Law And More

"The Hero's Farewell" - From Jack Welch to David Lat

Power is heady.

The misfit Puritans made business one of the most powerful institutions in the new land. Actually it became the nation's shadow religion.

The economy they put together from scratch become the world's top dog. 

So, from the get-go, the leaders in business - often called "chief executive officers" - found it difficult to let go of that power when the job ended.

They still do.

Aging media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and investment genius Warren Buffett are not putting out there any signs of leaving.

Also, former head of legal media site Abovethelaw - David Lat - still has at least one foot in that sandbox. Maybe more.

Lat is now an employee at legal executive search firm Lateral Link.  The title is "managing director" but that's not being the number-one any more. 

The transition from number-one to an employee, by its very nature, represents a tricky crossroads.  Here is my analysis of some of that. 

"The Hero's Farewell, by management expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, captures that struggle. If former leaders don't navigate the shift just right, the implications are grim.

Their overall career could blow up.

More to the point, the business could flounder.

One has to wonder if Jack Welch had inflicted that darkness on himself and GE. He seemed to be unable to let go. GE has been in severe distress. The legacy of both is in play.

Constituencies with interests invested in those businesses in which the number-one departs might create a five-year rule.

That is, even though the former leaders might own stock (and a lot of it) they are banned from all official input for 60 months.

That includes no seat on the board.

Speaking to the media about the company is forbidden.

And, no organizing a stockholder movement to regain power.

As the platitude screams: We live in interesting times. How former business leaders manage their farewell is at the top of the list of fascinations. 

Full Disclosure: Recently I had a negative experience with Lateral Link.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Raw Reflections on Mother's Day 2019

Supposedly timely for Mother's Day, USA Today provides a feature on outsourcing parenting. The tasks farmed out range from potty training to childproofing the residence. None of that comes cheap.

However, outsourcing parenting is nothing new in the history of civilization.

The most warm and fuzzy symbol of performing that important duty in society is nanny Mary Poppins.

From the days of Old Manhattan, anyone who cruised by the parks in Manhattan spotted benches filled with outsourced labor chatting among themselves as they keep a watchful eye on what was going on in the elegant prams.

Let's face it, childcare has always been a time-consuming tedious undertaking. Those with the resources to farm out most or all of that out usually did.

For example, in the 2019 book by Tracy Borman on Henry VIII, what's discussed as totally normal was housing royal offspring away from the family. That went on until the child could provide a useful function in court. The chronicle is "Henry VIII: And the Men Who Made Him" and here it can be ordered from Amazon.

But wealth and power are not required in that particular kind of outsourcing.

Extended families usually took on the role automatically. Given the necessity of searching, finding, and holding onto work, children usually were a bad fit. As infants through their teenage years, they were placed in the full-time or part-time care of grandparents, aunts, and even other young children.

That's practically the norm in parts of China as the economy changes. Parents flock from rural areas to the cities to work and live. 

Essentially that was a commonplace dynamic in the immigrant tenements of downtown Jersey City, New Jersey during the 50s. Sometimes a risk-taker would go out to California to escape factory work or cleaning offices. The offspring were left behind, usually for years. Neighbors who were scheduled for the night shift had the children sleep in the apartments of other neighbors. That's the way it was.

Of course, just as now, there also was plenty of total inability to care for children. Probably I never had children, always preferring rescuing and caring for dogs and cats, because my younger sister's care was outsourced to me.

My mother had been mentally ill. My father had two jobs, mostly to steer clear of the domestic tragedy unfolding. As an infant and toddler I was cared for by my grandmother and aunt.

From the get-go, the majority of my colleagues and clients had live-in nannies. They had to. With such a hyper competitive work world they couldn't risk not sleeping through the night. That would have been career suicide.

Meanwhile, with farming out childcare so expensive in major metro areas, it's no surprise fertility rates are plunging. Right now it's at a 30-year low. Also, in some sectors being a mother is perceived as a negative. One current lawsuit dealing with that alleged brutal reality in the field of law is "Doe v. Morrison & Foerster."

And those into pop culture will recall that Katherine on television series "A Million Little Things" felt forced to turn down the invitation to be partner.

The terms and conditions wouldn't allow her to run home to have dinner with her son every night. She indicated that after dinner she would return to the office.

