Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

"Without a Trace" - Are Malone, Fitzgerald in over their heads?

Tonight's episode of "Without a Trace" was all about complexity.  In a twisted tale a brother tries to control his brother - and almost gets him killed.  But the real web of entanglement took place in the hearts of Agents Malone and Fitzgerald.

Malone is trying hard to maintain an intimate relationship with Sam.  But the cracks started to become obvious.  He looked older tonight as he observed the young Brian and the young Sam interacting.  The threat seemed deeper and more intense than mere jealousy.  Was Malone wondering if he could hold on to what he thought he wanted?  Brian and Sam, neither of them all that wounded, seemed "normal" together.  Wherever Malone is, nothing is normal.

The situation will get even more complex next week.  When Sam was driving Brian, who just got a job in marketing, to the airport, they were hit by another car.  The coming attractions show Sam fighting for her life.  We don't know if Brian survived or not.  Can Malone be there for Sam?  That could entail Malone stretching himself emotionally where he has never gone before.

As for Fitzgerald, he continues to fall hard for Kim.  As we in the audience know and he doesn't she was part of the jury tampering incident which resulted in death.  From that incident she wound up with money.  Will Fitzgerald be able to use his powers of picking up on things to put things together in regard to Kim?  Also, we have to wonder what Kim wants from Fitzgerald.  She didn't have to enter this relationship.  Yet, when Fitzgerald knocked on her door, she invited him in.

Are Malone and Fitzgerald in over their heads or will their situations prove growing experiences? 

This Blog, and its author, made it through Year Four: Insight not available in any other medium

Tomorrow, April 1st, this blog will be four years old.  As the saying goes among bloggers, that time can only be viewed as life lived in dog years.  At least, this author, though aged and 30-pounds heavier, is here to tell the tale.  Others aren't.  They died of heart attacks or just abandoned blogging as too demanding.  The corridors in cyberspace are cluttered with discarded blogs.

The insight I gained during these four years could only have come from this 24/7 conversational medium which demands that value be created in every sentence of every post.  Psychoanalysis, losing jobs, succeeding in my own business, eastern philosophy, pet grief, and dodging the bankruptcy bullet never quite were the teachers they could have been.

Among the insight:

• In creative work, making judgments about people to let into our lives or our business, and the tough ordeal of starting over, instinct always trumps expert opinion [and it's only opinion], research, and discussing it with buddies.  Colleagues tell me that I have developed a "golden gut."  What stood in the way of this in past was too much higher education, which was typical of my baby-boom generation.

• Spotting and exploiting opportunity always trumps planning.  During Katrina, I jumped in with contacting the media and government representatives about the plight of the pets and their owners.  Not only was I effective.  I got it that planning is for those timid about succeeding.

• Being brutally cyber-bullied always trumps taking a seminar on rumor management on the web.  I picked up brilliant hands-on digital survival skills when hammered by the mischief-makers at Mediabistro.com and Facebook.  One was never communicate with the attackers on their sites.  Stay on your own.

• Severe criticism always trumps praise.  Actually, I now view praise as a tactic used by those with an agenda.

I want to thank those who supported my 180 - my digital journey from no confidence, total insecurity, and hefty self-hate to self-assurance, reduced insecurity, and the conviction that I am a fascinating person and, most of the time, a loving one.  When I delivered a keynote address on live-blogging the Rhode Island lead paint trial at the Coatings Society's Annual Meeting, I was described as "very opinionated but warm" Download Ccskeynoteaddress.

Among those in the front-lines of this incredible 180 were, and get this, still are:

• My blogging coach Paul Chaney.  He's following his first book "Realty Blogging: Build your brand and outsmart your competition" in September with "Digital Handshake."   You can order it on Amazon.com.  Chaney showed me the power of gentleness in educating about a new medium.

• The ever-patient reader of my compulsive blogging public-affairs leader Bob Dilenschneider, founder of The Dilenschneider Group.  This summer the American Management Association is publishing his HANDBOOK deconstructing how to leverage both digital and more traditional communications strategies to make messages resonate.  On New York's Eve Dilenschneider and his wife Jan invited me to their home in Darien, Connecticut to salute my, well, new emotional stability, along with a growing reputation in the blogosphere.  Here and here are my other blogs. I Tweet at http://twitter.com/gggggg1.

• Sometimes client and digital wizard Bill Marler, partner in Marler Clark which specializes in food-borne diseases.   Marler unleashed the wildness in my thinking and blogging.  Since then I have read several times "Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History."

