Law And More

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme - Yes, Virginia, Manson Gang Member, Attempted Killer of Gerald Ford Got Parole

In 2009, one of most colorful characters from Charlie Manson's gang and the woman who attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford was granted parole.

That was Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme.

Her life since then has been to have a low-profile existence in upstate New York with her boyfriend Robert Valdner. Here are many more details from the New York Post.

Meanwhile others from that era such as Leslie Van Houten keep being denied parole. That is no surprise, given the high-profile murders done by the Manson family. The surprise is that Fromme got off the hook, especially since at one stage of her unstable life she had been given a life sentence. 

Well, so far, the bet the parole board made on her has turned out okay. She has not been associated with any more crime. At least not so far.

My hunch is that her goofy persona makes her seem not a sociopath. The others associated with Manson and with the violence of radical politics come across as having definite dark sides. 

And it could be just that: Fromme was, is, and will always be goofy. Not "criminal" in the traditional sense.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

No Surprise, #MeToo Is Scaring Off Men From Mentoring Women

Those of us who have worked in organizations anticipated this: Men are backing off from mentoring women.

That, to me, is a predictable consequence of the #MeToo Movement.

In Forbes, Arielle Lapiano documents with personal anecdotes and surveys from Lean In and Survey Monkey that about half of male managers are not comfortable with mentoring women. They also are reluctant to be alone with a woman in the workplace or socializing with women. 

This could have serious negative impacts on the careers of women.

The mentoring I received in academia and in my first seven years in corporate life primarily came from men. That was just the way it was. 

I didn't request the help. I didn't even know I needed guidance about a meeting I should be attending, or a door I should be knocking on. Males observed my lack of direction and pointed me in the right direction. They had the insight about how things worked and the power to help move my career forward. 

More recently, women have that insight and power. Currently one has parachuted in to help me figure out if I should re-locate my business to scale. 

No question, #MeToo has been accomplishing a lot, especially in increasing sensitivity about what might constitute disrespectful behavior toward women. However, the downside should have been anticipated.

Now what? That's what men and women who work together have to figure out.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

 

 

The Royals - Business Lessons for Law Firms

The royal family in the UK has endured as a business, despite not providing a necessary service or product. There is much about operating an enterprise law firms can learn from Queen Elizabeth et al.

Sure, the royals are useful for tourism. But a smart packager could put together a tour and other paraphernalia based on the vestiges of the monarchy. After all, the Queen isn't directly in the loop. She doesn't host high tea from 4 P.M. to 6 P.M. daily.

What are the lessons law firms can pick up for the royals? Here are 

Never go off script. That is, maintain a gravitas persona, just as the queen does, all the time. At the country club, lawyers can be driving away potential business by veering off to topics like their boats and vacations. Much better to be the earnest advocate, without a break in the scripting. 

Showcase philanthropy. The royals are continually photographed doing good deeds. In exchange, we allow them to live the good life. Law firms have to get more publicity for altruism. That includes pro bono work.

Nurture junior members as prime marketing tool. William and Harry, their wives, and children are allowed to be the main attraction. Youth is more interesting than the aging. On websites, law firms should feature the third-year associate. And, what about photos of the children of lawyers and staff. That will humanize a business known to be too hard-nosed.

Exploit special events. The royals are brilliant at getting useful media attention through their rituals. Law firms can put together special events in the public interest. And example there could be a panel focused on understanding the dynamics of addiction. Invite big names. 

Be an open system. The royals let in commoners and the divorced. Law firms have to brand as not so tightly wound.

This is the era of reputation management. Law firms have to come up with new tricks. Their branding essentially is a monolith. Yet, all the experts in law firm marketing howl about the need for differentiation.

Out of the Box Communications = Unexpected Results

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"20/20" Re-Visits the Lorena and John Bobbitt 1990s Legal, Media, and Emotional Melodrama

Last night "20/20" revisited the sensational 1990s saga of Lorena and John Bobbitt.

She cut off his penis. He was accused of domestic violence. Both were acquitted. Neither seemed to recover from the emotional, legal, and media ordeal. 

In this #MeToo era, of course, "20/20" focused on gender issues. Back then, those issues were framed as The Gender Wars.

But in passing "20/20" did mention how Lorena came to America to grab onto The American Dream. John had been a Marine, so he too believed in that fundamental value. 

Perhaps the producers should have paid more attention to how The American Dream didn't materialize for the young married couple and that could have been the tipping point for the mutual unhappiness.

