Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Watergate 2.0: Take it from survivor of Watergate 1.0, there will be tremendous loss of productivity

It's not Watergate 2.0 yet, Bob Woodward tells POLITICO.  For example, there's no clear line to the White House on the IRS' providing extra scrutiny on the tax-exempt status of conservative organizations. 

However, take it from a Baby Boomer who survived Watergate 1.0: Productivity will take a hit.  The hit will be bigger than when the Watergate 1.0 hearings were broadcasted on television.  That's because there are so many more venues for presenting the news and opining.  Name one person who will not be caught up in this?  I will be hitting all my three syndicated blogs, tweeting, and commenting on Facebook.

Back during Watergate 1.0, everyone took the time to express thoughts about government, human nature, power, the GOP, Richard Nixon, all the president's men, and Everyman.  In addition everyone caught snippets of the hearings. Sometimes in university towns like Ann Arbor, Michigan, where folks have flexible schedules, we had Watergate-hearing parties. 

Watergate 2.0 will bring the nation a nice pause after so much tragedy.  If there is no Watergate 2.0, there will probably be great disappointment throughout the land. 

Being Snooped On: The new symbol of power

The nose knows.  It smells power and the rest is the material for some of the most audacious scandals which have hit since Watergate. 

Bloomberg News has been caught snooping on masters of the universe as well as the crowd at the Federal Reserve.  POLITICO chronicles the snooping by the IRS on conservative groups and that of the Department of Justice on reporters. 

Not being snooped on can be perceived as a negative, transmitting the message that we aren't powerful enough to bother with.  Not since I was deposed about a trial I covered in 2005 through 2006 have I been snooped on.  That was heady stuff, with lawyers representing both sides flying into New Haven, Connecticut to grill me. That included questioning me about what I had posted on my blogs.

Likely I am not alone in craving the attention of being watched.

 

Bloomberg Brand: Competitors are licking their chops, politicos can get edge

Bloomberg competitors, ranging from Thomas Reuters on the terminal side to News Corp on the media side, probably can't believe their good luck.  That huge and respected Bloomberg brand just took a major hit.  Could it be fatal? Time will tell.  Meanwhile, the politicos could get an edge by zeroing in investigating what has just been disclosed.

THE NEW YORK POST, owned by News Corp, broke the story that the 2,400 Bloomberg News reporters had access to the activities of Wall Street subscribers on the 315,000 Bloomberg terminals.  Now, THE NEW YORK TIMES has made that story legitimate.  Here you can read the detailed coverage of a scandal which can make the high-risk trading at JP Morgan Chase and the allegedly non-client-centric folks at Goldman Sachs seem like petty stuff.

In a nutshell, Bloomberg News reporters could log into the accounts of terminal subscribers and track a lot.  That could provide the reporter with unique insight about what the traders could be planning to do.  For example, if they kept checking X category, reporters could parachute in and start nosing around that area, gather information, and try connecting the dots. 

This could spread beyond Wall Street.  As THE NEW YORK TIMES reports:

"Banking regulators at the Federal Reserve are examining whether their own employees were subject to tracking by Bloomberg reporters, according to people briefed on the matter." 

The scope of the possible mischief is the stuff new brandnames are made of and current brandnames can be given a major boost.  Could Bloomberg terminals and Bloomberg News go out of business?  That will depend on how aggressively competitors and politicos pursue this matter.  Meanwhile ethics experts can opine on how our society has to re-think the extent it will go to in order to get an edge. That edge could turn on the edge-holder, delivering a deadly wound.

Jack O'Dwyer's Advice to Millennials Flocking to PR, One of the Few High-Growth Industries

It's morning in America when it comes to the public relations (PR) industry. 

As Odwyerpr.com reports, in 2012, 15 of the 25 largest PR firms surveyed had double-digit growth.  Leader of the pack was Edelman, at 12.4%.  So, as expected, Millennials are flocking to this field which welcomes with open arms all majors, including the humanities, as long as the graduating seniors can solve problems creatively.

Across the nation, there are career meetups for upperclassmen to hear expert advice on what is expected of them on the front lines of PR and to be interviewed by recruiters from PR agencies, corporate communications departments, and trade associations.  One of those will be held in Manhattan this coming Tuesday at the Kimmel Center.

