IntuitiveReadings

Gore Bores: Current Media lays off 80

The ultimatge crime against the people in the 21st century is to be boring.  That's what Al Gore's experiment in television played out to be: Boringly familiar in format and content.  It's laying off 80 folks.  Current Media spokespeople say the experiment is wildly successful.

Make-Believe Success, Propped Up by Severance, Crashes into Poverty

Those high-flying unemployed did it just right.  No one assumed that they like the rest of us - financially challenged, burying our fear in cheap chocolate, and kind of hoping for a terminal disease.  They maintained their children in private schools, themselves in classy cars, and hit the good restaurants.  Now, as THE WALL STREET JOURNAL reports, their severance packages, their savings, and their unemployment compensation have run out.  They have no where to go but to crash into poverty.

That didn't have to be.  But it was.  They turned down jobs which paid lots less than their good jobs.  They turned down opportunities to learn new skills.  They didn't turn down the temptation to continue to living as they did in the days of affluence.

One has $600 left.  The choices are few.  Bankruptcy is no longer an attractive option in which you get to keep the house and the 401K.  Likely their old jobs in banks and marketing are gone or require social media skills.  They don't want to be seen ringing up your Christmas toys in Wal-Mart. 

So, what can they do? They could be totally reckless and take out loans for another degree and stay in that bunker a few years.  They could write yet another inspirational book on how the crash helped them find their bliss.  Here's my non-inspirational version of being ahead of the times and bottoming out in 2003 Download Geezerguts.  They could commit passive suicide, leaving their families financially secure.  Or, they could just get a job, any job.  A job tends to get you other jobs.  Other jobs tend to get you better jobs.  One day you look around and you're making good money again and wondering why you didn't get that job any job years sooner.

Wisdom of Doing a Johnny Carson

There are all kinds of games.  One of the most respected is the Johnny Carson model: Exiting while on top. 

That's the game that the respected Governor of Connecticut M. Jodi Rell has decided to play.  Today she announced that she would not be running for re-election.  She has spent more than a quarter of a century in public office.  However, the terrible economy and budget challenges in the state have had people second-guessing her.  Had she gone for another term she couldn't help but go on the defensive. 

Going out a winner leaves the runway open for what Rell chooses to do next.  If she knows what that is, she isn't telling.

Scared didn't get me anything, at least not in my career

An abused child, my face reads scared.  That's been an asset when cops stop me and when I have gone to small claims court.  Otherwise, it's gotten me nothing, at least not in my career.  That's because we earn our bread in a capitalist system.  That ideology is built on exploiting weakness.  Employers, clients, customers spot it and they got you.

However, I have learned to use the scared look to my benefit.  Folks will assume they can mistreat me or actually cheat me in business.  They are so sure of that that they move in ham-handedly vs. with stealth.  That means my next move takes them by surprise.  Surprise is the ultimate tactic in capitalism.

So, how do you stop presenting yourself as scared?  One thing in all our favor is that we no longer have much or anything to lose.  Sitting around in fear of The Man is unlikely to help us keep our jobs, clients, or customers.  Another thing is that as a persona in the menu of presentation styles, it's not all that marketable.  Sure, there are still bullies who enjoy pushing around the powerless.  But most employers, clients and customers want a player, not a cowering bit of jelly.

Presenting ourselves as not-scared entails:

• Dropping all signals that we are eager to please.  The seal jumping up and flapping its fins to get the fish is not how we want to appear.  Fake it until we make it.

• Don't jump.  Unless we are an EMT, there are usually few reasons to jump.  If a prospect contacts us for a job or assignment, listen, take in the terms and conditions, and think about it.  Jumping, of course, is another aspect of being too eager to please.

• Push back.  That's necessary to establish our presence in the business world.  There are many subtle ways to push back.  One is not to smile when running into the boss who treated us poorly.  The boss will immediately get the message that, no, we're not frightened animals.

