Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Obama/Edwards Ticket? No way can two pretty boys win

It was his pretty-boy ethos that helped deep-six John Edwards, in both his runs for the big time.  Now, there's speculation about a ticket bundling this pretty boy with yet another one: Barack Obama.  JFK, who was very easy on the eyes, needed the counterbalance of the rough-around-the-edges Lyndon Johnson.

"Boston Legal" - Great camera panning for recovering Catholics

We all agree: "Boston Legal" is uneven.  But we keep tuning in because of nuggets of genius.  Tonight that was all clustered in the courtroom camera panning on the male Roman Catholic clergy who felt completely confident defending the no-female-priest policy.  The one on the stand couldn't have been better depicted by any Catholic who can't seem to heal from all that.  Fat, smug, beady eye, you just know he's moral pond scum.

Bonnie "Next" Fuller Moving On to New Next

We should all be curious about what's the new next for Bonnie "Next" Fuller.  No surprise, she's leaving - her own choice, she claims - American Media.  Since she took that tabloid gig the gossip category has become not only glutted.  Free digital sites such as TMZ.COM provide dirt in real time and we don't have to pony up a few bucks in the supermarket for our once-fave rag.  Her attempt to bring STAR upscale and charge more was badly time.  Whatever.

Populists Scruggs, Spitzer, Dann - Can We Save Them From Themselves

This week's THE NEW YORKER has an unusually objective profile of disgraced populist attorney Dickie Scruggs. By Peter J. Boyer, it chronicles Scruggs' journey from creative reformer lawyer to one who was caught trying to bribe a judge.  And we know that other populist attorneys, ranging from Eliot Spitzer to Marc Dann, also started out with noble intentions.  Then they fell from grace with a thud.

"CSI: Miami" - Too Heavy on Melodrama, Lite on Suspense

Tonight's episode of "CSI: Miami" was disappointing.  It had been promoted as a real heart-grabber.  Callie might have left the CSI unit.  But it didn't pan out that way.

Those Introductory Remarks - Hold the Facts, Create the Spell

Introductory remarks are tough to compose.  In fact, more and more folks contact me to write them for them - and I always struggle.  That genre of public speaking is a totally compressed medium, much like copywriting in advertising.  The outcome is supposed to be a spell cast on the audience.  Tall order.  But here are ways to eliminate some of the agita and increase the odds of creating that voodoo through your words.

"Have Laptop, Will Adapt" - Silicon Valley Baby Boomer's Secret for Staying on the Top of Any Game

Silicon Valley is supposedly the land of youth.  Maybe.  But both on that left coast and everywhere in the U.S. there are over-50 Baby Boomers like Marsha Keefer - and myself - who are beating the odds of aging.  We're starting businesses, getting lured away from our successful businesses by clients who want us all to themselves, and then re-grouping and entering a whole new discipline.  Keefer's mantra is: "Have Laptop, Will Adapt."  She's agreed to share her "secret" or the rule for attracting work to her.

"Desperate Housewives" - Mother's Love, oy vey

Tonight's "Desperate Housewives" had all the twisted mothering impulses we would find in a caricature of a comedy about Jewish mothers.  Not even one attempt at mothering comes off okay.  Where to start?

That Complimentary Consultation - You want to sell, not give away the store

Even my electrician friend knows that approaching a potentially lucrative prospect with the offer of a "complimentary consultation" is the most effective selling technique.  It gets us in the door, provides an opportunity to listen to the prospect's needs and concerns, permits us to screen if we want to work with this person or organization, and allows us to differentiate ourselves from the competition.  The problem is: Too often we wind up giving away the store - without closing the sale. 

Here's how to use the complimentary consultation to close sales.

Getting Work - It Takes a Small Valley

"We call 'it' here 'Small Valley.'"  Public relations guru and writer Marsha Keeffer was talking about her workplace: Silicon Valley.  And in the Small Valley, she explained to me on the East Coast,  all that counts is your performance.  No one cares where you picked up degrees, who you're connected to, or at what brandname you used to work.

Then it hit me:  That's exactly what's happening here in the once Establishment Northeast and Brahmin New England.  The old guard, recent Ivy grads, associates and even partners at law firms - they're dropping like flies.  No job, no hope.