That, the partners responded, would be a lack of commitment to the firm.

Soon enough, upscale neighborhoods in the United States will be overrun with dogs. There will be few or no children.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Ian Samuel - Lost, Yes, But Time Will Tell If He Will Be "Found"

One of the most direct paths to becoming lost in life is to experience early success.

That might be how Ian Samuel wound up resigning from his associate professor position at Indiana Law School. That followed a Title IX misconduct investigation. Here are more details from Tony Mauro at Law.com.

Samuel, still now a young man, had been a clerk to the late U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia.

He was an associate at the elite law firm Jones Day.

He had lectured at Harvard Law School.

And he was part of the successful initiative to convince law firms not to impose mandatory arbitration agreements on summer associates.

That was then.

Following the Title IX investigation he decided not to push to hold on to his teaching job at Indiana Law School.

He made the public statement that he had engaged in antisocial conduct such as excessive drinking in public places and not treating people right. In fact, he sums up where he wound up as "an ugly man."

Critics of his mea culpa observe that the tone and content are narcissistic. There doesn't seem to be any emotional or spiritual connection to the possible harm done others. 

So, only time will tell if Samuel can evolve into "Found." 

There are many examples of former miscreants who were able to get right with their humanity.

Labeled the "Evil Genius" of the Richard Nixon White House, lawyer Chuck Colson had a jailhouse conversion. After his release he ministered to the spiritual needs of ex-cons. Obituaries in establishment media positioned and packaged him as a kind of saint. 

In the "New Testament," Saul used to persecute Christians. Then he had a psychic shift and became Paul, in the front lines of preaching the teachings of Jesus Christ. 

On the other hand, there are those who seem incapable and/or unwilling to explore a less toxic existence. There is no need to list names.

I had dedicated my 2009 dark comedy - the novel "The Fat Guy From Greenwich" - to all those who wound up in Lost and Found.

It resonated.

For a while it was #60 on Amazon.

I let it go out of print when I no longer needed that mirror. In 2014, I took the I-95 ramp out of the careerist Gold Coast of Connecticut and went in search of a different path. The jury is still out if I have found it.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Anna Sorokin Sentenced to 4 to 12 Years - Amazing She Didn't Off Herself like Character in "Paul's Case"

The make-believe German heiress Anna Sorokin aka Anna Delvey had an amazing and expensive adventure in Manhattan.

Those without any imagination or obsession to probe the human mind probably feel justice has been done today.

She had been sentenced  to 4 to 12 years in prison.

In addition she will have to pay $200,000 in restitution and a $24,000. When released from state custody she will be deported. Here are more details from the media. 

But, from the get-go when this saga of swindle broke, I was brought back to my freshman year as an English major in college. That was 1963. We read the short story "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather. Here it is. 

After lots of getting trouble in school and with his family, Paul steals money. He takes the train to Manhattan. There he bunks at the Waldorf, dining on elegant meals and enjoying a bit of culture. He maintains a low profile.

A bright lad, he knows this will have to end, especially since the newspapers report that his father had journeyed to Manhattan to find him. Earlier the father paid back the money.

So, no surprise, Paul jumps in front of a moving train. And that's that. 

That story stuck with me. So, it was my surprise that Sorokin didn't off herself before the long arm of the law caught up with her or she somehow didn't manage to pull off a suicide in jail when awaiting trial. 

There are those like Sorokin and Paul who seem dissatisfied with the ordinary. They have a larger vision of how their lives should be. Unlike traditional folks, they go after it.

Most, at least I have discovered in my interviews with criminals, sense they will pay a price for going up against the norm. And that's that. The idea of future punishment or even understanding they might feel compelled to commit suicide didn't deter them. Few had regrets, with the exception that the good life was followed by minimalism. That was not pleasant. 

Does the legal system lack the ability to get into the mindset of those particular kinds of criminals?

If it could, some brilliant observer - maybe a lawyer, maybe a psychologist - might be able to do a documentary on that line of thinking. The message would be: It's very difficult to get away with it so it might be wise to lock the dream into fantasy mode. Enjoying the make-believe could be enough.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Addicted to Work: No Better High in 21st Century

"Work addiction has been called this century's cocaine."  - In "#Chill: Turn Off Your Job And Turn On Your Life" by Bryan E. Robinson. Here the book can be ordered from Amazon.