Head of Odwyerpr.com, Jack O'Dwyer has already talked with many of those who have been extended offers or soon will be.  What's on their minds, Jack says, are the values of the organizational culture, especially the ethics. They want his guidance on how not to get caught up in the pressure to keep clients happy - at all costs. Through the grapevine they have heard sordid tales of "extraordinary pressure" to do things which are clearly not kosher.  They know that they could wind up being flamed on Gawker.com or BusinessInsider.com for misleading statements or worse.

"I tell them that this is a 'systems problem,'" says Jack. "Way back at the turn of the century the Ethics Resources Center found that about half the members of the Public Relations Society (PRS) reported that, yes, they felt caught in that field of force to say and act unethically.  Yet, this hasn't become a major issue for discussion, with the focus on solutions. Why?"

On his own site Odwyerpr.com, Jack and his staff do often present what they frame as conflicts which involve ethics and often also the law.  However, much more than unilateral action is needed if PR can remain a growth field. 

Otherwise, like the distressed legal sector, which has lost client trust (the latest scandal is alleged overbilling of clients at DLA Piper), it will begin shrinking. For the Class of 2012 for law graduates, according to the American Bar Association, only 56% landed full time law jobs, reports the THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL.  And no one is betting if those who did land on their feet will still have jobs three or four years from now.

Instead of a boom industry, PR could go bust, as law did in 2007.  A useful read for incoming PR representatives could be the new book "The Lawyer Bubble" by Steven Harper, a chronicle of lousy ethics, greed, and short-term self-interest. 

"Ninety of 270 NY Financial Writers Are 'Freelance,'" hammers Jack O'Dwyer

Since he started out in the public relations print directory business decades ago, Jack O'Dwyer had one mission: keeping communications pros working.  "Contact Jack" was the word on the street for anyone who had lost a job, was hanging out a shingle, or graduated college and was pounding the pavement.

Now, Jack's mission has become more focused.  He is determined to help all communications professionals understand the option of becoming a contract employee.  It can be a lucrative career path, without stigma.

"What the world, even among the supposed thought leaders, doesn't know or won't accept is that more and more are earning an awesome living as freelancers," O'Dwyer told this blog.  "Right now, 90 out of the 270 members of the NY Financial Writers are contract workers.  That was a category that didn't even exist 20 years ago.  Incidentally, Intuit just came out with these numbers: By 2020, 40% of Americans or 60 million will be contract workers."

The contract-worker game, just like the games we have to master as employees if we want to get ahead, has its own rules for success.  The winners gain access to the plum assignments, on a sustained basis, with premium fees.  Those who continue to regard this option as second-tier will look, walk, talk, and smell like losers.

Jack is available for interviews on how to succeed in contract work jack@odwyerpr.com.

Ghostwriters: Why DYI Movement Hasn't Killed Our Business

Many high-stakes transactions require a formal written essay, proposal, presentation, report, or review.  The result must be a homerun.  In a sense, the process in binary: Win and it's a big win or lose.

For example, the student in medical school is applying to Yale Hospital for a residency.  The enterpreneur is seeking investors in the startup.  The executive is pitching to the Board of Directors for a stay of execution on the project.

Yet, formal writing skills are not developed in the curriculum in the sustained manner they had been when we Baby Boomer ghostwriters were going to elementary and high school and attending college.  Therefore, what the DYI (Do It Yourself) movement demands for people to bypass the experts doesn't exist.  In RECON INTELLIGENCE SERVICES, Jeremy Conaway observes that confidence and knowledge are prerequisites for the leap from being tethered to an expert and trying to put it together oneself. Many members of Generations X and Y don't have confidence in their writing ability because they know they weren't forced to develop and keep improving it.  It just isn't there.  Given that formal writing is required, despite the conversational prose of social networks, fear verging on panic has taken hold when a writing assignment is due. 

That's the reason why we ghostwriters haven't been put out of business by DYI.  And the business has become global. Increasingly I edit articles for U.S. journals developed by Chinese experts.  In Canada, those whose English is a second language also come to me for coaching about organization, tone, and word choice.  Clearly, not only U.S. education has neglected putting adequate emphasis on writing fundamentals.

About 18 months ago, an executive coach rcommended I stop investing so much marketing in social media, which is glutted, and return to my core competence of ghostwriting.  She was right on the money.

Say-on-pay Global Movement: Reform coming from unexpected source

On March 3, reports BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK, Swiss voters approved a referendum which gives shareholders of public companies lots of power determining executive compensation.  Since the Swiss economy thrives on being a sanctuary for capitalist interests, this development is, well, shocking. 

