Law And More

Antisemitism - Social Networks, Well, Useless in Defusing Hate

"84% of posts containing anti-Jewish hatred were not acted upon by social media companies. Facebook performed worst, failing to act on 89%, despite announcing new rules to tackle the problem."  This is a finding from the recent research by US/UK nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). Here is the CCDH report. 

The social networks which were essentially useless in defanging the hate are, in addition to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. That covers the main territory.

Ironic. Remember when social networks were introduced. They were celebrated as forces for good in society. Everything from personal connection to sharing information/insight were to become more accessible. And, for free. 

Initially there were outbursts of gratitude for the new, user-friendly and no-cost platforms. Those who had been adopted located their biological brothers and sisters. All those cat antics were fresh kinds of entertainment. And just click on one of the online videos to find out how to fix your computer or motorcycle. 

Then, darkness fell fast.

Some of that was direct, as in hate speech.

More of it was indirect - that is, sins of omission. Moderators didn't remove antisemitic postings and ban the posters from the platform.

That leaves us with the question: What will put the brakes on the escalating antisemitism?

If not slowed down there could be "Another Squirrel Hill."

Back in 2018, there had been a fatal attack on the Jewish community in Squirrel Hill. 

I had lived in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh when it had been the model of an assimilated community. It had been a Jewish Ph.D. psychologist there assisting with a VA cancer ward who allowed me to interview the patients for my series of articles on Making Today Count. Those in my portfolio helped me pivot from freelance to a full-time media job at the University of Pittsburgh. 

That easy flow of diversity in Pittsburgh probably had contributed to the ability of Pittsburgh, unlike Younstown, Ohio, to retrofit its economy after the collapse of the steel industry. Currently Pittsburgh thrives with healthcare, education, and tech.

Obviously, that live-and-let-live ethos was then. Like every other urban area with a heavy concentration of Jewish people, Squirrel Hill remains a target. And for violence. 

So, it comes down to this: Can the influence of large law firms accomplish what social networks haven't? That could play out.

At Paul Weiss, the chairperson Brad Karp mobilized about 50 law firms in an initiative to oppose antisemitism. They range from Cravath to Skadden. Big  Guns in BigLaw.

Next to media, BigLaw is probably the most powerful institution in America. That always was. Now, that power is amped up almost exponentially as progressive law firms redefine their businesses to include social justice. Hate groups, including those against Jews, have no idea what they are in for. 

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From MyKayla Skinner to Johnny Carson - Lessons for Stuck Law Firm Chairpersons

Even before she won silver in gymnastics MyKayla Skinner had planned to retire from that niche. Like TV talk show host Johnny Carson she was going out before she had to. 

Carson's legacy remained golden. Skinner plans a fresh career path in journalism. 

There could be plenty of lessons from that for chairpersons of law firms. Some are old white men. Some are just stuck. And because they may have already peaked and essentially are just holding on, there have been unnecessary problems and missed opportunities. 

Take the haughty tone of their internal memoes which are leaked to media such as Abovethelaw.com.

That condescending approach to communications hasn't changed since Jeremy Blackman launched his blog in the early 21st century "Anonymous Lawyer" and published a novel by that title. His persona was that of a law firm partner.

One memorable post from "Anonymous Lawyer" was the announcement that between certain morning hours hot chocolate would be available in the law firm kitchen. The tone was as out-of-touch as what continues to be the usual in communications, both for outside counsel and for in-house. 

And what about a fall-off in firm financial performance? Thoughts immediately shift to David Boies at Boies Schiller. After a bad 2020, the firm has downsized its real estate footprint. Should the top layer of leadership there retire? Maybe they can pivot to positions in a legal institute or legal publishing corporatioins. 

Also, what about bad publicity? That could have been avoided for Paul Hastings not only recently but also back in 2008. The ham-handed way it handled the termination of associate Shinyung Oh got it a black eye in media such as The Wall Street Journal. That story hung on for years as journalists kept following up on what Oh had been doing. Recently I did just that - follow up. She is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist. 

In addition, there is the ranking situation. Stuck in its black box and with its Trump Administration baggage, Jones Day dropped in elite status on the Vault 100 5 points. That's from 16 to 21. 