It's unlikely that you will be directed to the employee assistance program if you're addicted to work. Or that a client will dump you. That happens when you're addicted to booze or drugs. 

What is more likely is that as a work addict, you will be promoted, have a big book of business, receive awards, be quoted by the media, and sought after for advice. 

Maybe you will emotionally shortchange those in your personal life, but, they are materially benefiting from your work compulsion, right. So you reassure yourself.

Also, the influence and power you have accumulated through workworkwork can open career doors for your children.

So, it's only common sense for you to maintain a work addiction. 

When a work addiction doesn't make sense, at least not any more, is when being in the loop doesn't bring you the old inner satisfactions. Or, worse, the rewards stop coming, that is, all that work isn't yielding the results employers or clients expect.

There are plenty of terms for that:

Burnout

Brownout (loss of fire in the belly)

Breakdown

Being forced out.

Then what?

Robinson's 2019 book provides a 12-month plan for detox, then putting together a lifestyle that doesn't require the work obsession. 

Or, there is also the free 12-step program Workaholics Anonymous. Here you can get the ball rolling on finding meetings. 

Another option is a total Do It Yourself (DIY). You have that moment of clarity. And instinct leads to what to change. It's not widely known that most folks stop abusing booze as a DIY. They get it that excessive drinking is ruining aspects of their life and that is that.

No matter what method or mix of methods you try out, recovery can be jarring - and rather slow. 

In 2014, I had that moment of clarity that working compulsively was no longer yielding the rewards it had. Also, I re-discovered how much I enjoyed that baby boomer medium: television. I really bonded with the members of the BAU on "Criminal Minds." 

In order to both halt the preoccupation with work and not financially need to work so much I did a geographic. That was a relocation from totally work addicted and pricey New York Metro to laid back and cheap southwestern Arizona.

That didn't take.

I got it that first I had to wrestle some demons to the ground. That required returning to the scene of a major trauma. And that I did.

Around November 2o18 came the psychic shift: I was released from the bondage of working all the time. When my lease is up at the end of August I will relocate to where I want, do only as much work as I want, and hopefully forgive myself for getting hooked. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

How We Loved Their Minds, Then Academia's Administration Stepped In

Princeton and University of Oxford graduate Cameron Platt had more than a meeting a minds with Lee Clark Mitchell.

As so often happens in higher education, this young person - 25 - has become romantically involved with that former professor. He is 71.

As is required now in academia, the specified amount of time has gone by since they were student and teacher in order for them to move on to matters of the heart. 

The New York Post reports Platt and Mitchell are engaged to be married.

In the old days there was no open recognition of the power professors had which could influence the hearts of students. So, there was no necessary time lag between the brilliant lectures in the classroom and the march down the church aisle.

However, sometimes, as with Sally Conroy, student president at Seton Hill, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, it did take time for the hearts to align.

Eventually, though, she did join in wedded bliss with that institution of higher learning's religion instructor and Catholic chaplain Christopher Fullman. He had left the priesthood. Sally became Mrs. Fullman. Because of the large age difference, she became a widow 24 years ago.

Unlike the Fullmans, Richard Mennen, former theatre professor at Seton Hill, and Sally Spahn, didn't allow time to block bliss. There was no rule existing which put romance on hold.

Spahn finished her college studies early and became Sally Spahn Mennen at the end of the first semester of that academic year. The marriage endured. 

Higher education remains a special institution in society. It's not our parent's house. It's not work. Therefore it can become a magical setting. All things, especially love, become possible and probable. 

Not only the professor-student relationships blossom. So do love affairs among students. It used to be that moms told their offspring to find their soulmate in school and lock that rite of passage in right then. Currently, of course, marriage is no longer a rite of passage.

But romantic bonding will always provide a unique experience in life.

If they hang in there and wait for the required time to pass, professors and students can continue to find love together.

Let the universe cast its spell. 

The world needs more love. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Baby Boomer Law Partners - Come On, Do You Really Care about Having a Building Named After You?

The image of the U.S. is that of a death-denying nation. 

In an article in Undark, anthropologist Anita Hannig documents that mindset. 