• Burn bridges.  Use the six-month rule: Has that contact been useful in my career during the past six months?  If not, think twice before giving our time.  Networks are becoming more just-in-time.

• Punish, especially in public ways.  If a co-worker played with us, invite everyone in the office to your party or give them all your homemade chocolate chip cookies except that person.

I stopped being scared professionally around 2003.  Here is that sad story with a solid happy ending Download Geezerguts

Next hit reality show? - Cornell's John, Lisa, their spouses, their employers

Cornell tech consultant John in the Business School pressed "cc" when transmitting yet another steamy email to his mistress Lisa, an employee at the Business School.  First everyone on the Cornell campus and then, thanks to blogs like Gawker, everyone on Planet Earth, who was interested in spanking a fine ass, knew.

Since these two lovebirds are married to other people and since they have probably red-faced employers and managers, all that has the makings of hit reality show.  It will focus on how all the players work through this, what strategies/tactics are used, and what conflicts happen.

"SPANKING that FINE ASS of yours" - Cornell email mess

Oh, John.  Poor John.  A tech consultant at Cornell pressed the "cc" button when sending a steamy email to his mistress, an employee at the university.  His name is John.  Hers is Lisa.  Both are married to other people.

That particular email indicated his longing to be "SPANKING that FINE ASS of yours."  A trail of other emails was included.  They also were filled with vivid desires and fantasies.

Guess the powers-that-be at Cornell will be having a pow-wow about appropriate tone and content on the university email system.  All the campus received this steamy communication.

Reflection:  Guess we should all be grateful that we only have to worry about raking the leaves this weekend.

The Two Bernies: Kerik and Madoff

The game of life and business is usually won by those with high emotional intelligence - folks like Bernie Madoff.  In Manhattan, Florida, and now in a North Carolina prison, Bernie's doing just fine.  He even was shrewd enough to have a fist-fight to send the message: I'm not one to be messed with.

The other Bernie - Bernie Kerik - has lower emotional intelligence.  His ego seems to cloud his perception of what others want and need.  It's unlikely he will have an easy time of it in the slammer.  He might not even make it through his sentence alive.

Here is a complimentary e-book on how to boost your emotional intelligence in the workplace Download CUsersjasneDocumentsjg.

No country for emotionally wounded soldiers

The tragic deaths and injuries at Fort Hood were not unexpected. The current edition of ROLLING STONE chronicles the 11 murders at Fort Carson allegedly by soldiers returning from Iraq.  They went there fairly well put together.  Emotionally they didn't return that way.

This is a lesson for all of us.  Life breaks us down.  That could be war or losing everything in a bad economy.  Resources have to be provided for healing.  Did the military provide those resources?  According to Christopher Smith in ROLLING STONE, the answer is no.  Companies letting go people aren't providing those resources either.  Neither is the society they have to function in.

No Country for Boy Scouts: Even Disney adding cunning to Mickey Mouse's character

The game has changed so much that a boy-scout type just ain't going to survive.  Following orders, being loyal, doing the right thing all the time - those codes of behavior, if followed slavishly, will not allow any human being post-crash to make a living.

The savvy folks at Disney realize that.  So they're redoing the old squeaky clean Mickey Mouse.  The new Mickey, reports Brooks Barnes in THE NEW YORK TIMES, will debut in the video game Epic Mickey.  This Mickey will be cunning and worldly.  He can also be heroic.  But essentially this creature will now approach the world with his own agenda and his tactics for achieving his goals.

That reinforces our hunch that you can no longer play the game straight. 

RI Loses Key Industry: Indoor Prostitution

This is a time when few new jobs are being created in Rhode Island and where too many are still being lost.  Yet, today its governor Don Carcieri signed legislation making indoor prostitution illegal.  Those caught could go to jail for six months. 

The state, which has artsy parts which could become the next P-Towns, should have made outdoor prostitution also legal.  That would have made it interesting to the media, tourists, and more.   The governor is simply thinking like an old-line Puritan instead of an entrepreneurial chief executive.