• Marketing pro Toby Bloomberg who I met virtually on an American Marketing Association ListServ.  That led me to Chaney and the rest is history.  Through her blog Bloomberg introduced me around the blogosphere.  Now she has an e-startup, in addition to doing traditional and social-media marketing.

Like Seabiscuit, these wonderful creatures healed me - and my talent.

Who's Next: Post-Wagoner Era

The not-exactly unthinkable happened: GM Chief Executive Officer [CEO] Rick Wagoner got cut from the Establishment. Now, the question is: Who's next? 

In NEW YORK Magazine, Jessica Pressler reports speculation that it could be Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit.  In Newser.com, Michael Wolfe serves up the usual suspect The New York Times Co. CEO Pinch. 

Actually, most of the top-tier leaders of The Establishment are vulnerable to losing their influence and likely their jobs.  Their metabolism is simply too slow and steady for this period of economic upheaval.  As management consultants such as George Stalk have been noting, what might have happened anyway can happen lots faster during crisis.

Tip: Peek into post dining areas such as Manhattan's 21 and it's likely those we see we won't be seeing much longer in positions of power or even holding jobs or running businesses.  The Establishment was so established that it ossified.  Here is my e-book on that which has had a million downloads Download SavingSoulsJaneGenova.

Branding - Will packaged-goods loss to private label bleed into other categories

Has the current crisis also affected that powerful concept of brands?  According to management consultants including George Stalk, severe economic pressure could speed up trends that might have happened any way but much more slowly.  And was one of those trends branding, invented by Procter & Gamble in 1931?

In packaged-goods, it's obvious that budget-conscious consumers are shunning the warm and fuzzies associated with familiar brands like Heinz for plain-vanilla private-label food, beverages and stables.  In response, companies like ConAgra Foods have been cutting prices on some merchandise.

But could that just be the beginning of the end for marketing via branding?  Will we promote ourselves and our products and services not by personal, category and organizational branding but by other means such as just-in-time results?  "Yesterday, we increased sales of widgets for Company X 7%."  "Today, Law Firm Y has already received 76 contacts from prospects and current clients and it's only 10 A.M." 

Has branding become too cost-inefficient in marketing and too indirect to be effective?  Moreover, digital communications, low-cost in themselves and globally high-reach, allow for just-in-time marketing.  Branding might not make it to the 2012 presidential campaign.   

Female Writers: One door closes, a pole appears

Female unemployed or underemployed writers don't have to mourn the loss of their career too long, at least not if they are relatively young and have a long set of legs. One door closes and a pole appears. 

Today in THE NEW YORK POST, Anka Radokovich reports that females who lost their good white-collar jobs are making more, with perks like flexible hours and no sexual harassment, at no-collar gigs.  Those include pole-dancing, stripping and administering massages.  Former Morgan Stanley employee Randi Newton makes $160k annually, just in tips as a pole-dancer at Rick's Cabaret.

America Turns European - Crisis just speeds up that inevitable plunge into heart of darkness

Maybe it's our hypomania, just as psychologist John D. Gartner contends in "The Hypomanic Edge: The Link between a little craziness and a lot of success in America."  Unlike Europe, America was settled and constantly pumped up by venturous immigrants, many of who were too hypomanic to do well, personally and professionally, in more conventional locations.  So, we, and my ancestors are from Poland and Italy, have had the advantage of our out-of-the-box neuro-wiring and high energy to land on our feet, no matter what.  The exceptions, of course, are those too out-there to conform to what's needed for success, e.g. the drunks, druggies, and nuts.

That advantage has provided the insulation, at least up to now, from that dark European mindset that life is something to be wary of.  Institutions like the church, envious neighbors, resentful children, and our own tragic flaws can and probably will do us in.  That's what my grandparents and parents believed.   They never truly became "Americans."  

Well, the inevitable has happened: We "Americans" are having our minds and hearts introduced to that same ugly world view.  We have become essentially Europeans.

That has been speeded up by the current crisis.  As Steve Lohr explains in THE NEW YORK TIMES, this economic upheaval, an equal opportunity destroyer of fortunes, careers, and trust in pedigree credentials, has accelerated change in the business world.  Sure, most of us anticipated creative destruction but not so soon and not to this extent.

Amidst the creative destruction, there is plenty of reality, little of it pretty, being forced on us.  In fact, some hours of the day I find myself thinking like my angst-ridden Polish grandmother.  She saw possible trouble everywhere.  Yeah, she was right.  Father forgive me for hammering her with optimism.

