Law And More

"Bad Times at the El Royale" - Gene Grabowski Type Crisis Communications Provides Emotionally/Morally Satisfying Resolution

A PTSD Vietnam veteran dies in peace.

The film tape FBI agent Laramie Sullivan (played by "Mad Men" Jon Hamn) is burned, remaining secret forever.

A cult leader is terminated. 

Suffering human beings take that shot at redemption. 

And, two underdogs get to enjoy funding for a whole new life.

That's the emotionally and morally satisfying ending for film noir "Bad Times at the El Royale."

Set in 1968, when California was full of infinite promise and Nevada was the only BigCasino game around, the movie focuses on seven strangers who arrive at the lodging which has seen better days.

Only two will get out alive.

And those two have been able to snatch redemption from a lifetime of suffering. Salvation includes the money from a 1956 bank robbery to start their lives over, this time on their terms.

Those two blessed humans are make-believe Roman Catholic priest Daniel Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges) and striving African American singer Darlene Sweet (payed by Cynthia Erivo). Since the counterculture was just getting off the ground then Sweet experiences extreme racial abuse and bias.

But it is Sweet who provides the exit strategy. She does this through the kind of wise crisis communications made iconic by kglobal partner Gene Grabowski. As Grabowski hammers, communication represents 80 percent of the manager's job. Sweet proves herself a brilliant manager. Here is one of Grabowski's thought leadership essays on the transformational power of communications Download CommunicationTrainingGeneGrabowski. 

It is Sweet who provides the template when to hold and when to hold with the strongman cult leader.

She overlooks Flynn's shady past, enlisting him as an ally.

She rallies the tormented veteran Miles Miller (played by Lewis Pullman) to kill once again.

Later when he is wounded, she convinces the fake priest Flynn to help Miller's passage by facilitating the final confession.

With his death Miller finds peace for having slaughtered 120 in his past.

She makes legit taking the bank robbery money.

It is her decision to burn the tape which could have undone faith in a deceased former leader. 

And, it's clear that Flynn will have human caring as he continues to slip into that horrific abyss of dementia.

Before arriving at El Royale, he had spent 12 years in prison for the robbery and had lost a brother as the result of it. The odd morality of the noir film makes audiences cheer that he has not only found a friend. He is freed from financial angst.

All the flashpoints in "Bad Times at El Royale" should get those on the front lines of community, business, and personal crisis to reflect on how they communicate. In his new series "FBI," Dick Wolf might incorporate some of kind of communication training Grabowski recommends for those accountable for managing a world which no longer has absolutes. 

Litigation Communications

Making points of law, policy issues, and politics accessible and engaging for the public, media, investors, and more. Complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

"Dateline" Effect" - Defense Attorney Lemarr Carver Commits Suicide

On "Dateline," those husbands who are suspected of murdering their wives wind up in court. 

It is becoming common, though, for husbands who murder their wives to commit suicide.

Could it be that they know from watching "Dateline" that they won't get away with the murder? That the husband is the first person the police suspect and that the evidence usually proves the police right?

That's only a theory.

No one will ever know why Lemarr Carver, 42, committed suicide by a gunshot to the head. He had been a criminal defense attorney in Oregon. Eventually, law enforcement may determine that he murdered his wife. Or they might not be able to assemble enough evidence to make such a ruling.  

What we do know is that Carver's dead body was discovered yesterday by police when they went to his Hillsboro, OR home with a search warrant. Two days earlier the body of his wife Tricia Carver, 46, had been found in a field near St. Paul, OR. Here are more details from the Daily Mail.

Both on "Dateline" and in these murder-suicides, the puzzling issue is: Why didn't the husband go the divorce route? Divorce lawyers should pilot a reality show on how divorce, despite what an ordeal and expense it can be, usually creates a fresh start for unhappy human beings.

