Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Clintons - 1 wedding, Palins - 0 Weddings

This could be a very bad development for Sarah Palin's political future.  Weddings, as are funerals, are great networking events.  Today the Clintons have their bash.  We anticipated that the Palins would also have theirs.

That might not come to be.  As the NATIONAL ENQUIRER reported last week, Levi Johnston might have impregnated the woman he was with when he and Bristol were on the outs.  If this turns out to be true, the Palins might call off the wedding.  What a lost opportunity.

Bad is better - Turning in our Boy Scout/Girl Scout merit badges

In this Darwinian economy, it's all about being a player.  Tom Peters explained all that to us in his book RE-IMAGINE!  He made it clear how those old-line kinds of nice guys and loyal company men don't even have a chance.  And, as we're witnessing over and over again, they sure don't.  They not only lost their jobs but also their pensions and their houses are underwater.

So, one thing the Boy Scouts might have to do as the organization struggles to be taken seriously in the 21st century is change its name.  A social media type I recommend the Boy Scouts run a contest asking for more suitable names for itself.  That in itself might provide the organization with unique insight about what its mission should be in an era when so many young can't achieve that rite of passage of making a living.  Among the College Class of 2010, only a fourth had jobs at graduation.

As for the not-young, fortunately they have seen the wisdom of getting smart, fast.  A number of them have told me that they fully agree with the randy advice I provide in my new book OVER-50: HOW WE KEEP WORKING.  They especially value the chapter on grabbing, keeping and growing power. 

OVER-50: HOW WE KEEP WORKING is available online.  Here are the book's Preface, Introduction, and Table of Contents Download Over50prefaceintrotoc.

Note: In 2003, after my business tanked I turned in every one of my Girl Scout merit badges.  Bad is better, as Mae West put it Download Badgirl.

When Troubles Talk was bonding device

Back in 1994, linguist Deborah Tannen noted in her book TALKING FROM 9 TO 5 that women in the workplace frequently used "troubles talk" as a bonding device.   But even then, Tannen observed, not all women welcomed that baring of the soul. 

Now, of course, both sexes flee that kind of sharing of problems, emotional and physical aches and pains.  A number of us are even defaulting to the stock phrase:  I don't want to hear it.  I got my own problems.

And problems we do have.  At the top of the list is economic insecurity.  My hunch is that even when The Recovery arrives, Troubles Talk won't return.   No newsflash, Oprah, the ultimate Troubles Talk queen, has had tanking ratings for her afternoon program.   The emerging ethos seems to be silence.   Actually, all talk has seemed too much.  Not that less is more.  None is best.

Two Tylenol PM or one Lunesta: Bride-to-Be will be just fine

Of course, Chelsea looks exhausted.   She should.  After all, her mother's political future hinges on the quality of the staging of the wedding and the quality of the networking. 

However, we all know that tonight if Chelsea takes two Tylenol PM or one Lunesta she should be good-to-go tomorrow. 

Why is Politico not into Chelsea's wedding?

A mystery has developed.   Why is Politico, as Josh Duboff reports in NEW YORK Magazine, not all that interested in Chelsea's wedding?  Unlike other major media, the staff there "don't have much planned" in the way of coverage.  At most they will interview guests post-wedding.

Does Politico have a beef with the Clintons and is signaling that through its absence?  After all, Politico is the number-one publication in political space?

Tony Hayward Image Restoration: Doing It All Wrong

Former BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward is a relatively young man.  He will need a comeback, that is image restoration, if he wants to work again.  Unfortunately, he's going about it all the wrong way.

For example, he is attempting to defend his performance during the oil spill.  Counterproductive.  Right now he should simply provide a mea culpa.  Then exit the stage.  As Eliot Spitzer did, he should lay low for about two years.  Then he should have influential third parties start saying good things about him.  Next he surfaces in a high-profile position not directly related to his former one.  Then, he's back.  End of story.

Not Everything Works, Some Things Work After Some Time

After doing only one of her slated two contract years, Ellen is out on "Idol."  She never really embedded herself into the ethos of that talent show.  Some speculate that's because she isn't a music person.