Meanwhile, in contrast to Jones Day, Paul Weiss is in the top 10, according to Vault. In 2007, before social-justice activist and innovator Brad Karp became chairperson, it wasn't up there. Incidentally, Karp is over-60 and white. But the concept of "old" doesn't get applied to his persona or his policies. 

Yes, business is hot in large law firms. But when it cools shareholders in law firms could pile on stuck leadership and force them out. This is an era of upheaval. It really doesn't take much to whip up momentum. Recall how the Little Engine That Could - Engine No. 1 - landed board seats at Exxon. 

Sure, the stuck could get unstuck. However, the ethos of the successful player in the legal sector is not to show weakness. Therefore, the usual dynamic in that kind of configuration is for the chairpersons under attack to dig in their heels even more. That means they can't pull off an organizational pivot. It might require a new generation of leadership to disrupt BigLaw.

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Law Firm Chairpersons and a Virus Fighting for Its Life - 2 Jabs Might Not Do It (and no one knows where this will all lead)

"Vaccines need to evolve because the virus is changing to survive." - Larry Elliott, The Guardian, July 30, 2021.

Vaccination has become the story around the world. Here in the U.S. law-firm industry it has replaced back to the office and compensation. Also, right now, there is a lot less attention paid to the possible crash of M&A and courts closing again. (No jury selection beginning at end of August in "U.S. v. Elizbeth Holmes?")

So far, 7 law firms have announced mandatory jabs in order to return to the office. They are:

Reed Smith

Fried Frank

Cooley

Hogan Lovells

Davis Wright

Paul Weiss

Wharton Garrison.

But the virus has proved to be a cunning player. To have the illusion of protection (the Delta variant has outsmarted current vaccinations) more kinds of vaccinations could be required by law-firm chairpersons.

Off to the jab centers lawyers and staff will be sent. 

That could be a continual process, with chairpersons busy bees in committee meetings with partners framing policy, then issuing the internal communications that it's yet another jab or out.

Of course, that can't be positioned and packaged as something out of the Divine Right of Kings. It has to be an attempt at a warm-and-fuzzy issued in the best interests of so so many ... After all, it will be leaked to Abovethelaw and Bloomberg Law. Paul Hastings learned tone is everything. 

Obviously, so much is changing in the world of work. The virus will keep changing that. The elephant in the room on this one is, of course, if the values of young lawyers have changed so much that they will not be in sync with top-down. At Apple, rank and file is taking on top-down. Junior lawyers, needed so much to crank out the work, might decide not to work where the top has so much power. The jabs could be just the tip of the iceberg in the current upheaval on the way to the future of work.

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The Non-Simone Biles: Those Who Can't "Afford" to Take a Break (including Gabe MacConaill)

In some ways Simone Biles can absorb taking a time-out from her career. At the top of the list of that is her financial situation. But, in some ways she might not. Her professional life might never regain its previous momentum.

So, even though so many are praising Biles' decision to step back that won't necessarily play out with the Disney kind of happy ending - all the loose ends tied up in a bundle of joy. 

That's Biles' story.

 It isn't the one of the majority of those on planet earth. As an opinion piece in Insider points out some would lose all if they went that route. They could be homeless very soon. 

There is also another category of those struggling with internal challenges who can't opt out. The classic example is late Sidley Austin partner Gabe MacConaill. As his wife Joanna Litt said in an opinion piece published in Law.com MacConaill knew that if he even went to the ER for his sense of being overwhelmed and it was found out he would be finished. He was probably right. In law you can't show weakness. He chose to try to hold onto his career. In the process he committed suicide.

Yes, many noble things can be said about what Biles might have accomplished for the acceptance of human limits. But there are so many who don't have her options.

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Activision Blizzard's Workers Did Walk Out - Bobby Kotick's Crisis Management Was Too Little, Too Late

The drama at video-game creator Activision Blizzard hasn't let up. 

There had been a chance it would. That was when the head guy Bobby Kotick did a mea culpa and announced he had contracted with law firm Wilmer Hale to investigate allegations about a "frat house" culture.

Before that, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing had filed a lawsuit against the corporation for sexual misconduct and more. The more includes that only 20% of employees are female. Employees experienced Kotick's reponse to that lawsuit as tone-deaf. They threatened to walk out. 

Kotick had been struggling to prevent the employees from doing that yesterday. But walk they did.

