'Tis the season for "The Waltons," not "It's a Wonderful Life"

About 40 attorney jobs could be cut at DLA Piper. And with  more than 2 weeks before law offices close for Christmas, we can expect more announcements of further Reductions in Force [RIFs], slashed bonuses, and canceled recruitment plans. 

'Tis hardly the season for "It's a Wonderful Life" mindset. After all that was set when the economy was already strutting its stuff thanks to the war.  Compared to what we're now in ...

A better fit is  "The Waltons." That television series was primarily set in the thick of the Great Depression. The extended Walton Family struggled to make it on their farm and still nurture each other. Each episode would end with the lights out and Ben, Mary Ellen, Jim Bob, John-Boy, Olivia, and John Sr. saying good night to each other.  The message was this family was determined to come out the economic crisis emotionally whole.

Isn't that the best we can do right now?  Like future author John-Boy I am writing my way through the disappointments of deals not being closed for my boutique and compassion for colleagues getting the ax in Silicon Valley.  Perhaps it's the right time for associates to put together that e-book and set up a Twitter.com site.  Research shows that writing is one of the few fields in which hard work, along with perseverance, pays off.  John-Boy wound up writing, literally, his own ticket.

For me and for associates, there's no room for magical thinking: That an angel will appear to save us as he did George Bailey.  No angel showed up to save Lehman Brothers, did it?