On television back in her native land Lorena saw how middle class life played out in America. There was the single-family house. Yet, she and John were stuck in a studio apartment. 

In the Marines he had embraced the specialness of America. Play by the rules and the good life is yours. However, after his enlistment was over he had difficulty getting and holding a job. 

Had John been able to create material bliss for Lorena and therefore felt good about himself, there might not have been a "Bobbitt Story."

The American Dream continues to trigger conflict in marriages. The single family house, for example, is increasingly unaffordable.  

Out of the Box Communications = Unexpected Results

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Owen Labrie Starts Serving Remaining 10 Months of His 2015 Sentence - Was His Real Crime Being Unlikable?

Once golden, Owen Labrie lost "it" all. His golden period ended when he was a senior at elite St. Paul's prep school in New Hampshire. 

The "it' he then lost ranged from a paid ticket to matriculate at Harvard college to his freedom.

Regarding the latter, he showed up at Merrimack County Jail today to serve the remaining 10 months of his sentence. Here are more details from the media.

That sentence was delivered after he had been convicted in 2105 of sexual assault, endangering a child (15-year-old Chessy Prout), and using a computer to lure that minor into sex. He has to register as a sex offender. Obviously, his future doesn't seem bright.

However, he hasn't given up hope. It is embedded in appeals. Recently the New Hampshire supreme court turned down his appeal of the computer conviction. That's what saddles him with the mandate to register as a sex offender. His lawyers argued that he did not use the computer as a tool of seduction.

Another appeal is pending. That is based on the claim of inadequate performance by his defense team during his trial. For example, the contention is that they should have focused more on the computer issue. 

My hunch is that few are emotionally outraged at the overall severe "punishment" Labrie is receiving. During the trial, some of us following it found it essentially a he said/she said. We perceived the verdict a raw deal for the defendant. Also, Prout seemed way too heavy on the drama. 

It just may be that Labrie's real crime is simply not being likable. The guy seems to exude arrogance. For example, when allowed to be out of jail while he appealed the conviction, he broke his curfew. Long before the trial took place he should have been coached in coming across as a good kid who got involved in a dumb adolescent prank - and is totally contrite. 

Juries are made up of human beings. So are members of the media. That could be why he has fared so poorly in the courts of law and public opinion.

In jail, he likely has a bullseye on him. It could be a perilous 10 months for him.

The odds are that I am in the minority. But I feel sorry for this now-23-year-old adult who can't seem to figure out how the world works. 

Out of the Box Communications = Unexpected Results

Complimentary Consultation janegenova374@gmail.com – I help, not sell.

 

The End of TrumpWorld, Including Post-Analysis/Commentary - Media Outlets Will Lose Big Chucks of Their Audiences

TrumpWorld has created a sustained obsession with what is happening, what could happen, and supposed expert analysis of all that.

Media outlets, including digital native Abovethelaw.com, are scaling. 

That is now.

When TrumpWorld is all over and the world wearies of the deconstructions, the odds are that those same media players and platforms will suffer big losses in audiences. 

The members of the media which can't navigate the shift to provocative takes on other kinds of subject matter could actually go out of business. Already, much of print media and digital natives such as Buzzfeed and Vice are struggling.

Those like The New York Times, which have a print legacy but managed to get their heads around digital, have turned themselves around. However, the NYT has been invested heavily in TrumpWorld. That's a risk. In the months after the dust settles and the nation moves on, the odds of continuing to sustain a recovery for the media corporation may not be good.

Overall, more and more of us are plum exhausted by the gyrations of TrumpWorld.

Simultaneously, we are faced with losses in portfolio because of what the Dow is doing.

Those in the know predict a recession by the end of 1990.

Meanwhile, at least one third of retirees have returned to work. Most of them have to in order to make ends meet.  Only some are doing that for social reasons - that is, to flee the new kind of loneliness baby boomers are saddled with. The so-called Golden Years are playing out to be totally uncertain.

In addition, what crazy weather pattern will hit our region next?

Smart powers that be in media should already be strategically planning for the Post-Trump era.

Recall how quickly the preoccupation with Watergate faded when a whopper of an economic downturn hit America. Politics shifted to the pragmatism of landing, holding, and moving up in a work situation.

It was in the dramas of William Shakespeare that we bear witness to the universal: The crowd is fickle. Human beings seem to be wired with a teenage mirror neuron. We see something else. We respond it, as reflex. 

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Chuck Colson - Role Model for Michael Cohen

Both were a U.S. president's lawyers.

Both were the first of those presidents' men to wind up with a prison sentence.