Litigation Communications

Making points of law, policy issues, and politics accessible and engaging for the public, media, investors, and more. Complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Courage - Nowhere Near Getting Our Values Around It in 2018

Are those female law firm partners, ranging from Kerrie Campbell to Dawn Knepper, courageous for suing BigLaw for alleged gender discrimination?

Or, are they simply piggybacking on third-wave feminism which, in turn, has become a platform for #MeToo?

Or, horrors, are they reckless? 

In these unusual times it's a struggle to get our heads around what is "courage."

On Twitter, public affairs thought leader Richard Levick praised an instance of courage.

In coaching a 40-year-old woman in her personal essay for law school I am having her dig deep to describe how her unique version of courage listened, looked, walked, and talked.

And, among those in a recovery group in central Connecticut there had been an undertow of criticism that a lawyer shot himself in the head instead of having the "courage" to embrace the consequences of his third DUI.

There, of course, is no shortage of templates of courage.

President John Kennedy published his book "Profiles in Courage."

Mr. Smith went to Washington.

And, in "Stuart: A Life Backwards," there is the real life character alcoholic who chooses to live his life on the streets. 

There are also templates of downright stupidity.

The classic example is the teacher in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" who encourages little girls to become political heroes. 

In between, there are so many questions. Unfortunately, most of the answers have been filled with 20th-century platitudes. 

Where can we find insight to help sort out even some of this?

Litigation Communications

Making points of law, policy issues, and politics accessible and engaging for the public, media, investors, and more. Complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Death Penalty Wrong Move in Robert Bowers' Case - Others Could Find Becoming a "Martyr" Seductive

The U.S. Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty in the case of alleged mass murderer Robert Bowers. 

As the New York Daily News reports, U.S. Attorney Scott Brady has requested permission from U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions for that. 

Introducing the death penalty for a crime in which the alleged miscreant was acting on a belief system could position and package him as a kind of "martyr." To those with extreme values that could be seductive, motivating them to also engage in behavior which would result in the death penalty.

The recent film "Paul, Apostle of Christ" glorified being a martyr.

Before the followers of Christ were fed to the lions, Apostle Paul told them it would only hurt a bit, then they would enjoy eternal salvation. He himself was looking forward to martyrdom. Soon enough, he was beheaded. As the ax was being swung, Paul's face registered bliss.

Those who were socialized in an extreme religion such as Roman Catholicism likely were encouraged to engage in risky behavior to promote their beliefs and attract other members.

For example, in St. Boniface Roman Catholic School in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey, we children of immigrants were encouraged to embrace the career path of missionary in primitive regions of the world. That sure appealed to many of us until society overrode the message and directed us to college and a career path in Corporate America. 

Yes, children are impressionable. But so are myriad troubled adults. They could feel emboldened by the "sacrifice" Bowers had allegedly taken.

In addition, the death penalty rules out the possibility of redemption. In prison, Bowers, like Watergate lawyer Chuck Colson, could come to see things differently. 

Also, taking Bowers' life won't bring back the 11 in Squirrel Hill. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

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Megan Luloff Goes Blackface at Halloween Party - School District Investigating

Megyn Kelly isn't the only one who has been oblivious to how offensive - and hurtful - blackface can be.

In Iowa, the Davenport School District is investigating a first-grade teacher who wore blackface at a Halloween party.

That particular district is being reviewed because it seems that an excessive number of minority students might have been channeled into special education.

Therefore that teacher at Walcott Elementary School should have been sensitive to the issues associated with blackface. However, she didn't connect the dots.

Megan Lulfoff put blackface on her face, arms, and legs to portray a character out the 2004 movie "Napoleon Dynamite." According to the coverage in the Daily Mail, no one at the event reacted negatively to the depiction. 

Teachers are usually expected to be hyper vigilant about what their behavior could be communicating. Yes, they are held to a higher standard. That's the way it is.

Incidentally, it isn't only African-Americans who experienced the pain of not being white.

