Over-50

Sunday Afternoon Washing/Waxing My Car - Like Immigrant Men in the Old Neighborhood

Their only piece of America was the cars they had bought. Usually boxy Pontiacs. Black.

And every Sunday, in the 1950s,  those immigrant men on Bay Street in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey, would be out there on the street washing and waxing those cars.

Then they stepped into the cars and hand-cleaned every bit. Since the cars were all big back then that was a lot of space to cover. 

We kids would sit on the stoop, watching. 

This Sunday, a very hot one here near the border of Mexico, I followed in their footsteps.

My oddball-configured SmartCar can't get through the standard automatic washer. Hand-washing by an outlet on the main highway costs a king's ransom.

I finally paid attention to the math. I can do this,  I decided, just like the men in the old neighborhood.

I brought a chair to get to the top of the car. (Am tiny like all my Italian relatives. My grandmother was 4'9''.)

In a canvas bag I put all the supplies. Already I was having doubts I could pull this off. 

Then I got up on the chair. It was on the passenger sde. I put the sponge in the water. I had to rub.

Yes, you sweat when you do this kind of work. And, it is work. No wonder the hand-washers charge so much. 

The car sparkled. I did this! 

Then I stepped inside the car. Not quite a full-detailing job but pretty close. 

By time this old-neighborhood ritual was over I felt so connected to my roots. 

What probably also helped that along was this: Recently I landed two industrial trade accounts for marketing communications assignments. The old neighborhood was full of craftsmen. Nothing needed to be thrown away. They could fix anything and everything. 

But it was someone from a very different orbit than the old neighborhood who, over the past 18 months, had unleashed that old street-kid brash confidence in me.

Somehow, I was able to exit the glutted niche of professional services (where clients were so arrogant and downright mean) to the less crowded one of waterproofing and roofing (where clients are just like the folks in the old neighborhood).

Magically, it was Brad Karp, head of elite law firm Paul Weiss, who somehow steered me back to a time when we all felt in more control. So, we are in control, right.

Whom we connect with and how we connect - as oddball as what the SmartCar is all about. The force field seemed conjured up through voodoo.

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).

 

The Old Guilt By Association - Looping in with Leon Black

In my field of communications, there is the old joke: Don't feature X or Y employee in your promotional material. He or she might turn out to be an ax murderer. The takeaway: You just never know when it comes to people. 

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City might be learning that reality: You just never know when it comes to people.

Its former chairman Leon Black is being vilified in the media because he had been in the Jeffrey Epstein loop. Also, he is embroiled in a nasty lawsuit with a former mistress - Guzel Ganieva.

The latest development in that litigation is the amendment she filed yesterday. That amendment brings the Epstein issue and the romance together in one of those BigBang brand unravelings. The amendment alleges Black attempted a version of sex trafficking with her. 

Last March, under pressure from artists because of his association with Epstein, Black announced he would not seek re-election to his position of power on MoMA. His term expired on July 1.

Now, as happens all the time when institutions frontload themselves with people, the leadership at MoMA could be busy bees right now. They could be figuring out how to position and package the Black Connection which is connected to Epstein and some other serious allegations. Ganieva alleges rape.

MoMA, of course, could have plenty of company in this public relations urgency.

Already, in a book - "The Caesars Palace Coup" - and in articles such as this one by Insider - Wall Street law firm Paul Weiss has been looped in.

In an earlier Epstein matter, reports FT, Black had been legally represented by the Paul Weiss chairperson Brad Karp. In addition, the business of the private equity fund which Black founded - Apollo - had and is continuing to be represented by Paul Weiss. Last March, the law firm's transactional practice handled the $11-billion merger of Apollo and Athene.

The strength of the U.S. legal system is that every entity is entitled to a defense. However, those law firms and lawyers who do that defending open themselves to a hit job in the court of public opinion. The representation of Harvey Weinstein and startup Theranos by litigation icon David Boies of Boies Schiller could have been the tipping point for his downward trajectory. For 2020, when many elite law firms had amazing financial performance, Boies Schiller didn't.

However, Paul Weiss gets wins for clients. A major one had been the June 2021 victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in an appeal in a class actions securities case.