Also, we find out that our earnest application for a freelance or full-time position doesn't work when the help-wanted reappears in a few weeks.   Often the ad just is there again, with no explanation.  Sometimes, it explicitly states those who had applied earlier need not apply again.  That has happened to me long enough that I have a list of reasons what likely went wrong.  Those reasons range from the organization read my blogs and knew I wouldn't fit to it wants skills or contacts they decide I don't have.

On the other hand, some things start to work after some time.  An example is my book OVER-50: HOW WE KEEP WORKING.  Sales were stuck in dismal.  Then I tried new ways of marketing such as bundling the book's Preface, Introduction, and Table of Contents into a PDF and posting that whenever I discussed a theme from the book Download Over50prefaceintrotoc.  Also working is mentioning the book at the end of my seminar for ExecSense on developing new business Download Rainmaking.

What else is working finally is adjusting to aging.  At 65 I am having less trouble with that than I did at 47.  The wisdom of others on this topic is getting through to me.  In his book on loss MAKING TOAST, Roger Rosenblatt observes that when we are older we need less, at least in terms of material possessions or even living space. 

Also in terms of aging, I am developing the long-term view on my writing.  A few days ago my clairvoyant Mary Ann Kremer informed me that I will be in good mental and physical shape until I am 90.  Why fret over disappointments, then?  [You can call Kremer for an appointment at 732-840-7611.  Her fee is $30 for a half-hour reading.]

Talk: Recreation of underclass

Face it, green might be noble goal in transportation but at this point in time most folks outside major metro areas use mass transit because they can't afford private transit, i.e. their own car.  They are often called America's underclass. 

I joined them, at least in using mass transit in New Haven, Connecticut, after my car was stolen and that was after it had been towed, ticketed, and hit three times.  The universe didn't intend for me to have a car at my current address.

What I have observed on the bus is that, unlike the upper middle class train commute into Manhattan, everyone talks.  They talk to each other, across aisles.  They talk into cell phones.  They talk to themselves. 

Is talk the recreation of a disenfranchised socio-economic group?  Is it also the mouthings of a class who has nothing to lose by not being guarded?  Up the food chain we have become increasingly circumspect as the economy shifted from affluence to scarcity. 

For 14 months I have been on the bus.  Each of those months I drift more and more into extremely measured conversations.  Talk might be the most abused ability of the human race.  Give me a bark any time.

No more "shitty deals" at Goldman Sachs, at least not in emails

Goldman Sachs has laid down the rhetorical law, reports Hamilton Nolan in Gawker.  The powers-that-be got religion after hearing the phrase "shitty deal," which had been in one of its emails, read in the U.S. Senate over and over again.  

Now, Nolan tells us, Goldman Sachs has barred the use of such profanity in its email system.   The challenge, of course, is monitoring this.  Will the company install software programmed to scan emails for bad words.  And what will be the punishment?  Getting one's pay docked a few million? 

No question, the ingenious players on Wall Street will figure a way around the purge.  Maybe they will invent a new language of profanity.  They may call in wordsmiths such as us.

Here is my new book on how language influences success, especially when we're seasoned and the marketplace expects more.  The book is OVER-50: HOW WE KEEP WORKING.  It's in paperback - read that "cheap" - and can be ordered online.

You can download free OVER-50: HOW WE KEEP WORKING's Preface, Introduction, and Table of Contents Download Over50prefaceintrotoc.

Outpouring of sympathy for poor Bristol?

Horrors.   Just when the kid, who incidentally runs a lobbying firm, got her life in order, now this.  Bristol Palin who is due to be marrying Levi Johnston, the father of her son Tripp, may have encountered a speed bump.  The NATIONAL ENQUIRER reports that Johnston's old girlfriend Lanesia Garcia is about to give birth and she believes the child is Johnson's.  The two hooked up when he and Bristol were on the outs.

What will Mama Bear Sarah have to say about this latest development in her daughter's relationship with pinup boy Johnston?  Maybe Bristol was just meant to be a career gal like Mom, and hold the romance.