Those of us who were officially "white" but from dark-skinned ethnic groups also suffered. Back on the mean streets of 1950s Jersey City, New Jersey, the fair-skinned WASPS, Irish, Germans, and Polish harassed us Italians. The nuns in St. Boniface grade school seemed to favor the cute little blondes, both girls and boys. 

In psychotherapy when I was 25, one issue I struggled to sort out was "being dark." 

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In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

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All Those Holiday Wishes from Businesses - Up to State Gov to Declare Them "Public Nuisance"

During the past several years, Bob Dilenschneider publishes his reflections on every major public holiday in third-party media.

The next will probably be a placement in establishment media for Thanksgiving. 

One would probably assume that the objective of so much effort is selling his services, at least partly. After all, resources are invested in that outreach. Resources represent a business expense.

However, Dilenschneider is not alone.

Beginning in mid-December, just about everyone I had purchased a car, house, or computer services from will be expressing holiday sentiments to me. Of course, more and more of us dread that glut of good wishes. 

In this over-communicated/media-surplus era, publishing anything is not often in the public interest. Neither are all those emails, phone calls, and texts. 

The time seems overdue to lobby state government to declare such messaging as a public nuisance. As I see things, it's right up there with the residue of lead paint in older housing, the three barking dogs next store, and emissions from coal-fired plants.

Reality: Most of us need a hug rather than one more article on whatever or a message from any medium. In addition, if someone wants my business, rather than simply emailing a copy of a published article, attach a five-buck gift card for coffee and sweet. 

Anyway, in his 2017 reflections on Labor Day, Dilenschneider got a fact wrong. That was saluting America as having the most productive workforce. Actually, in 2017, according to the OECD, the U.S. ranked fifth. Lack of fact-checking does not help the public interest.

Dilenschneider founded public affairs firm The Dilenschneider Group. Given his expertise, the odds are he knows what he is doing in leveraging holiday greetings as possibly a selling platform.

But, my gut, seasoned by coaching sales as well as marketing communications, raises the question: Has the tactic of holiday greetings become a counterproductive kind of outreach in reaching and bonding with prospects? 

Here is what I know: A growing number of my clients, colleagues, and close friends have the fantasy of fleeing the rat race and taking up residence in a secluded cabin.

The only difference of opinion among them is whether that refuge should be on or off the grid. Those favoring the latter indicate they are willing to search the location for a hotspot to link to the internet. 

In short, America's new signature trait could be mutating from universal gregariousness to the status symbol of being able to be left alone. That could be the emerging meme in advertising: You can and will be left alone.

More of us who can't pull the plug on an over-communicated society, at least not yet, are making it our business to stock the moat with alligators and pull down the drawbridge. The technology of gmail, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter assists in that.

Often the epiphany comes that the more folks we block, unfriend, and delete the less bleak our little lives seem. Believe me, those wanting to purchase our services or products have no trouble finding us. And, aside from a few stimulating colleagues and caring friends, those are the only other humans I want to hear from. The film "Alpha" killed it because it created a sci-fi explanation of how wolves evolved into man's best friend. 

This holiday season, please remove my name from the emails, phone lists, and texts. I will be off the grid in a cottage near Lake Erie. Two two-legged friends and one four-legged one will help me snatch pure joy from the meaning of Christ's birth and the start of a new year.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

Maybe Don McGahn Should Tell His Story ...

Being a talk show host is not one of Alec Baldwin's many talents.

Obviously.

Those of us who tuned in last night cringed at the absolute lack of chemistry between him and his guest. 

The second week for his talk show lost 800,000 viewers from last week's mediocre numbers. The plunge downward was from 2,971,000 to 2,193,000. Meanwhile last night "60 Minutes" had 14 million viewers.

The interview was with Kim Kardashian. In itself that was a poor choice for a get. She looked downright bizarre. The questions posed didn't shake loose any thing we would jump up and down about. And, the whole Kardashian Inc. has already peaked. Even though we might be equally weary of the British royals, one of them would have been a better get.