In addition, Karp has almost surreal gifts in the presentation of self. In my business encounters with him I frequently analyzed his approach to communications for lessons to bring to my clients, both in copywriting and coaching. If Karp leverages those skills in this crisis he can transform what is into public relations gold. Like, tell the story of the integrity of the American legal system to The Wall Street Journal or the National Law Journal. 

Then, there's also the Apollo brand. Last month, Black had stepped down from heading that private equity empire. That seemed inevitable. Way back in October 2020, Reuters ran the headline:

"Apollo seeks to tame investor concerns over CEO's ties to Epstein"

The taming process has included a new head for Apollo Marc Rowan. There is also a new strategic direction. That's launching insurance (Athene) as the platform for being a credit powerhouse. There is also strong financial performance for Q2 2021.

On Wall Street, money is the loudest voice in the room. It can outshout all the schoolboyish/schoolgirlish concerns about the legacy of Black at Apollo. Like, money is made in the now and Rowan is making it for investors.

That leaves MoMA. For a while, it might not be able to navigate smoothly out of this pickle. Artists are a judgmental group. After all, their mission is to see the world in a fresh way and transmit that vision.

Meanwhile, Black is an interesting human being for us to struggle to understand his choices. In a psychobabble indulgence, I will speculate: His father's suicide when he was 24 years old might have rewired his brain for his own self-destruction. There is also the theory of ethnic self-hate which novelist Philip Roth brought mainstream. Being Jewish, even in New York City, is not pretty. 

As for Ganieva, she could be having a lot of fun. She set so many entities reeling. 

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).

Of Course, They Don't Know - You Have to Learn to Be Your Own Psychic

Can't you envision all the medical leaders and government officials and your employers rounding up the heads of committees X and Y to discuss scenarios. Yeah, if the emerging variants go into the winter. Should masks be mandated, even with vaccinations. What about an outbreak of COVID in the office. 

Of course, you can't look to them for information or insight. They pretend to be in charge of that. But probably aren't.  believing that one is right. All the time. 

So, to feel a sense of being in-touch with what is and what could unfold, you can try out being your own source of information and insight. That is, your own psychic. 

You had the ability as a child. All children are psychic , that is, have the extrasensory ability to reach beyond the concrete. Then it's socialized out of them. Soon they're relying on the experts for how to experience the world. The phrase for that is this: becoming a closed system.

Here are 5 steps on how to circle back to those powers. And, you bet, be your guide for navigating these confusing times. 

First of all, lift the fear out of you about sensing what you already sense but can't explain why you feel it. Loop in, instead. It might require the prerequisite of telling the force field beyond the normal boundaries of time and space: I'm ready. That's called: surrender.

Secondly, snatch a bit of another dimension into your usual existence. Simply lighting several candles can do it. Stare at the flames until your mind stills. With a deep breath, suck in a problem such as "will you contract the virus." Then let out that breath slowly with the mantra "Clear thinking, don't know."

Soon you can strengthen your intuitive muscle to the point that you won't need the flame. That will be internalized. 

Three, instead of experiencing your world the usual way, tune totally into the energy. Open up to what vibrations are being given off. They could be coming from people or a plant or your cat. Trust what you are taking in as what you're "reading" right. That will provide plenty of answers about decisions you need to make 0r for you to pause on making them right now.

Four, project. What do you "see" in your being? Picture yourself sitting or not sitting in a formal office in October. How does it look, feel, smell, and sound. Some master psychics recommend putting that on paper. As you gain more confidence in your reach beyond normal cognition your visualizations will be more in sync with what is or will be. 

And, five, develop what some call "spirit guides." They could be a cherished pet who has passed over or a presence you feel around you. Ask them to help you help yourself in finding what you need to know. 

Me? My psychic ability comes from my family from Eastern Europe. I strengthened that through workshops in Salem, MA and Tucson, AZ. I have worked as a professional intuitive reader. Two hours a day I meditate. That facilitates slipping into a trance on-demand. 

Intuitive readings. Please contact for appointment janegenova374@gmail.com.

Those Professors - We Didn't Leave Them Behind When We Got Our (Multiple) Academic Degrees

"Including its first two hearings, 57 of 82 committee members and witnesses [of the Presidential Commission on the U.S. Supreme Court] are professors, of whom 36 teach at one of six schools: Harvard, Yale, Duke, the University of Chicago, Columbia, and NYU." - Bloomberg Law, July 20, 2021.

