tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post1397219160964013098..comments2024-03-29T01:07:30.224-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: The Joy of StatusStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-19355009037839367342011-04-03T15:09:46.350-07:002011-04-03T15:09:46.350-07:00"I really don't feel like experiencing hy..."I really don't feel like experiencing hyperinflation"...and rightly so: <a href="http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/11891.html" rel="nofollow">reports from those who have experienced it</a> are pretty harrowing.<br /><br />I don't think we're in real danger of Weimar-level hyperinflation, but even Carter-level inflation, on top of our other economic problems, would be quite damaging to the structure of socieety.David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-35355408482834633202011-04-03T08:04:09.417-07:002011-04-03T08:04:09.417-07:00If you are in a large law firm, you are definitely...If you are in a large law firm, you are definitely still a cog at age 30. A partner with actual management power? Maybe you get some at 45 or 50. Really, sub 30 you are simply a source of revenue and very disposable.<br /><br />With respect to status, the entire banking/financial industry is essentially sitting on a massive pile of unearned money/status at this point.<br /><br />The problem is that fraud was used up and down the chain from the toppermost CEO to the bottommost liar for the liar loans.<br /><br />And now, there is a massive amount of unearned liquidity sloshing around the financial economy.<br /><br />Bank CEOs get bailed out and the liar loan recipients get to squat in their houses for two years not paying mortgage.<br /><br />So, there is very little way to figure out who earned their money legitimately and who did it by some form of fraud since about 1996 when the financial bubble mess first started.<br /><br />Thus, we are in an environment where apparent status is completely suspect. The person with massive $$$ probably didn't get there by applying ethics.<br /><br />At this point, I'm just hoping that we manage to keep our currency. I really don't feel like experiencing hyperinflation.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11126071014909954387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-915784589762685872011-04-03T06:07:05.089-07:002011-04-03T06:07:05.089-07:00JP...yes, from what I've read and been told, t...JP...yes, from what I've read and been told, the management/cultural climate in most law firms is not a very healthy one.<br /><br />Peter Drucker asserted that if you don't get practical management experience by the time you're 30, you'll probably never be any good at it. An overstatement perhaps, but with a strong element of truth..a person who spends too long as a pure individual contributor may not be able to fully make the switch to team leader. And I'd guess that the typical Managing Partner in a law firm was *much* older than 30 when he first began managing.David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-49880453163720191742011-04-03T05:49:44.326-07:002011-04-03T05:49:44.326-07:00Admittedly, as David points out, there is a consid...Admittedly, as David points out, there is a considerable distance between a general's stars and the Lacoste crocodile.<br /><br />And yet, it seems to be a similar structure, working at different levels.<br /><br />In truth, the person who wears the Lacoste shirt has labored to earn the money to buy the shirt. <br /><br />The research found out that if the person is perceived not to have earned the money to have bought the shirt, then the respect that others accord him diminishes markedly.<br /><br />I would also assume that if subjects were informed that the shirt is a fake, that it is a cheap imitation, thus a diploma from a diploma mill, there would also be a marked reduction in status.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-56778154402751050022011-04-03T05:24:10.850-07:002011-04-03T05:24:10.850-07:00David,
Part of my point was with respect to the e...David,<br /><br />Part of my point was with respect to the education process.<br /><br />For example, during high school/college, you are competing against all of your other classmates for GPA (since class rank isn't curved).<br /><br />By the time I got halfway through college, I was basically completely burnt out (from overcompetition, sleep deprivation, and stress) and had pretty much given up on life, so I really didn't do much competing in law school. I just wanted the certification and to be done with it. I was intelligent enough (and had underachieved enough) that coasting (meaning just cramming for the test) was possible. I wasn't a GPA threat to anybody because I no longer cared (I also didn't have any interest in practicng law - I only had an interest in obtaining a large salary - this still worked in the late 1990s).<br /><br />The same holds true for law school. You get the "best" jobs - meaning the $160,000 per year jobs, by outcompeting your fellow students.