They were Chuck Colson back in Watergate Days and, more recently, Michael Cohen.

Colson found redemption. In the darkness he turned toward evangelical Christianity, eventually becoming a selfless - and brandname - minister. His obituaries hailed him as a hero. 

Can Cohen also find salvation? The media positioned and packaged the three-year sentence as a long time. But, in reality, three years is short time, especially for a middle-aged man.

The world knows what Cohen stated in public about his crimes against the people. But those of us who inspect our own inner lives wonder what Cohen is saying to himself. If he is telling himself that he really did wrong, then the only way to take that leap into peace is to tell himself that he can and will change. 

A best-selling novel, published last May, chronicles a ruthless wildly successful businessman's walk 0f repentance. At the time, Charles James begins that walk along Route 66 from Illinois to California he is unaware he needs to repent.

But that was what it turns out to be. The psychic change is from aiming to screw over people to lightening their burden in life. The book is "The Forgotten Road" by Richard Paul Evans. 

On the other hand, Cohen can take on the mindset of Shakespeare's King Lear on the heath. He can look at the pickle he is in and conclude he has been more sinned against than sinning.

Those of us who have suffered so much emotional and spiritual torment probably wish upon Cohen the willingness to seek out salvation. Otherwise, as we know from experience, the inner unease can harden into despair. 

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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Monday, Monday - Will the Barbarians Be at the Gate?

Timing is everything.

The 125,000 protestors in France know that this best time of the year also can be the big revenue producer for retail, the hospitality industry, and transportation. Their power to disrupt that is making them heard. 

Many other financially stressed out people in developed nations are observing that during our winter of discontent. 

The question is: Will this uprising spread to America?

Baby boomers recall the perfect timing in 1967. It was a very hot summer. Civil rights were evolving into a mainstream meme. The counterculture was catching on university campuses.

Urban areas went up in flames. 

Currently that frustration can lead to violence again in America - this time beyond the urban areas. The Norman Rockwell-like towns can also erupt.

Think about Lordstown, Ohio. A decision by GM to put in a new product or a purchasing deal by Tesla could save that community from economic death. But the possibilities don't prevent sleepless nights, self-medicating stress through alcohol and drugs, domestic violence, and suicide.

Yes, economically vulnerable communities could erupt into collective pushing-backs which turn ugly. Those could be motivated by scared individuals.

Monday Monday - will the stock market continue its plunge. More of us will stop even checking how much value our portfolios have lost.

Who in the northeast can sell their houses for what they used to be worth?

Job creation has slowed. Of course, fear of a recession is palpable. And no one knows how severe it could be. It's no longer unthinkable to imagine one worse than the 2008 downturn.

Inflation is back, especially in rent. 

And the economic inequality gap seems to keep widening.

The average Joe or Madison could join forces and mutate into the barbarians at the gate.

There are still 16 days left to disrupt the holiday season. 

For many of us, no, this doesn't feel like the best time of the 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.

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When Public Relations Firms Have Public Nuisance Defendants as Clients - The 5 Do-Nows

Here is the article I published today on Odwyerpr.com on how public relations firms have to manage clients' public nuisance litigation.

Being sued for creating a public nuisance automatically brands defendants the bad guys.

Litigation Communications

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Lordstown to Go Dark March 2019 - Can Tourism Save It From Becoming Crimeville?

 A pall hangs over Eastern Ohio. In March 2019, GM will stop producing the slow-selling Cruze sedan. That means 1,600 decent-paying jobs will be lost, probably forever.

OH senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman will visit with GM head Mary Barra this week. But, no realist expects much from that. It is unlikely, with the down cycle coming to the auto industry, GM will invest in retooling that plant for the more popular SVU or pickup. 

Once severance and unemployment run out, Lordstown and the areas surrounding it could become Crimeville. Already the region is economically devastated by the demise of the steel industry. Unlike Pittsburgh, there wasn't diversification. The industry that is thriving is meth. There are frequent fires from cooking gone wrong. 

However, that can be prevented by a bit of imagination. Like an old mining town in southwestern Arizona, Lordstown can be reconfigured into a tourist mecca.

That town is Tombstone. It freezes in time what used to be. That ranges from stagecoaches riding through town to cowboys hanging around the watering hole. 

Lordstown can become a city-wide kind of museum about the origins of the auto industry in the Midwest. In itself that can economically revive the region. The analogy is Cedar Point in Sandusky, a city otherwise down on its luck. 

The alternative is lots more meth factories, along with an increase in opioid use, theft, and suicides. 

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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