The Guardian reports:

"Employees of Activision Blizzard, the video game company that produces World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, staged a walkout Wednesday morning to call for better working conditions ... Hundreds of workers gathered outside the company’s headquarters in Irvine, California, Wednesday morning while others, unable to attend in person, took part in a virtual protest."

Yes, that made a nice photo-op for the media.

Also, as Bloomberg reports, fans are threatening a boycott.

Meanwhile, the stock is still down. After the announcement of the lawsuit, it had plunged. Yesterday it had closed at 84.82. That was down from the 52-week high of 104.53.

So, what should other corporatons be pondering? They have to ask themselves:  Could we be the next Activision Blizzard? And what should we do about that?

The first stop should be, obviously, at your law firm. Cutural issues are pivoting into legal landmines. Activision Blizzard is the most recent example of that.

If your law firm is state-of-the-art as is Paul Weiss, it will have in-place a practice customized to help you navigate both internal and external crises as values keep shifting in business. The common moniker for that is ESG (Environmental Social and Governance). Essentially ESG focuses on what has been added to corporate responsibilty beyond the bottom line. That ranges from the well-being of employees to protection of the enviroment. 

Chaired by Brad Karp, Paul Weiss launched in April 2020 its ESG practice. Here is what it does: 

"Business leaders face greater pressure to increase their organizations’ resilience while simultaneously addressing social issues of importance to stakeholders. Our advisory practice helps companies navigate the legal, business and political ramifications of developing and implementing ESG initiatives. We advise on matters such as stakeholder engagement, corporate governance, crisis management, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, ethics and compliance."

Note that its mission explicitly includes "crisis management."

The meme-in-waiting could be: Not being the next Activision Blizzard.

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Too Jewish, Too Gay, Too Whatever for a Female - Myth of the Melting Pot

"Jackie Mason, When Told He Was Too Jewish, Stuck With His Shtick" - James R. Hagery, The Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2021.

Jackie Mason succeeded, despite being slapped down with the labeling of "too."

Of course, he must have struggled emotionally. But on a professional level he made it big. And, that's what matters most in America. This is America, not some country with a less careerist ethos.

And, in America, judgments are harsh. Despite whatever efforts could be made on reputation restoration for Bill Gates, he will wind up The Unforgiven. 

That goes back to the self-righteous Puritans. That value system still prevails. Just listen to the tone and language used by Morgan Stanley's Eric Grossman about law firms serving his account circling back to the office full-time. Grossman could have fit in nicely as a Puritan hellfire-and-brimstone minister. 

The majority of those who weren't a perfect fit with American social norms (as well as being from central casting in a professional persona) have suffered. I know that from doing career coaching. For men, for instance, they were "too short" for the perfect executive image in Corporate America, at least back before the era of wildly achieving oddball entrepreneurs. 

There has been and still is the "too gay." Fortunately, America has a good legal system. "Too gay" Sargeant Keith Wildhaber won $2.8 million in damages and $17 million in punitive damages. The jury agreed that the St. Louis police department blocked his promotion because he didn't fit how those in law enforcement should look, talk, walk and more. 

Women, especially those who are lawyers and mothers, are being hammered (despite third-wave feminism) about just about everything. One recent dustup had been in the American Bar Journal about what a lawyer-mother should say or not say about career obstacles. 

As is obvious, the negative assessment of being "too Jewish" or Jewish at all still dominates. Actually, it is escalating.

Again, I know.

Although I am not Jewish, I have been harassed in the midwest and even in looser Arizona because it was and is assumed I am a "New York Jew." Call that "antisemitism lite." The "evidence" used to persecute me in that way include my deep Jersey City, New Jersey accent and Eastern European facial features/body style. (Also, since I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood I fall into Yiddish slang but I cut that out as too dangerous. I don't want my car keyed.)

Incidentally, late novelist Philip Roth focused a lot on ethnic self-hate. He might have been onto something big. That could be the missing piece in trying to figure out how Yale Law School one-time star team Jed Rubenfeld and Amy Chua (Tiger Mom) fell from grace. 

The elephant in the room on this one is this: Can this blatant kind of discrimination change?

Well, those in the front lines of diversity are trying.

Everyman and Everywoman are being encouraged by coaches, therapists, and loved ones to "be themselves." That simulates, of course, the Dove meme that everyone is beautiful.