But, most of those on my networks, including law partners, are fully aware that they won't be dancing forever on planet earth. Their heart will stop, their brain waves will halt, and that will be that for a life.

Is there an afterlife? Given so many other things to focus on in 2019, fewer are reflecting on that. The attitude is: Let's get through this one, that is, death and dying. Such planning ranges from enough funding for assisted living to having the will up to date.

It's funny. On the internet I bumped into several acquaintances from Snyder High School, Jersey City, New Jersey Class of 1963. Some had achieved partnerships in law firms, large, medium, and small. Our generation was a voice one so we got on the phone. Almost immediately was the phrase: We're going to die. 

It had been a bad few weeks. I rolled my eyes. And, I thought: Not soon enough.

Strangely, we mentioned what we would miss, as if there is a post-death consciousness that facilities awareness of loss. For me, the big losses would no longer be writing and the satisfaction of having been involved in animal rescue for 15 years. 

No one mentioned legacy. Not one of us had been aiming to earn enough money or fame to have a building named after us. That was even though some had their names on the door.

Hell, we don't even want a tombstone. Even memorial services are out. We were here. Then we weren't.

Meanwhile, I mentally thank all the companion animals who have brought me such love. 

Law partners might go through a list in their heads of all those who helped them achieve Brandnames in a demanding field. Remember how Denny Crane on "Boston Legal" took such price in that. Then the irony: Going was even his ability to be aware of that. 

Reflection: Don't hold on anything in life too tightly. 

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

"Medellin" Flop Raises Question for All Aging Professionals: When Is It Time to Leave?

" … [Madonna'] 'Medellin' failed to catch on. It rose to number 9 on iTunes briefly, and now sits at number 32 … Beyoncé's 'Homecoming' album, released the same day, has sold or streamed a total of 43,000 copies in 48 hours." - ShowBiz411, April 19, 2019. Here is the article. 

Here is the audio - chachacha - from "Medellin," which is the lead-in to Madonna's new album "Madame X." Out in mid June, "Madame X" is supposed to be the 60-year-old's comeback platform. 

Nothing about "Medellin" is fresh.

That's why Madonna is being positioned and packaged as "washed up."

It isn't her age per se.

Betty White, a relic from the Mary Tyler Moore era, is in her 90s. She did fresh. That was through creating the persona as the designated role model for aging. That process, she hammered in her book, wasn't for sissies. The world loved it. Still love it. She remains marketable.

The issue Madonna raises is the scary question for all aging who are still working: Is it time to leave?

But what they are leaving might well be a very narrow career path. No, it isn't necessary to hang it all up, disappear into a retirement community in Oro Valley, Arizona, and compulsively do yoga. 

ShowBiz411 points out that the last several albums Madonna has put out have been "flops." 

Instead of continuing to do what isn't panning out, she could be testing out other ways to distinguish herself through work.

Maybe she can launch a training institution for the performing arts in Lordstown, Ohio. GM recently shuttered the plant there, putting about 1,600 out of a good job and hope. She can open the door to the light for all the Youngstown, OH metro area. The region still is caught in the shadow of Steel Yesterday.

Shoot-'em-up actor Clint Eastwood transitioned to serious drama at age 62. That was his film "The Unforgiven." Most recently, near 90, he gave us the amazing complex character of Earl Stone in "The Mule." Here is a video clip.

In the legal sector, Chris Darden of O.J. Simpson criminal trial fame shifted from prosecutor to defense attorney. At age 63, he is representing Nipsey Hussle's alleged murderer Eric Holder. 

If Don McGahn of Trump Administration fame is to regain his power and influence, he has to figure out how to develop a new sphere of influence. At age 51, his long-term branding is being blown to bits. Here is just a peek into that mess.

And there is that much younger version of transition: Elie Mystal. The Harvard Law School trained lawyer has gone rogue as journalist activist. He set that in play during his "audition" for a reporting job on Abovethelaw.com.

How do the aging and those no longer perceived as "young" come up with the courage to change?

I don't know about others.

What I do know is that for me the pain of becoming invisible was greater than the anxiety involved in trying out new lines of work. That experimentation in my professional life began when I was 58. Then, that same courage took over the decisions I made in my personal life. Here is one of those stories of brutal moments of clarity and then transition.