Not shocking, though, will be the speed with which this corporate governance issue spreads around the world.  So many constituencies, beyond just shareholders, are outraged at the amount of executive pay as well as provisions such as golden parachutes and huge retirement payoffs even if the leaders had been miscreants.

Called the "Say-on-pay" movement, this initiative will be filling the U.S. media soon enough with how shareholders are struggling to implement it.  At the top of the list will be hedge fund managers.  For those who want more information and insight on the strategies of hedge funds a useful read is the new book "The Alpha Masters" by Maneet Ahuja.  The author describes in detail the orientation of nine major hedge funds and how their leaders came to found them.  They range from Bridgewater Associates started by Ray Dalio to Sba Capital Management launched By Boaz Weinstein.

Noam Chomsky Takes on PR Industry: Superbowl has become national holiday celebrating commercial creativity

One-time high profile political activist and respected academic linguist Noam Chomsky has taken on the public relations industry.  In this 3.48-minute interview on Al Jazeera, he contends that PR is a tool of control by the elite to keep the masses in the dark, undermining democracy.  Yet, he says, "nobody says anything."

This kind of rhetoric seems to be anachronistic in this media-savvy era when just about everyone demands access to PR representation, much like they do for legal counsel.  The Superbowl has almost become a national holiday celebrating commercial creativity in America

Among those responding to Chomsky has been Jack O'Dwyer, founder of Odwyerpr.com, the information site for PR agencies.  Last Friday, former journalist O'Dwyer published an analysis of Chomsky's remarks. Here you can read that. 

The question is if the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) will issue a deconstruction of Chomsky's position and address those issues.  If it doesn't one has to wonder if that trade association remains a front-lines advocate for the art and science of communications?

Ann Curry in Penalty Box: Assertiveness is risky business

On her last day on "Today," Ann Curry asserted herself on camera, on her behalf and to the detriment of her employer NBC.  At the time some praised her courage and considered that a shrewd career move.

Now that some may be rethinking all that.  NBC remains Curry's employer and it is not allowing her to do live interviews, only taped ones.  Those of us who understand how organizations operate would contend that Curry is in the penalty box.  Her employer is showing her, one might say, who is boss.  In addition, this muzzling could be construed as a public spanking warning others who might be considering asserting themselves in the future about the possible consequences.

The reality is that employers have the upper hand.  That's why those with naturally assertive natures find making a living in them impossible.  They go the self-employed route.  As long as employers are signing the checks they can determine the terms and conditions of employment, as long as those are legal.  That carries over to myriad client relationships.  In some cases we vendors sign ironclad NDAs (non-disclosure documents) about the relationships.  In most other cases we know to keep our mouths shut, take the experience and the money and go.

From the time caveman went hunting for dinner and often became dinner for another species, surviving has not been easy for the human race.  In the 21st century, it has even become tougher for many of us.  The bottom line is that if we need to change an employment situation we have to become more skillful as well as cunning in how we go about it.

Nehemiah Griego, Adam Lanza: The dark side of growing up

Only now, in comparing our emotional memory banks with each other, are we who were 18 years and freshmen at Seton Hill, Greensburg, Pennsylvania in 1963, learning how much pain we all were in. 

Through email and social networks, Lee Harrison and I, for example, admit how alienated we felt in a world in which everyone else seemed to have a playbook. Of course, now we are finding out that the majority of what was going to be the Class of 1967 felt apart from, less than, and not pretty.  Seton Hill had been an all-women's college.

But unlike the late Adam Lanza and now Nehemiah Griego, we didn't have any template or access to firearms to hurt others.  The worst effects of our dark side, so active in teenage years, included ducking the pain through overeating, oversleeping, and not struggling to find our professional passion.  Me? I write off those four years of emotional agony as simply being stuck.  I didn't discover writing as a career path until the mid 1970s.

Today, the media indirectly inform youth that they could gain an audience to view their pain if they gun down family et al.  Also, firearms are easily available. The latest instance of that now-familiar pattern that the media, including NEW YORK Magazine, report is teenager Nehemiah Griego.  Allegedly he massacred five people in their home, one of who might be his father.

Back in 1963, confused or even mentally ill Griego would probably have been simply miserable and eventually found a way out, without ruining his own life and destroying those of others. Through social networks like Facebook and Twitter we from the Seton Hill freshman class of 1963 are finding out that we did end up centered solid citizens.  Some of us remain too fat, too depressed, and too self-defeating but we are here, intact, to tell the tale and to leverage that insight for growth.  The memory of growing up and out of emotional and spiritual turmoil has been the meme of my blogging since 2005.