You Don't Have to Believe in the Tarot to Get the Wisdom of The Walking Away Card

 After a few dismal years for dealmaking, mergers & acquisitions are bouncing back. That's good business news for those in the dealmaking loop such as elite law firms like Kirkland & Ellis, Skadden and Paul, Weiss. 

But an uptick in M&A could be moving the dial more and faster toward career derailment for those put out of work. Some fields already are getting hit hard overall in this era of "cost efficiency." M&A could provide the tipping point in forcing some knowledge workers into actual career change.  

The driver in the M&A piece of this is what is called "synergy." And that is supposedly a major benefit of M&A. Bring together two businesses and they need only one investor relations department. As the dust settles the new power structure will select who will be part of that now-one unit. The rest will go. Often, though, synergy does not pan out. Remember the marriage of America Online and Time Warner.

That process of hunting for synergies has already kicked in at Paramount after its merger with Skydance Media. CNBC reports that the new entity is lopping off 15% of the workforce or 2,000 jobs. You may be in the lines of work in which there were found "redundancies."

"The job cuts, ...will target the company’s marketing and communications department and employees who work in finance, legal, technology and other support functions ..."

This is nothing new. In old-line corporations it began with the shift in the 1980s from paternalism - Corporate America as Wise Father - to mean and lean. In the front lines of that business revolution had been Jack Welch and Lee Iacocca. That upheaval, especially as orchestrated by Welch, involved lots of M&A. 

The good news on that had been that those of forced out, in mid-career and mid-life, were able to take direct advantage of the outsourcing of those functions. We became Accidental Entrepreneurs. 

In 2024, the trend also seems to be self-employment by those losing their jobs and probably, in media, marketing and content-creation, their careers. The difference might be that this time around they might not have the luxury of remaining in what had been their career path. Many of my coaching clients have had to start over again in other ways to earn a good living - this time as their own boss.

Incidentally, video-style whistleblower during termination at CloudFlare marketing expert Brittany Pietsch might have to cave to entrepreneurship. Although she did nail a job with EQ.app before even the scandal died down, that ended quickly in a layoff. 

On her LinkedIn profile a month ago Pietsch admitted "desperation" in the search for a job. Like so many in marketing, she has prepared plenty of proposals and other mandated content during the application process but still no offers. The solution could be a combination of 1) Exiting that field and 2) Setting herself up in her own business. 

But the pain is not universal. Elite law firm Milbank just announced up-to $25k summer bonuses for associates and counsel. Also just now another elite law firm Paul, Weiss announced it had poached two asset management partners from Skadden. That process usually involves big-bucks salary. 

Obviously, a rising tide lifts all boats. And you have to be in that kind of boat. 

Yale Law School graduate (like JD Vance) Matteo Godi could have wound up in a Pietsch pickle. His caper, as the story was broken by Politico, was to hack anonymously the Wikipedia profiles of his former boss Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and her competitors for the open seat on the US Supreme Court. The objective could have been to position her as more liberal and the others as less liberal. 

At the time Godi had been an associate at Paul, Weiss. He is still an associate at Paul, Weiss. Maybe when the good times roll, the labor market in that context can be more forgiving or at least more negotiable. 

This is not a time for magical thinking that "things" in your field will "get better." 

That assumption continues to dominate professional anonymous networks. Soon enough the joblessness runs not months but years. In the Tarot, one tool I sometimes use in coaching, there is the Walking Away card. About three years ago I walked away from singing for my supper through primarily content-creation.

In business and life you usually have only one shot at whatever. Up the odds of success with Jane Genova. I am an intuitive coach, tarot reader and content-creator. Complimentary consultation (please text/phone 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com)