We baby boomers were not only the first educated generation. We were the first over-educated one. The mantra back then had been: The more education the better.

Along the way we should have come to at least be skeptical of the credibility and authority of professors.

More likely we probably came to feel strong antipathy against their claims of certitude. The worst I have found during my own journey in over-education were the professors teaching the 1Ls at Harvard Law School.

So, we baby boomers should be in the front lines of concern about both the high number of professors on the SCOTUS Presidential Commission and the predictable reality that they are primarily from the Ivy League.

Will that sort of configuration generate a multi-dimensional review of what goes down in SCOTUS, everything from who tends to get admitted to the club to if a mandatory retirement age is a good idea? Don't bet on it.

The best tutorials I have had on what counts in everything and anything have been from my supervisors and clients in business. They range from an assistant manager with a community college education working in an inner city big box to the mom-and-pop blue-collar owners of a waterproofing firm. 

Over-reverence for higher education, especially the kind served up in elite institutions, didn't end with us baby boomers. As former Yale Professor William Deresiewicz showcases in his book "Excellent Sheep," current college students still are in that box. 

Both the undeserved power of professors and the aura of the Ivy League can end with an aggressive push back against the dominance of professors on the SCOTUS Presidential Commission. Let's demand a recall.

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Baby Boomers - Our First Communion

White dress.

White veil.

White knee socks.

White shoes.

White purse.

White prayer book.

White rosary beads.

White candle.

That was me on my First Communion Day. 

To the present time, I have never felt so important.

That's likely exactly what the one-time brilliant-in-marketing Roman Catholic Church intended in configuring the First Communion ritual. It is a starter sacrament whose aura becomes embedded in both the individual and collective memory bank. My family was beside themselves watching me walk in measured steps up to the altar. 

So, it's no surprise that currently the power structure of Roman Catholicism in the U.S. has zeroed in on communion as the symbol of the need to buy into its whole orthodoxy of beliefs and practices. As is well known, the bishops have been busy bees putting together a manifesto about this sacrament. It seems intended as a stern warning to all who approach its dogma menu on an a carte basis. Among them is U.S. President Joe Biden.

Those close to his administration, such as Brad Karp of Paul Weiss, might advise Biden to, well, smirk. 

Strategically, this busy-bee activity on the part of American Roman Catholicism seems like a very dumb move at the wrong time. And those bishops used to be such smart players.

 Pew documents that of all religions in the U.S. Roman Catholicism has lost the most members. Since the Boston Globe outed clergy sexual abuse of young boys beginning in 2002, there have been a loss of market share, bankruptcies and the shuttering of parish schools. 

Those of us supporting the Biden Administration policies such as pro-abortion could protest in front of our local diocese  headquarters in simulations of our attire for our First Communion.

A budding fashionista can loop into a big brandname by designing the females' Communion Dresses so that they won't be confused with wedding dresses. Much fun to be had. Plus interesting to time travel back to an era when Roman Catholicsm could cast such a spell on our immigrant families in the 1950s. 

Reflection: Is all religion voodoo?

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)

Power - Casting Spells

Much of media coverage has focused on how being part of the Trump Administration has made it difficult for some lawyers to find good jobs.

For instance, Bloomberg Law points out those who have not landed on their feet, at least not yet. Those include William Barr, Jeffrey Rosen, Robert Lighthizer and Pat Cipollone.

Others just have part-time jobs or assignments.

And there are those who took private sector positions who might have preferred the heady experience of being in an elite law firm.

But the story not told often enough are the ones like that of former Attorney General in the Obama Administration - Loretta Lynch.

As Bloomberg Law documents, it took her 17 months to be hired by prominent law firm Paul Weiss. There she is a partner. The usual time to recycle into The Next for former administration lawyers is about six months.

Like lawyers from the Trump Administration, Lynch wound up carrying some heavy baggage.

The most high profile was her meeting with former U.S. President Bill Clinton on the tarmac in Phoenix, Arizona. At the time his wife Hillary Clinton was under investigation for using her private email account.  The New York Times certainly took note of that. Recently that saga grew legs again with the apparent suicide of Christopher Sign who had broken the story of the meeting. Lynch's name was back in the headlines - literally.

