month in CollegeAdmissionsGate. They are a married couple - Gamal Abdelazia, former president of Wynn Resorts in Macau, and player in finance John Wilson. Jury selection starts on September 8th. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton is presiding over the trial.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

"The nationwide college-admissions scandal is returning to the spotlight next week, with the first trial in the sprawling case involving two parents accused of bribery-and-fraud conspiracy in an alleged scheme to get their children admitted to the University of Southern California as athletic recruits." 

During jury selection, there will be an explicit screening for the issue of attitude toward wealth. Sure, those interviewed will likely try to be as honest and as candid as possible. Most people who wind up on juries want to do the right thing. But we know enough from our introductory psychology or sociology college courses to understand how unconscious bias can play out. 

There had been that same concern in jury selection, which is currently going on, in "US v. Elizabeth Holmes." As media had reported, the legal team from Williams & Connolly requested not to have presented at the trial indications of the defendant's earlier upscale lifestyle. At one time founder of Theranos Elizabeth Holmes had been worth billions of dollars.

What should be obvious too is that those caught up in the Jeffrey Epstein loop of bad publicity and possible crime also could have been hammered and are continued to be villified because they are rich. Those include Alan Dershowitz, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Leon Black. For all, there is a long tail of scandal. For Black that has been even though he got legally off the hook in his financial dealings with Epstein. 

The new book on all that "Perversion of Justice" by journalist Julie Brown is filled with cameos of great wealth.  Maxwell, whose father had supposedly lost the family money, allegedly had been drawn into the Epstein force field by the opportunity to regain her wealth. 

When Insider and other media wanted to do a hit job on Black and those associated with him there were the requisite scenes of life in the wealthy conclave of the Hamptons in New York. The Hamptons has become a kind of platform on which to shame the wealthy. 

Currently some of the wealthy could be bringing this antipathy upon themselves. They are the new money. Members of that flamboyant tribe are flashing around their good fortune. Old money in the Hamptons is not only appalled but also fearful that their dynasties can be driven out by the new money.

Wealth can continue to be on trial if evictions, the pandemic, pressure to get back to the office, and overwork create new flashpoints in society. The Great Discontent could break out around the holiday season.

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Our Beloved Mr. Grant - Ed Asner - Passes Over at Age 91

Mr. Grant - we baby boomers still called bosses by their last names back then - had hired Mary Richards. And that would be the platform for rolling out a new role model for single females in America. All that was showcased on the "Mary Tyler Moore" series. 

Mr. Grant, played by Ed Asner, had a big heart encased in a gruff exterior. There was no ambiguity who was the boss but the boss was no bully. Also, we didn't even envision sexual harassment in those more innocent times. Bosses were expected to be total gentlemen. (In my experience as a baby boomer, they were.)

Mr. Grant's total humanity spilled out when he participated in a strike and admitted it was tough to make it through the day without work. Yes, that ethos lives on today. While off duty, Mr. Grant painted and repainted a chair.

Along the way in his career, Asner won 7 Emmys. But his most important accomplishment was providing an example how a woman without a husband could make it, even in a glam sector like television.

At age 91, Asner passed over. Behind the gates, he could be organizing a new show with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. 

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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. 

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