There's that old adage: If you want to know who a person really is, observe who he or she associates with.
Yes, birds of feather hang out together.
The scientific term for that phenomenon is "mirror neurons." Human beings influence each other cell by cell.
That's exactly why mom and the nuns at Catholic grade school warned us about "bad companions."
So, it's no newsflash that many of us who dislike Megyn Kelly also dislike her former employer law firm Jones Day. They seem to have attributes in common.
I will leave the comprehensive listing of them for Jones Day to Joe Patrice at Abovethelaw.com. Here is just one of Patrice's myriad negative columns about what has been labeled as Donald Trump's go-to for legal counsel.
Kelly's tragic flaw seems to be being locked within herself and therefore not being able to connect.
That became immediately obvious in the talk show format on her NBC Sunday night disaster which, as Joe Pompeo reports in Vanity Fair, has been "euthanized."
When she was political firebrand on Fox that wasn't an issue. Tossing rhetorical grenades was the format. It was effective.
Not being able to connect is, of course, bad for building an audience. The ratings for her morning show haven't been too hot.
However, it can also incur professional suicide in her relations with those in the "Today" loop whom she needs to cooperate.
The pile on by members of the "Today" family in response to her blackface mistake provided evidence of the intensity of dislike.
Had they liked her, they could have provided support - and forgiveness. As Hedrick Smith hammered in his classic book "The Power Game," the ability to be liked is a key form of power. John F. Kennedy was a master of that.
Psychologists and executive coaches could spend hours with the media trying to explain how the Megyn Kelly types get that way and if there is hope for change.
But, my experience being a communications strategist and content provider for those players in high places indicates the prognosis isn't good.
Wealth and success (even if its peak has passed) frequently have hardened their personality contours. If they even admit imperfections, they likely will take the stance of William Shakespeare's King Lear. On the heath, where he has gone mad, Lear rants that he has been more sinned against than sinning.
The blackface stumble could provide NBC the opportunity to buy Kelly out of her contract. That will be, many of us will feel, good riddance.
Then we can devote our full attention to monitoring how Jones Day is faring in the court of public opinion. Often that has greater influence than the court of law.
If Trump keeps making serious mistakes or is accused of crimes the Jones Day brand could be badly tarnished.
Clients might fear guilt by association. Notice has Ted Olson, partner at Gibson, Dunn, backed out of lobbying for Saudi Arabia.
Full Disclosure: I had gone to college with females who mirrored Kelly's attributes and I have done communications assignments for lawyers who seemed to share the Jones Day public persona. The suffering was profound. I still have flashbacks.
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