At the top of the trouble pile is the realization that no human being has anything to hang onto.  That includes existence which will cease.  Our family can lose its money.  Our credentials in education, good breeding, good jobs could become worthless.  There isn't a big demand for those former BigLaw attorneys, WASPy journalists who will soon enough be cut loose from THE NEW YORK TIMES, and investment bankers.  A year ago I published an e-book on that which already has been downloaded a million times Download SavingSoulsJaneGenova.

Not too far under that on the pile is the growing awareness that it could be difficult, if not impossible, to restore prosperity, the individual kind as well as the GDP.  Those assuming they will find comparable jobs or get their businesses back to where they were before 2008 are discovering that just isn't happening.  It may.  But it may not.  Starting over is so widespread a prospect that I received an assignment just last week to ghostwrite a book on that topic. 

And not too far under that is the harsh fact that none of us are getting younger.  As we age in these challenging times summoning the courage, energy, and hope to rebuild something, anything is not so easy.  Can the over-55 re-start their lives?  It's possible.  T. Boone Pickens did it.  So did I.  But none of us who have been through that would wish that rite of passage on any human being. 

Being grabbed by the throat and being forced to stare into the heart of darkness could irreversibly change what's most American about America.  That's our boundless optimism, openness, and positive view of human nature.  Just like our immigrant family members we could become, well, totally European.  Me?  I probably crossed over there in 2003 Download Geezerguts.

Twitter.com Ghostwriters - In demand

Journalists, editors, and proofreaders might be permanently unemployed.  That's all part of economic change or "creative destruction."  But, while that carnage is happening in some industries and companies, new opportunities are being created in others.  One of those emerging fields is Twitter.com ghostwriting.

Yeah, it was bound to happen.  Tweeting has caught on so fast and become such a must communications tool that those with high profiles can't keep up.  So they, reports Noam Cohen in THE NEW YORK TIMES, are hiring Twitter.com ghostwriters.  Among those doing the hiring is Britney Spears.

So what are the job duties of a Tweeting ghostwriter?  Those could vary.

Some influentials want to maintain control over their use of Twitter.com, or as much as time allows.  That means they will only require staff to key in items on Twitter.com for their byline.  Or, they may trust the staff's judgment enough to post on Twitter.com snippets from speeches, brochures, press releases, press conferences, testimony, fan mail, customer feedback, and their calenders.

Or, those hiring Tweeting ghostwriters might want the whole enchilada of traditional services.  That could include brainstorming for ideas, testing out the concept, conducting research, scouting up background sources to interview and/or quote, ghostwriting, putting the material through approval channels, rewriting, and recycling the content for other formats such as an opinion-editorial for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL or an interview with the editorial board of AD AGE.

How to enter this field?  Same way you enter traditional ghostwriting.  Build a portfolio of Tweets ghostwritten for others.  Volunteer to do that free.  Next step is create a resume/cover letter/email or phone or in-person pitches for getting a job or freelance assignments.  Yeah, also use Twitter.com and other online sites to put yourself out there. 

Do I do Tweeting ghostwriting?  You bet.  Emergencies welcome.

It's come to this: New York Times Co. plans pay cuts

The New York Times Co., which just can't seem to get the hang of digital, is reducing costs by cutting the pay of most employees.  In addition, it will be laying off about 100.

Why can some institutions change and some can't?  When polio was eradicated the March of Dimes successfully repositioned itself on a mission to prevent birth defects.  The Internet has been around for about 13 years and still the New York Times Co. can't adopt its tone, rhythm or content.

"CSI: NY" - Is Lindsay Offed in last episode?

This comes via "TV Insider" in the April 6th edition of GLOBE.  On CSI: NY," one of the team gets offed in the last episode.  Since Anna Belknap, who plays pregnant Lindsay, is pregnant in real life with her second child, speculation is that it will be Lindsay who won't be back next season.

Camilla seems "on a mission to be as inappropriate as possible," GLOBE

Is Camilla destined for a tragic accident?  That might be the only cost-efficient way the Royals can dispatch with her. And, the sooner the better.

According to Dan Dolan in the April 6, 2009 GLOBE, "Camilla seems to have been on a mission to be as inappropriate as possible."  The drinking is bound to get only worse and the lesbian romance stepped up now that Camilla found out she won't be queen.  Queen Elizabeth II put down her foot:  She told Charles, who then had to tell Camilla, that his wife was too unstable to be the next queen.

If Camilla goes through with her threats to divorce, she could be fighting for $250 million.  In addition, she has also been threatening to blab about the secrets of the Royals.