<br /><br />In large law firms, they bring in large numbers of associates and burn through them. There's lots of all-nighters, sleep deprivation, aggressive management, etc. <br /><br />In small law firms, you then have attorneys agressively suing each other, trying to get other attorneys disbarred, etc.<br /><br />From a managerial/interpersonal standpoint, it's very competitive and not very cooperative.<br /><br />Lawyers tent to practice anti-management.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11126071014909954387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-89113854546997278892011-04-02T20:38:03.645-07:002011-04-02T20:38:03.645-07:00"And didn’t you notice that societies that ab..."And didn’t you notice that societies that abolish status become stagnant?"<br /><br />Not exactly. Societies that <i>attempt</i> to abolish status become stagnant. <i>Actually</i> abolishing status is something that no society can accomplish, because the need for social status is hardwired into us.wolfwalkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-89094658724867165632011-04-02T19:30:29.324-07:002011-04-02T19:30:29.324-07:00JP...most types of organizations require high leve...JP...most types of organizations require high levels of internal cooperation and are not mere aggregates of individual contributors such as the law firms you describe. (Indeed, surely law firms handling large cases require significant internal cooperation also--although from what I've heard, the level of management/teamwork in the typical law firm is not very high)<br /><br />An important aspect of management is architecting organizations and incentive structures to strike the right balance of cooperativeness and competitiveness. In general, competition between organizations that are *in parallel* is much healthier than competition between organizations that are *in series*. If 2 regional sales organizations are highly competitive, that's usually good. If sales, marketing, and engineering are all competitive with one another, that's not so good.David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-26128946276308929732011-04-02T19:26:11.180-07:002011-04-02T19:26:11.180-07:00"In the best ordered social organizations, li..."In the best ordered social organizations, like the military, you are identified by your insignia, by your stars and bars"...the eagle which designates a Colonel, or the stripes which designate an airline Captain, seem to me to have little to do with a manufacturers' logo on a shirt. The insignia are symbols of accomplishment and legitimate authority; the logo is a purchased status symbol having no more real meaning that a purchased PhD from a diploma mill.David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-15944348172635381832011-04-02T16:10:06.109-07:002011-04-02T16:10:06.109-07:00Yeah, but in school, you are a team of one. There...Yeah, but in school, you are a team of one. There wans't any "sportsmanship" or "teamwork". In order for you to win, the other people have to lose. Zero sum.<br /><br />The same is true in large law firms.<br /><br />You are basically a team of one and you had better have your own book of business (preferably $2,000,000 in annual revenue these days) or your "team" will throw you into the abyss, so to speak.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11126071014909954387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-90282028547640983612011-04-02T14:54:13.105-07:002011-04-02T14:54:13.105-07:00Wouldn't it also be true to say that we need t...Wouldn't it also be true to say that we need to cooperate in order to compete? Teamwork and sportsmanship involve cooperation, and no team can compete or fight if it is divided against itself.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-42692461479641467032011-04-02T12:50:21.797-07:002011-04-02T12:50:21.797-07:00HET says:
"Status hierarchies that are based...HET says:<br /><br />"Status hierarchies that are based on competition and merit are far superior to those based on blood, but still, some participants do get more than they deserve. Some do get less."<br /><br />Competition is wonderful, except that it discourages cooperation.<br /><br />Take, for example, a lawyer with my firm. I was speaking with him the other day about law school.<br /><br />He was a slacker. His girlfriend, on the other hand, was very diligent and organized. <br /><br />He hadn't bothered paying attention or studying for his Evidence exam. She, on the other hand, knew everything she was going to know about evidence.<br /><br />Over the span of about three days, she taught him Evidence.<br /><br />He outscored her on the exam and she refused to ever study with him again.<br /><br />Law school (and school in general) is a zero sum exercise. Somebody wins; somebody loses. You end up viewing other people as threats to your own success.<br /><br />Compare and contrast this with the extensive cooperation and trust necessary to run a modern economy.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11126071014909954387noreply@blogger.com