Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Mike Rice, Before That Michael Arrington: Anger as the new tragic flaw

Anger has become the new tragic flaw.  Like hubris in Greek tragedy, rage in contemporary life is bringing down brandnames in a growing number of fields.

The latest, as THE NEW YORK TIMES reports, is former Scarlet Knights Men's Basketball team coach at Rutgers in New Jersey Mike Rice.  A video of his abusive rage-filled behavior not only brought him down but also other bigwigs at the university. 

Case studies about how the public relations aspects of this are managed will be hot.  After all, the ambitious politico Chris Christie is governor the governor of NJ and tax funds help support the state school. You might send your analysis to Jack O'Dwyer (jack@odwyerpr.com) for possible publication in Odwyerpr.com. 

Before The Rice Affair became front-page news, trending in tech circles were rumors that TechCrunch founder and investor Michael Arrington was another angry young man.  SOCIAL TIMES reported alleged physical abuse of his one-time girlfriend Jenn Allen.  Arrington had it made in tech media. Now, he and everywhere his tentacles extend will also need such sophisticated PR.  Those who specialize in tech PR might have already transmitted their opinings about this to Odwyerpr.com.

With so much Everyman/Everywoman knowledge about the dangers of anger and that those who abuse will do it again, no matter their contrite promises, this syndrome is out of the closet.  In addition, technology, ranging from wearing a wire to using a smartphone to video, provides documentation.  My hunch is that mothers no longer have to warn their daughters not to  become involved with angry lovers.

Unfortunately, treatment for anger management has a high failure rate, just as does rehab in alcoholism.  Those who are angry, it seems, have to bottom out and be willing to frame the world differently.  Rage starts with a mindset of resentment and entitlement.  I bear witness to that hybrid all the time in 12-step programs.  It takes away people's families, jobs, and the ability to live outside of institutions, be they prison or mental hospitals.

 

Seton Hill University Fatal Bus Crash: For Whom The Bell Tolls

The Seton Hill University (Greensburg, Pennsylvania) Lacrosse team was traveling to a game this morning on a bus via the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  FOX NEWS reports that as yet the authorities don't know why but the bus went off the Turnpike and hit a tree. 

The head coach Kristina Quigley, 30 and six-months pregnant, died as did the baby she was carrying.  This was her second year in that job. Also dead was the bus driver.  Two other passengers were air-lifted to special hospitals and others were transported to hospitals near the site of the crash.

The sadness felt in the university community of Seton Hill extends to all us graduates.  At the time many of us could not afford cars and we hopped on the leased buses to attend social events off campus where we hoped to find our soulmates.  In those days, there was no concept of "networking" for professional ambitions.  We could have been on that bus.  Late afternoon my roommate from junior year Charlotte Toal sent me the news clip. 

When Charlotte and I were taking Freshman Composition at Seton Hill, our professor Joanne Boyle, now president of the university, introduced us to the poetry of John Donne.  One of those classic poems was about our common humanity.  The lines so often quoted are that we shouldn't ask for whom the bell tolls when there is funeral in town, we should embrace that it tolls for each of us.

I extend my wishes for healing in such grief to all the members of the Seton Hill community.

Jay Leno et al. - We are guilty of the unspeakable crime in America of aging

In America, birthdays soon mutate from happy events shared by family, friends, co-workers, and superiors to evidence of an unspeakable crime.  That crime is becoming older.

Many years ago genius in music Louie Armstrong sang that his sin was in his skin.  Our sin is that we have had too many birthdays to remain a premier brand in the labor market. 

The latest instance of that might be the exiting of comic Jay Leno from his network show after the 2013 - 2014 season.  HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that Leno could be on short time, replaced by Jimmy Fallon.

Of course, there are aging players seemingly unaffected by the American preference for youth on its labor front lines.  Those range from Rupert Murdoch to Betty White.  Good for them.  Then there are the rest of us who have been forced out or not let in. 

Our mission, like those African-Americans, women, and gays embraced, is to transform the perception and work policies about aging.  Few will help us.  This is our fight.  We can show up for it if we get over the shame inflicted on us about "not looking young."  Sixty may be the new 30 but it doesn't look like 30.

That Personal Essay for Admission to College, Graduate/Professional Schools: Make it personal

Globally, students, from ages 17 to 70, are having difficulty with the required personal essay for admission to college as well as graduate and professional schools.  When they contact me for coaching, I say three words: Make it personal. 