Like posts on the internet, that part of Lynch's career may never be able to be buried.

Currently, she could be picking up new baggage. At Paul Weiss she is leading the defense team for the giant Black bias lawsuit "Christine Crawford, et al. v. McDonald's. Here is a copy of the complaint.

The arguments the Lynch team has made include that the franchise contract contains no promise of success and that the corporation has no incentive to create systemic discrimination that would reduce its own earnings. Those seeem solid. The case might lack merit.

Meanwhile, the plaintiffs allege that McDonald's essentially put them on a financial suicide mission. As Mike Snider reports in USA Today, they contend:

" ... that the company steered them to operate restaurants in 'economically depressed,' communities and 'dangerous locations.' These store locations had high rent and operating costs and were likely to generate lower sales than comparable ones elsewhere ..."

That cost structure, the plaintiffs claim, involved higher than average insurance and security expenses. From 1988 through 2018, they operated 200 stores. Overall, that alleged systemic discrimination against Blacks triggered bankruptcy decisions. Meanwhile, they contend, McDonald's gained from its access to consumers in those neighborhoods.

As a woman of color, Lynch's role defending the fast food giant against 52 former Black franchisees can be perceived as not-right. However, it could also be interpreted as a testament to the rightness of McDonald's business transactions with those franchise owners. Look, people could think, even a woman of color is arguing against the allegation of bias against Blacks.

Serving as a lawyer in an any administration, as Lynch's career shows, can be both high-reward and high-risk. No one can predict what the lawyer will choose to do, not do or be "encouraged" to do to be a team player. 

Will the examples of the struggles of those lawyers discourage other lawyers from public service in an administration?

Probably not.

Power and influence cast spells. There is the unique voodoo of being a player in any administration.

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

The Holiday Season - Bob Dilenschneider, Joan Avagliano Have Unique Opportunity to Reimaging Book "Decisions"

The holiday season is always magical.

During this time of COVID-19, it's even more so.

That's because we're being forced to conjure up on our own how to snatch joy from the mean jaws of a global pandemic.

With that as platform, public affairs leader Bob Dilenschneider and his long-time all-purpose assistant Joan Avagliano can loop into that mindset. Together, they can reimagine how to position and package Dilenschneider's book "Decisions."

Currently, the Amazon ranking isn't good: 934,383.  And a book as a marketing tool is a terrible thing to waste. "Decisions" can mutate into a path through which The Dilenschneider Group can establish fresh profit centers.

Launched on December 31, 2019 - that is, pre-COVID time - the book examines how world leaders have made decisions. An easy promotional tactic would be to reframe the content to propose how they might make big decisions about how to inspire and strategically proceed during  the invasion of a virus which is way too clever.

Reflection from The Coach: If X continues not to produce the anticipated results, course-correction is the Next. 

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

 

Sales w/o Selling - Bob Dilenschneider Can Go Cool in 2021

The gameplan for marketing keeps mutating. And, during COVID-19 times, with so many businesses failing, survival of the fittest keeps requiring new plays.

Sure, for some, the tactics can still include publishing a book. Venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal Peter Thiel put out there "Zero to One." That was in 2014. Currently it still ranks high on Amazon - 8,140. Expect an uptick.

In that guide for entrepreneurs, Thiel discusses applying to clerk for two justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, being rejected and lessons learned. Given the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, sales of any book reflecting on SCOTUS dynamics are bound to soar. 

However, public affairs Manhattan boutique owner Bob Dilenschneider published "Decisions" on December 31, 2019. Currently it ranks quite low on Amazon - 1,024,555. That makes publishing a book, at least for Dilenschneider, a - not a +. 

You bet, book publishing is risky for the non-Thiels as well as the non-Woodwards. Sales are made public on Amazon. That is information available to the author's competitors and enemies. Prospects for the author's services are also aware of the rankings. In America, we count. That's why resume experts hammer to quantify accomplishments. You not only increased traffic for X social site. That totaled 32% in 14 months. 

What Dilenschneider ignored was this: All the other cool marketing tactics he could have invested his resources in. They include podcasting, YouTubing and Instagram. The content of those could have been entertaining. 