Last week's interview with Robert De Niro also lacked sizzle. The coveted 18-54 demographic isn't interested in the guy who played in "Raging Bull" and "Goodfellows." What engaging content has he created recently?

Clint Eastwood has a new film coming out around Christmas time - "The Mule." There he is, nearly 90, in all his intense wrinkle glory. Now, that would be an interview.

Those who respect Baldwin's talent should convince him to fight to pull the pull at this very bad fit. 

Tell this blog about your worst fit and how it damaged your brand. Brand is everything.

Send narrative and representative graphic to janegenova374@gmail.

That includes you, former White House head lawyer Don McGahn. Was that role of a lifetime a catastrophic mis-fit?

Full Disclosure: My worst fit was trying to be a stand-up comic in Manhattan.

Not far behind that was putting together a "roast" for an executive at Merck.

After all that, I was forced to figure out my real brand strength's. Joan Rivers I wasn't.

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Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com

"The House With a Clock in Its Walls" - Message That There's No Need to Run from Pain

For lawyers, their clients, and those who can't afford to be clients, pain is familiar territory.

Promotions often don't happen.

Cases are lost.

And, there's not even a shot at trying to find justice. 

However, those situations don't need to trigger the rest of a life spent in running from the pain. Essentially, that's the message from the sci-film "The House with a Clock in Its Walls." The film is fun-scary, a good fit for the Halloween season.

All three main characters have been running. Pre-teen Lewis has taken refuge into nerdiness. His parents have been killed in a car accident. Now he is living with his long-lost uncle Jonathan in a haunted house in Michigan.

That Jonathan ran away from home and abandoned his relationship with his younger sister when his father rejected his interest in magic. Currently he is a warlock.

Mrs. Zimmerman, a one-time witch, left her magic behind after the death of her husband and daughter. She lives next door to the haunted house and keeps the relationship with Jonathan platonic.

The urgent danger is the coming end of the world. Magician Isaac had lost his footing, including his sense of self, when wandering in the Black Forest during the war. He barters his soul to a demon in exchange for feeling whole again. After the war, he returns to his professional partnership with Jonathan armed with black magic. A piece of that is creating and hiding in the now-haunted house a clock which will go in reverse. When it finished that cycle, history will be eliminated.

The three have to prevent that. In the process they expose their pain to each other. That's the platform for the cooperative effort which locates and dismantles the clock.

Lewis can settle into a life without needing to be the most literate boy in the universe. Jonathan gets it that it was wrong to leave his sister behind. Mrs. Zimmerman regains her magic power. Of course, the warlock and the witch become kissy-face.

The real magic is the ability to embrace pain and let others in. That's especially hard for lawyers who, like Lewis, live life in their heads and locked into words.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

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Gabriel MacConaill, Sidley Austin Partner Since 2014, Commits Suicide

What is it about high-powered success that seems to be transforming into the killing fields? Or, maybe that's the wrong question. 

Meanwhile, on the East Coast, New Yorkers Stacey Radin (clinical psychologist), Kate Spade (fashion designer), and Anthony Bourdain (chef) took their own lives.

On the West Coast, Gabriel MacConaill, a partner in BigLaw firm Sidley Austin, also committed suicide. Unlike those three on the East Coast it was by a self-inflicted shotgun wound, not hanging. Here are more details from Abovethelaw.com.

The Sidley Austin website provides the facts. In 2005, MacConaill received his JD from the law school at Penn State. He joined Sidley Austin in 2009. In 2014, he became partner. His special area of expertise has been restructuring. He had been involved in Mattress Firm's bankruptcy filing. 

Beyond that, much or all of what is said about the "why" will be speculation.

Human beings, including the person himself or herself, know so little about the pull and push forces going on in an inner life. Of course, there can be factors discussed such as a recent clinical depression or even a sustained history of that condition. But many others also struggle with clinical depression and come out the other side, without committing suicide.

Also some might trot out the statistics that there is a higher rate of suicides in the legal sector than other lines of work. Many recall the cluster of more than a dozen suicides among trial lawyers in Kentucky within a short timeframe.

