"Experts say President Xi Jinping is launching an attack on post-Mao liberalisation, which along with capitalist free markets, opened people up to Western influences: a celebrity culture which promotes individualism rather than collectivism." - Ross Ibbetson, Daily Mail, September 1, 2021.
In China, celebrities are being labeled "social tumours." To apply an American phrase, they seem to be "sucking up too much oxygen."
Some of that is already happening here. It really is.
"White shoe" is a bad thing to say about law firms. They need to be positioned and packaged as inclusive. And in recruiting they are actually becoming more so. For instance, with the shortage of associate talent, Kirkland & Ellis has been hiring junior lawyers who hadn't matriculated at elite law schools.
The Hamptons, where new money is driving out old money, is not where you want the media to hunt you down and take a star-snap. The area seems poised for the barbarians to penetrate the gates.
Celebrities are turning on celebrities. Rose McGowan calls Oprah Winfrey a "fake."
And more professionals are veering away from the fame, influence, and money of top jobs. Instead they are downshifting to fewer hours even with less money. In itself, the American Dream, since the post-World War II boom, of upward mobility could be becoming an anachronism.
The new ethos is the ability to enjoy simple human touchpoints.
Part of that is the discovery, both by researchers and organizational leaders, that during COVID remote our humanity suffered.
Sure, the work got done and with windfall revenues in the legal sector.
But the culture withered in terms of bonding with colleagues, getting mentored by higher-ups, and even being able to sell prospects on solutions.
Another part is that leaders with power and ordinary citizens with a voice on social networks are looking at what America has become.
To do that, you might say, they have retrieved film-maker Frank Capra genius of being able to feel what real people are feeling. Not just be preoccupied with work.
It's possible: Business could embed the raw caring of a George Bailey from "It's a Wonderful Life?"
On the front lines, for example, is Brad Karp, chairperson of law firm Paul Weiss. Karp leverages the resources of that firm to go after voter suppression, bias, and the death penalty.
Classic still is Dentons' Chairperson Joe Andrew's op-ed in The Hill on how the poor had to go to work in person and risk their lives in COVID times, pre-vaccinations.
And over in the climate-change-challenged Gulf Coast Paul Chaney asks readers on LinkedIn if it's okay to talk about his faith. He does that instead of self-promoting his communications services. Chaney is humanizing that professional network.
If there continues to be a revulsion about celebrity culture, it could be a wonderful life - for all of us.
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