The essence of marketing is a distraction from the existential tragedy that is life. 

The message is supposed to lift the targeted demographics from focusing on what is to the promise of what could be. That ability characterized Don Draper's creative talent in AMC's programming "Mad Men."

Successful marketing is actually a process of not-marketing. The response is built-in. The targets respond, kind of on autopilot. 

In constructing his gameplan for 2021, Dilenschneider can dismantle his in-place marketing machine and conjure up the voodoo of sales w/o selling.

The genius in that category is chairman of law firm Paul, Weiss Brad Karp. Each and every outreach doesn't look, walk, talk or smell like marketing. Those range from social justice initiatives to acquiring brandname laterals from his competitors. There is no heavy-handed marketing imprint. 

When I consult with clients for my career coaching services, early into the session it is usually appropriate to introduce the question: Have you considered experimenting with how you are marketing yourself?

Their answer is always "yes." That is because the answers for our economic survival are always within us. Otherwise, caveman wouldn't have had endured long enough to produce the next generation of the human species.

Small changes can have big impacts. Results-driven career coaching.  Affordable rates (sliding scale).  Make an appointment for complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com) Download UnleashingPossibilitywithJaneGenovaCareerCoaching

 

The Rise, Fall and Comeback of (aging) Yale Law Professor Jed Rubenfeld

Media outlets have been busy bees chronicling the fall of Yale Law School professor Jed Rubenfeld.

But that's today.

If he lays low for a while, then soon enough he can conjure up the magic of reputation restoration.

As a career coach, so many have been asking me if Rubenfeld is "comeback material."

In response, I have published this article in Odwyerpr.com.

With the growing number of strategies and tactics in public relations, no one has to be stuck more stuck most stuck. There are Nexts. 

The answers about your professional life are inside you. You will learn through coaching how to open yourself up to them. And get unstuck. Soon enough you will be your own coach. Affordable rates. Make an appointment for complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

The Retirement Dream - How It Keeps You Stuck in 3 Ways

In giving relocation advice to those about to retire, MarketWatch hammers the importance of, well, not retiring. At least, not completely.

Even for a financially comfortable couple, there is a recommendation to grab part-time work and back off from touching the nest egg.

High healthcare expenses may bite them in their pocketbook in the future.

Work is increasingly the necessary hedge.

Overall The Retirement Dream of extreme pleasure and no work can keep you stuck. That's because of 3 realities.

One, you can doom yourself to living on a fixed income. That's the platform for worrying since just about everything, from the cost of housing to that of groceries, is going up. Yes, there is work out there. Here, free to read, is my bible on how to land, hold and move on to better work Download Outwitting ageism.

Two, you socially isolate yourself. Work, from the days of ringing up purchases at CVS in high school to the career-path jobs, is where you have access to God's Plenty.

Isolation triggers more isolation.

When I visited former college acquaintance Kathleen Huebner in an Oro Valley, Arizona retirement community too many residents experienced "shrunk boundaries." They preferred, for example, to celebrate holidays in the development's dining rooms rather than the affordable restaurants beyond that box.

And, three, the ability to work, if you need to (and, surprise surprise, so many need to), can atrophy. In the old days parents mandated their offspring get a job, any job, in order to kick off the go-to-work socialization process.

When I coached displaced lawyers who had lived off severance and savings I noticed that when the money ran out they had difficulty interviewing for even survival jobs such as security guard.

Being without work for too long also resulted in their failure to nail down a position back practicing law. They had put themselves outside the work loop by not working. In addition the adage is on the money: Nothing gets you a job like a job. While doing a job you are maintaining the eager-beaver worker persona.

Once some retirees are stuck, the condition may harder into ossification. They are even fearful, like a number of those in Oro Valley, to venture out and try to amuse themselves in another sandbox. If there is a low-cost tour to X, they pile on the excuses why they have to stay in their box with the worn-out toys.

Takeaway: Structure The Retirement Dream with porous boundaries. That full-time, part-time or gig assignment can wind up being a fresh career path. You might find out you have unexpected talents and skills. Welcome, Late Bloomers.

All the answers are within you. Get unstuck to gain access to all the insight. Intuitive Career Readings (intuitivereadings123@gmail.com) invites you to a 3-minute complimentary session.