The lion's share of the drafts I review are not personal.  They are stuck in the data and cliches which frightened applicants assume they have to present.  Those include challenging courses taken, awards, community service, passion for the institution they are applying to, and how well suited they are to be admitted.  Not even sandwiched among all that is any indication of who this human being is.

Schools want to know who they're admitting for a growing number of reasons.  One is to provide a reasonable amount of diversity in the program.  I had a hunch and I was right that I would be admitted to Harvard Law School because I was about two decades older than the traditional applicant. 

Therefore, applicants must dig within their lives and pull out what experiences make their unique.  Those could be overcoming adversity such as the death of a parent at an early age, functioning despite a disability, immigrating to a strange land without language skills, and/or working full time when attending school full time.  There could also be unusual professional accomplishments such as helping save the family retail business by putting it online or touring Asia with a group of mimes.

Another reason is that institutions of higher learning want a sense of the strength of the human being in order to have some assurance that person will complete the program and not hightail it in a few months. 

It's bad for class morale to have someone leave. That means explaining coping with academic setbacks, disappointments, and choices that were a bad fit.  One woman who was admitted to a top medical school chronicled how she failed her first semester in college, figured out what was interfering with her studies, and went on to become an honors student.  Did you change majors and have to invest six more months in college?

A third reason is that admissions wants to detect some kind of fire in the belly.  Passion is contagious.  Drive can manifest itself not only in academics but also sports, leadership positions, and, yes, starting up a business on the side.  Research shows that we human beings directly influence each other cell by cell.  That field of force is called mirror neurons.

A useful way to start out the search for that authentic self is to ask about 10 people in your life to describe you.  Listen, take notes.  Then, as with Lego blocks, play with the pieces.  What you come up with could be the first step in the educational process you are going to embrace. 

Oscar Pistorius: Everyone needs a gimmick and he had one

In a world of glut of talent, just about everyone in just about every line of work needs a gimmick.  That's the crude way of referring to what marketing folks call personal branding, creating unique space, or a blue ocean strategy.

Oscar Pistorius had such as gimmick.  He ran races on high tech artificial legs.  In terms of gimmicks, that one was a breed apart.

Of course, Pistorius had to invest time and concentration in perfecting his performance.  However, as the media report, he didn't bother downsizing his dark side such as his temper.  That failure cancelled out the power of his gimmick.

Now we have yet one more fallen hero.  Perhaps the next will attend to his or her shadow side. 

Likability & Career Comebacks: Lance Armstrong not doing so hot

"It" was about the person on the bike and that we admired his talent, courage, and ability to overcome adversity (cancer, aging).  Now "it's" whether we like this fallen hero enough to allow him a comeback.

According to LA TIMES writer Paul Thornton it's thumbs-down on Armstrong post-Oprah interview.  The letters he is receiving from readers are negative about Armstrong.  The reality, in the human heart and the court of public opinion, is that we have to like someone to give that person a chance to come back in a career.

We like former McKinsey head Rajat Gupta and wish him well, despite his conviction for insider trading.  He is classy guy who probably had a midlife crisis regarding how much money he had made and could make continuing to do what he had been doing.  Another comeback we are allowing is that of Wall Street analysis Henry Blodget who is operating the publishing homerun BUSINESS INSIDER.

On television with Oprah Armstrong came across as less than human.  Guarded, not properly contrite, not recognizing what he had done was so wrong.  The court of public opinion is judging him harshly. 

The lesson here is that those planning to come back from whatever have to appeal to the human in all of us.  Despite centuries of evolution and the embedded capitalist ethos in America, the human heart is the ultimate decider.

Lance Armstrong: Tells Oprah his flaw was "ruthless desire to win"

A controlled, cautious Lance Armstrong told an equally controlled, cautious Oprah that he was a deeply flawed man, with the biggest flaw being his "ruthless desire to win." The personas of both were surprising during the exclusive interview on OWN, which was streamed on Oprah.com.

Armstrong presented himself as still in-charge but as recognizing that he had done wrong.  Some might have expected the image of the repentent sinner.  That didn't happen.  The Oprah we viewed had made the transition from the personality of excess she had been in her talk show days to a more sophisticated, cunning Barbara Walters type.  Now we know that Orpah is capable of change.

The most amazing part of the interview was Armstrong's admitting that he didn't view the doping as anything wrong when he was doing it.  That raised the issue if he was a sociopath, that is a creature without the internal censor the rest of us have to deal with when we consider going against society's norms.  He said that he would be apologizing for the rest of the life for his doping but one wonders if he is doing that because that's what miscreants do or because he feels remorse.  Could he be a person incapable of guilt and shame?