Also, powerful institutions such as the law firms in BigLaw are bringing issues such as the current antisemitism mainstream and pushing back against them.

For example, at Paul Weiss its chairperson Brad Karp organized about 50 other law firms to come out strongly against antisemitism. Paul Weiss has also been an early adopter in initiatives for nuts-and-bolts social justice. Among the accomplishments has been the COVID Resource Center. Through it, even those COVID victims living paycheck to paycheck can gain access to assistance.  

Maybe the first stop in all this, though, is to dismantle cherished American myths like the melting pot. Yeah sure.

Vividly I recall the nuns at St. Boniface Roman Catholic grade school, based in the tenement district of Jersey City, socializing us children of immigrants to The American Way. That included the all-American breakfast. No more Polish pancakes. Nonono. Guess for me that didn't take. I continue to be sized up as way "too Jewish."

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Activision Blizzard - Beyond the Lawsuit, Threatened Walkout, $8 Billion Drop in Stock Price to Question of Prevention

Workplace culture, again.

And again there is the issue of a leader's being tone-deaf.

That's what Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard Bobby Kotick admitted to being, reports Bloomberg Law. He did that to prevent a walkout of employees tomorrow. Here is his letter to constituents, including the employees.

That walkout was planned as a response to the corporation's perceived lack of an appropriate response to the filing of a discrimination lawsuit.

That complaint is "California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard."

Here is a copy of the complaint.

And here is the press release on that filing from that Department.

Essentially, it is an allegation of an "Animal House" type workplace culture. The more up-to-date language for this, of course, is "frat-boy culture."

In addition, as is becoming increasingly standard, today Kotick contracted with law firm WilmerHale to conduct an internal review of the accusations in the lawsuit. Meanwhile also today, the stock lost 9% of its value, documents Insider. Since the filing of the lawsuit last Friday the market value of the video-gaming company has gone down almost $8 billion. Activision Blizzard is known for its popular video games such as "Overwatch," "Call of Duty," and "Candy Crush."

Some of those observing this rapid unraveling of a supposed cool video-game brandname as overdue. The alleged frat-boy antics were supposedly long embedded in the culture. 

The smart crisis management today by Kotick is a sign that the corporation can turn this around. Investors can probably expect the stock to begin rebounding.

Unlike equally tone-deaf Eric Grossman at Morgan Stanley and Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan Chase, Kotick fixed his initial blunders. Currently he is following the fundamentals of crisis management. Not only did he do his mea culpa. He also took the action of authorizing a respected law firm to do the kind of investigation which mainstream America found out existed during the allegations of sexual misconduct at Fox. Those actions send the right signals. 

However, the elephant in the room is this question: Could all this have been prevented? And, will investors begin to expect preventive measures. If they have not been taken, the CEO could be fired. Already, reports The Wall Street Journal, that is happening. It is more likely that CEOs will lose their positions for a failure in managing a social issue than a financial one.

If a corporation such as Activision Blizzard has on retainer a law firm or multiple law firms which have ESG practices (Environmental Social and Enviromental) couldn't there have been proactive guidance and actions taken? That is, those heading the ESG practices alert the client to the risks - legal, political, branding, stockprice, and customer relations - related to both values and actual behavior. Next, there are recommended initiatives. 

Do the current roles of lawyers, at least in ESG practices, include that of culture coach?

Some ESG practices such as the one created in April 2020 at Paul Weiss by Brad Karp are structured to cover that kind of territory.  Following is the mission statement. Note the language and tone are about guidance. 

"Business leaders face greater pressure to increase their organizations’ resilience while simultaneously addressing social issues of importance to stakeholders. Our advisory practice helps companies navigate the legal, business and political ramifications of developing and implementing ESG initiatives. We advise on matters such as stakeholder engagement, corporate governance, crisis management, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, ethics and compliance."

In addition, law firms such as Jenner & Block which have practices specifically focused on toxic workplaces also can come to provide proactive guidance. The target market for that would be businesses blind to how they are operating right on the cultural third rail. 

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Not the Millennial Way and Other Matters of Culture, Legalities and Innovation - From Jones Day to Wall Street to BigTech

"Financial transparency is an extension of the way young adults conduct the rest of their lives, including their openness on social media." - Svati Kirsten Narula, The Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2021.