There are also the platitudes about what the chase to the top of one's industry could cost in emotional, social, and spiritual wear-and-tear. However, the world is jam-packed with high achievers who don't check out. 

The reality is that we know so little and the person committing suicide also knows so little about the unconscious dynamics, thought processes, and lack of impulse control which may be drivers in taking one's own life. 

In the film "A Star Is Born," musician Jackson Main tried suicide when he was in his early teenage years. The ceiling fan, to which he had tied a belt, fell down. Somehow he got through the next years via fame and addiction. Later, after he lost his hold on his career he tried again and succeeded. To attempt to explain the fatal darkness within him would be pure arrogance.

At Johns Hopkins University, Kay Jamison did take on the issue of suicide in her book "Night Falls Fast." She herself had made a serious suicide attempt. However, her book really leaves this enigma intact. 

This blog passes along sympathy to those who loved Gabriel MacConaill. Survivors are the real victims of the decision to commit suicide.

In my extended family, there have been five suicides. There will probably be more. I don't and never will understand all that. Since age 11, I have been plagued with suicidal ideation. But somehow I have maintained the upper hand. Already I have lived on planet earth longer than any member of my family. I am clueless why.

 

"A Star Is Born" - It Makes Addiction Seem, Well, Worth It

The latest remake of "A Star Is Born" can convince the already-troubled that addiction is a small price to pay for success - even if that success peters out.

From the get-go, music star Jackson Maine had a tough go of it.

His mother died when he was born.

His father was a drunk.

His older brother who looked out for him was one of those guys we met in high school who had a sense of direction and determination that we less emotionally and socially didn't. Of course, we couldn't bond. 

In his early teens, Jackson even attempted suicide by hanging but the ceiling fan gave way. He fell to the floor. Later, his hanging himself with a belt in the garage does succeed.

So, the message of the film could be interpreted as: Without booze and pills, Jackson could never had been able to put it together to develop into a performer.

That could be way too seductive to youth whom the universe didn't bless with a loving, non-chaotic start in life. 

Not surprisingly - who hasn't been exposed to the Alcoholics Anonymous mantra - the substances took him over. Another factor was simple aging. The years aren't kind to most of those in the performing arts. We content-providers have it easier and a longer shelf life.

But, along the way, Jackson had it all. That included the authentic love of struggling song-writer/singer Ally. That's more than many of us from difficult backgrounds are able to grab onto from life. Currently, I continue to struggle.

A sort of heretic in a recovery program for alcohol abuse, way back in the early 80s I declared that boozing bought me time. In its predictable way it empowered me to function until I could access the tools I needed to create my own life. Eventually, as with Jackson, its role was counterproductive. I was fortunate. I could and did stop. I stayed stopped. 

So, what do members of law enforcement, the courts, high school guidance counselors, college mental health therapists, recovery experts, researchers, friends, and family tell at-risk youth and kids already in trouble about the dangers embedded in substance abuse?

That's the rub.

How can they replace the "help" which addiction seems to be delivering at the time? Already, youth probably knows that the success rate of traditional program Alcoholics Anonymous is quite low. Here is the iconic The Atlantic article on that. Most courts route substance abusers to that mode of treatment: X amount of meetings a week and have the attendance verification document signed. 

Meanwhile, the whatever which does create and reinforce sobriety is less available in 2018. That includes affording college, being able to pony up the rent to live away from the toxic nuclear family, landing work with a future, and hope. 

Those committed to rescuing youth from despair have to reimagine their message. That could start by analyzing how Jackson could have prevented the start of his addiction or could have found a sustainable way out of it. Love, obviously, was not enough.

In that other new film "Unbroken," that path is giving up the illusion of control and surrendering to some higher force. 

As the uncontained opioid epidemic hammers, traditional approaches aren't effective. The times are different from when the recovery movement has been launched in the 1930s. Yet, there has been no Big Woke.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

Free consultation janegenova374@gmail.com