A useful read for those caught between career paths is "Necessary Endings" by executive coach Henry Cloud. Here you can order it from Amazon.

Exactly the right tone and content for all your communications. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

"MeToo" Lawsuits - Of Course, Plaintiffs Were Burning Bridges (how naive not to anticipate that risk)

For every Gretchen Carlson who settled for $20 million and gained unique access to new opportunities, there have many women who lost everything in filing MeToo kinds of lawsuits. 

Yes, litigation meant burning bridges.

The plaintiffs probably felt rage.

They were convinced they were doing the right thing.

They gained satisfaction that they might be helping the next generation of professional women.

But as seasoned players in corporate life they should have anticipated that there would be retaliation.

That's just the way the world works.

In an article in Vanity Fair, Diana Falzone documents the backlash.

Talent agents won't represent the former plaintiffs.

Those in the hiring loop ignore them.

For a large number of them, the settlements weren't big money either, not the Carlson kind.

Therefore, what we now know is that the world hasn't changed much.

The cost of outing alleged injustice remains high. Those in power want their good life to continue. That rules out any possible future trouble from those who are perceived as whistleblowers. 

When baby boomer women first were getting good jobs, those of us fortunate enough to have caring mentors got clued in fast. When I confided to my mentor a perceived wrong by a male colleague his response was: Don't be a cry baby. The message was to suck it up. 

Those who, for example, were victims of handsy behavior patiently applied for other positions in the corporation. It was unthinkable to "report" such behavior. In fact, that behavior was common knowledge.

Perhaps I understood about the code of silence more quickly than many others because I had grown up amidst the machinations of the Frank Hague Machine in Hudson County, New Jersey.

In order to get jobs, have the snow plowed from your street, and be invisible to the police you had to, as the saying went, "not fight city hall."

It was very wrong.

But the system produced busses that ran on time, excellent public schools, low cost medical care at the Medical Center, a new maternity hospital (the famous Margaret Hague), and employment for anyone who wanted to work.

Those who couldn't endure such institutionalized tyranny left. I made it my business from the get-go to get a college scholarship out of state and never return.

Ironically, I ran into a more personal version of tyranny at college. To today I wonder: Would my life have been less filled with suffering had I stayed in Jersey City? There, at least, the rules were absolutely clear and I had no expectation of anything else.

Here's what every woman should know: Whether it had been the political machine in Hudson County, a Catholic women's college in Pennsylvania, or the glam careers in entertainment, the dark part of human nature tends to dominate.

Maybe the best we can do is keep struggling to find where we can live our little lives without losing a sense of dignity and some control.

I bumped into that when I became an independent contractor. I have had real choices about how to earn my living. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

 

 

Rational Suicide Becoming Common in Nursing Homes - Not Waiting for Law to Change

It's the dark secret among a growing number of us baby boomers. 

That's the determination to commit suicide when we can't take care of ourselves any more or sense we are slipping into dementia.

The research by Kaiser Health and PBS News Hour confirms that, yes, we are going through with that plan. Residents of nursing homes, assisted living, and other care facilities have been taking their own lives. Here are more details from USA Today.

Those delivering themselves from despair don't give a damn that it's against the law in America. In some European nations such as Switzerland it's not only legal but assistance is available.

In August 2018, the influential The New York Times explored this issue. There is even a term for this kind of self-deliverance: rational suicide. 

Given the embrace by the infirm elderly of rational suicide, the surprise is that government in the U.S. hasn't responded by overseeing a national conversation about the ethical, legal, humane, and even economic implications. Regarding the latter, residing in a nursing home is expensive. It can consume the life savings of a person who would have preferred to pass on those funds to loved ones or even a favorite cause. That denies in a profound way freedom of choice.

Could rational suicide for the aging like myself become a campaign issue in Election 2020?

What drifts or shoots to attention is often triggered by life events. If a candidate's loved one in a care facility commits suicide, then there could be national soul searching about how to prevent the widescale suffering among those who can no longer live independently.

It's downright predicable that how we're going to off ourselves comes up when we baby boomers encounter an acquaintance or relative from the past. There's no shock attached. It is just another one of those end of life matters. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com.