Another generational shift: Millennials regularly share information about their salary and other money issues. The implications are huge for old-line organizations like Jones Day which make it a matter of culture to keep compensation secret. In the war for talent, the Jones Days could find themselves quite unattractive to youth.

This goes beyond the numbers in the paycheck, of course. Cultural matters are huge. McKinsey & Co. found that culture directly impacts financial performance, creates differentiation (think brand), and accelerates the ability to adapt to change. 

And, increasingly, the members of the workforce are shaping the culture. That could mean, for example, remote is here to stay. The Conference Board survey found that 55% of Millennials are reluctant to return to the office. 

But it isn't only the Jones Days which have plenty of rethinking to do about the soft stuff - that is, values which create the human touchpoints (as well as the contractual policies) for a business.

Employee activism has become the norm in BigTech such as Apple and Amazon.

Media centers are making a list and checking it twice about what cultures are naughty and which are nice. Then they zero in with punitive coverage. Post the Trump phenomenon, that's the new clickbait. 

And, consumers expect the brands they're associated to walk the line in social justice.

The transformations which will be in play increasingly will involve law firm ESG (Environmental Social Governance) practices. They have to.

That's because the shift to a culture co-created by myriad constituencies is complex and characterized by plenty of passion. It can't avoid hovering near the third rail of legalities. Consumer activist Ralph Nader taught Everyman and Everywoman to go to court. Business should expect plenty of legal action.

Law firms had to anticipate this. And, in April 2020, law firm Paul Weiss, chaired by Brad Karp, did just that. It launched a comprehensive ESG practice which covers it all - soft and hard. 

Here's the short version:

"Paul, Weiss’s Sustainability and Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Advisory Practice helps clients develop integrated ESG strategies that safeguard corporate reputation, mitigate risk and leverage opportunity."

The edge that law firm has in this - both in branding and operationally - is that it also has been an early adopter in inventing new approaches to addressing social justice issues. Classic now is that COVID Resource Center it engineered through a collaborative effort with thousands of lawyers from other firms. Of course, that's been a life-saver, literally, during this Delta variant. 

Not hyperbolic: Only that kind of innovation in resetting cultures could prevent the diaspora of talent.

Meanwhile, Wall Street is already losing a generation of workers.

Top-down tech corporations like Apple could also find themselves in that pickle.

Jones Day? Time will tell.

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Apollo Fund Rebrands - Wealth Also Requires Reputation Restoration and Lots of Help from ESG Practices

"Father, forgive me. I had acquired wealth."

Finally, sizes up Bloomberg, the Apollo Fund is moving out of the shadow of scandal. Investors are re-committed. 

The specifics of the previous Apollo brand tarnishing included media-grabbing tidbits like association with Jeffrey Epstein. 

Okay, Epstein was a bad guy.

But the intensity of the hit to the Apollo brand and its one-time head Leon Black is not really about that, is it? The root of the self-righteous hysteria seems to be this: America's ambivalence about wealth. Both institutional and personal. 

On the one hand, the Puritan ethos had the acquisition of wealth as a the play-out of the right moral values. The lack of it was interpreted as a lack of those. That's not gone away. Shame on you. You're not on the list of billionaires under-40.  

On the other hand, there is the embedded meme: Money is the root of all evil. Had Black not possessed such personal wealth he wouldn't have been able to have become involved in a romantic dalliance resulting in a lawsuit against him and a countersuit by him, right. We're certain of that. We praise MacKenzie Scott for giving away so much of her wealth.

The problem is that the ambivance (along with the certitude) is growing. That means so much confusion. 

On an individual level, the Hamptons had become a symbol of decadence. The media does photos of disgraced "Today" executive Matt Lauer you know where: the Hamptons. 

As for institutional wealth. Where to begin. Yes, folks want the returns on their investments in public companies to be amazing. Simultaneously they want the corporations producing them not to showcase wealth in terms of power and influence.

No, they shouldn't be dictating where the employees are working from.

No, they cannot choose whom they want to hire.

No they can't just operate the business when there is so much suffering in the world. And, the brass is getting paid too damn much. Wall Street? You don't want your kid training there as a junior analyst. And as a lawyer do you want to work at a BigLaw firm representing Wall Street? 