This interview will be deconstructed by law enforcement, lawyers, psychologists, clergy, and Armstrong's loved ones.  Some of them might wonder why he decided to do it since, for him, it seems to have accomplished so little in reputation restoration.  For Oprah, of course, it has been a homerun.

 

Armstrong/Winfrey: Two fading personalities teaming up for possible mutual comebacks

With Lance Armstrong, it will never be about the bike again.  In his 40s, he has many decades ahead for a new career path now that we live longer and so it's all about putting the pieces in place for a comeback.  The public relations world is watching this one.  If it works, there's plenty to learn from how Armstrong engineered a fresh brand identity.

However, the first move in that direction doesn't seem all that promsing.  As a fading personality he is teaming up with yet another fading personality Oprah Winfrey to tell his story, which may include an admission of doping. As THE WALL STREET JOURNAL reports, Armstrong is scheduled to appear with this former Mother Confessor on "Next Channel" on January 17th. Of course during that interview he will have to tap dance around the legal issues.

Was this a poor choice for Armstrong to select for a possible self-outing?  Did he go for it because other media bigs such as Barbara Walters were not interested?  It also might display a lack of imagination.  He could have gone on the new hot spot of Jimmy Kimmel and come clean. 

Some professionals like Henry Blodget have solid comebacks.  Some like Eliot Spitzer struggle and don't come back.  Armstrong might wind up in the latter category.

UPDATE Winfrey's OWN is doing better.  She has shifted to a position of media strength, which could mean she will perform as a tough father confessor if Armstrong discloses his transgressions and asks for forgiveness.  Winfrey might even have in her power to reduce some of the shame Armstrong will have to endure.  Shame is the preferred mode of social control in the 21st century.  No one needs to go to prison anymore to become a pariah.

Lance Armstrong: Could become next case study in brilliant reputation management

In the U.S. the art and science of reputation management are well-paid activities.  Public relations pros specializing in the specific niche of reputation restoration can make $1,000 an hour, just like brandname lawyers such as David Boies of Boies, Schiller & Flexner allegedly makes.

One might assume that public relations agency Edelman is billing at a high rate to represent Peter Lanza, father of the Newtown, Connecticut killer Adam Lanza and VP-Tax at GE.  The pro on the front lines, reports Kevin McCauley at Odwyerpr.com, is Edelman VP Errol Cockfield, Jr. who had been the spokesperson for both former New York Governors Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson.  Edelman also represents Lanza's employer GE.

Another major account and future case study could be restoring the reputation of former bicycle racing champion Lance Armstrong.  THE WALL STREET JOURNAL reports, and other media such as THE NEW YORK POST have run with the story, Armstrong could be considering the now-common rite of passage of admitting one's wrong, making amends or attempting to right the wrong through good deeds, and then rebuilding a career on another platform. 

Americans ranging from the late Watergate miscreant Chuck Colson to former equity analyst who had a cloud over his head Henry Blodget have put together wildly successful Nexts.  Colson traveled the path of evangelist preacher and Bloget became a digital entrepreneur whose BUSINESS INSIDER is thriving in funding and popularity.

If Armstrong makes a public announcement that he did indeed engage in doping, he is taking legal risks.  For example, there is the whistleblower lawsuit by Floyd Landis.  Could government powers that be demand criminal and civil penalites be imposed? Armstrong is represented by legal counsel Tim Herman.

However, once Armstrong clears those hurdles he could do just about anything he wants in terms of a fresh career journey.   The team of communications experts who handle this assignment could well be presenting the case study at the World Economic Forum at Davos in 2014. 

As those of us who have tumbled into black holes know, it's never what happens, it's how we handle it.  Those representing Armstrong could handle that in ways that have nothing to do with the bike.  Put that in the storage shed of symbols that had had a good run and then are retired.

"Snow Fall: Avalanche at Tunnel Creek" by John Branch - Long form is not dead

We who stayed riveted to John Branch's THE NEW YORK TIMES article "Snow Fall: Avalanche at Tunnel Creek" know that long form journalism is not dead. 

The piece is packaged in its own section in the Sunday edition. I doubt if we plowed through, no pun intended, just because this is the Christmas holiday and we had time.  Of course, it's going to win awards, and with good reason.

Objectively but with narrative genius Branch recounts the deaths of extreme skiers along with an implicit analysis of risk-taking.  Somehow, whether the author intended or not, we go away with the feeling that all of us mortals are going to die and maybe it's a honor to align that with our passion.

My idea of a good death for myself: Pressing the send button on an opinion-editorial which will be published in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL under the client's byline the next day and then having the big bang.