A proven out public relations firm like Edelman might have to be parachuted in to design a campaign for rebranding wealth as an economic-growth necessity. It's like the car industry is the 1950s. What was good for GM was good for the creation of the middle class. Only the creation of more wealth now will restore that middle class. Tighten that up as a message.

In addition, corporate leadership has to get smarter about identifying where the landmines are on this one and how to not step on them. That's the rub. What was a standard value a month ago is verboten yesterday and today who the hell knows. Check your values before you start announcing policies this morning.

That's why law firms' ESG (environmental, social, goverance) practices may be evolving into the most critical service to current clients and to prospective ones. That could be inventing a new category of what law firms do, in addition to the traditional transactional and litigation segments. Actually, that could be more important than the latter two. Will law firms come to declare that the real business that they are in is saving American capitalism? Part of that is figuring out social justice for the clients.

Paul Weiss, chaired by Brad Karp, has captured that new core function of a law firm in how it has positioned and packaged its own ESG practice mission.

Essentially the language is code for how to succeed despite what's happening externally and internally (employee activism). The current cultural upheaval doesn't get corporations off the hook for producing over-the-top financial performance. But they better do that and communicate about that in ways that walk the line on the perception of wealth.

Here is the Paul Weiss mission:

"Business leaders face greater pressure to increase their organizations’ resilience while simultaneously addressing social issues of importance to stakeholders. Our advisory practice helps companies navigate the legal, business and political ramifications of developing and implementing ESG initiatives. We advise on matters such as stakeholder engagement, corporate governance, crisis management, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, ethics and compliance."

Meanwhile, the Delta variant has introduced more uncertainty. Folks don't like that. Individuals and organizations with wealth will likely be taking it on the chin. There could be greater expectations of help from them as well as vilification of what they are assumed to be about. Give us your money and get out of our sight.

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Chris Christie and More - Maybe You Should Wait to Bet

On ABC's "This Week" former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took a position on COVID vaccination, reports The Hill.

He's not the only politico there, of course.

President Joe Biden has taken on Facebook about that.

Senator Amy Klobuchar has introduced a bill related to health-related misinformation in social media.

And, Facebook's head Mark Zuckerberg who, like all top business leaders, has to be a politico, also is in the vaccine messaging space. 

But, those other three are dealing from a position of strength. They have jobs and they have solid power bases.

Christie, in contrast, is wandering in the political wilderness. He bet on the wrong horse in aligning with the Trump Administration. Like so many depicted in Michael Wolff's "Landslide" he chased after being associated with power and came out of that essentially powerless. Rudy Giuliani is in the same pickle. The legacy of Alan Dershowicz? Sad.

Christie had lost his own power during BridgeGate. Although not convicted in that scandal about politically oriented blocked lanes on the George Washington bridge he couldn't shake the stink.

But he might have been able to engineer a comeback had he not tried so hard to loop into someone else's (that is, the Trump Administration's) power force field. After his political collapse, Andrew Cuomo had reestablished his power base. He didn't piggyback on others. 

Sure, Christie has been able to gain exposure as a political commentator. In that, though, he's no Tucker Carlson. 

The new book about the Nixon Administration - "King Richard" by Michael Dobbs - tells the same kind of tale of power games resulting in everything from the loss of human dignity to the loss of freedom (yes, they went to prison).

Not that this phenomenon only plays out in politics.

The Wall Street Journal chronicles graduates of elite advanced degree programs who bet big money and one or two years of their lives on what left them in deep debt and in low-paying jobs. There seems to be no way out. 

Media such as The Atlantic Magazine rode hard the Trump Administration story, without enough preparation for the next. Currently most of them are struggling. 

Overall, power institutions like Morgan Stanley and Paul Hastings bet that their power would remain intact. That resulted looping into the whole where-work-will-be-done in very wrong ways. 

Nothing is certain, of course. But some guesses about where to invest a career, an education or a brand are wiser than others. 

Guidance on this may come from a source which seems strange to the ambitious. That source is American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron.  Her message is so gentle. Specifically she recommends:

"It all comes through learning to pause for a moment, learning not to just impulsively do the same thing again and again. It's a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up the space." 

Reflection: Will Christie, youth considering advanced degrees, media, Morgan Stanley and Paul Hastings continue their frantic pace to losing so much? 

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