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September 30, 2017
The Verdict?
The jury's still out. But Trump isn't that bad a guy. We've had more presidents like him in the past 230 years than we've had like Obama. And I think Trump has a much better work ethic than Obama. I didn't vote for Trump. But he does seem to be the right guy to push the pendulum back. Unbridled political and cultural "liberalism" for the past few decades has arguably done America a great disservice. America can't keep telling people how to think, be, talk and act. Enough is enough.
Posted by JD Hull at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)
September 29, 2017
Doing Rome.
The comparisons between Rome and the U.S. are exciting and instructive. --What About Clients?
When in Rome, do as many Romans as you possibly can. --Hugh Grant
Rome. I don't like working here--charitably put, work-life balance is totally out of balance in some regions of Italy--but I love being in Rome. You can walk in this city. You can frolic in it. You can play all day long in and around the The Forum and Palatine Hill, where antiquities are still being found. There's a guy with a shop at the Piazza Navona--2000 years ago the Piazza was a Roman circus (i.e., track) you can still see if you try--who sells me these unique old prints, beautifully framed, that I bought for my father in Cincinnati. I go to that shop on every trip. The Tiber River is still gorgeous and, like the Seine in Paris, steeped in history, and a bit melancholy and mysterious. Lots happened here--maybe too much--and it's as if the river can remember it all.
Pannini (1743): Ruins, Chiostre, Statue of Marc-Aurèle
In the West, our strongest ideas and institutions, including what became English law, were conceived or preserved by Rome. The increasingly-made comparisons between Rome and the U.S.--no, they are certainly not new--are still exciting and instructive. The Romans were competent if grandiose empire builders who borrowed their best ideas and forms from a previously dominant Greece, while America's cultural debt is chiefly to western Europe. Like Rome, America tended to overextend itself in all spheres. Like Rome, America was globally aggressive. (Other peoples resented it.) You get the idea.
But you can't see, experience and "do" Rome on one trip--same thing with New York, London or Paris--and you shouldn't try. Our advice: do several trips, and "live in it" each and every visit, taking small bites. And spend your trip with anyone but those from the same nation and culture as your own. If you go there with Americans, break out of that bubble. Politely say goodbye--and disappear into the streets on your own.
Original post: September 15, 2013
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2017
Sunday, NFL, Berkeley & Speech.
Have a good Sunday.
And whether NFL players kneel, stand or even come out of the tunnel, it's their call.
You can like it or not like it.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2017
At Disqus: When is it okay for men to cry?
A comment yesterday (with apologies to a great writer, Jay McInerney):
"Definitely ok to cry to land great women. After my divorce in DC 20 years ago Ernie, a few others and I had this one thing down. We were all single in our early 30s. In my case, it went like this. Working alone, of course, I'd tell slightly tipsy stunning debutante women in Georgetown, Capitol Hill and Old Town bars that I was a little bummed out but making the best of it. That I was a recent widower. Then I'd actually tear up a little and say that during a recent trip to Paris--vacation or honeymoon, the latter if I was in good form--my beautiful kind Smith-educated young wife was killed when she was shopping alone on the Right Bank and was caught in a crossfire between Palestinian terrorists and French police. I'm not kidding. Worked really well. Never failed."
Posted by JD Hull at 03:16 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2017
The 12 Rules of Lawyer Client Service.
A few more words about our world-famous The 12 Rules of Client Service, first published here in April of 2006. Think of these rules as a 12-step program for suits and their employees: lawyers, accountants, consultants, execs, technicians and countless other occupations now laboring to provide solutions to customers in the new global services economy. The goal of the 12 Rules is to align the interests of clients/customers and service providers to the fullest extent possible.* We think they do that well. Finally, the rules (while badass, make no mistake) are not perfect. Got suggestions or criticisms? We'd love to hear them.
*The 12 Rules were not written for yah-yah "happy atmosphere" shops like, say, Starbucks or Disney World. The rules are not about being friendly, nice, obsequious or servile with the client or customer.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2017
Business Crime Jury Trial Query.
True story.
Several years ago I was closing in a federal jury criminal trial (fraud and arson) in Pittsburgh. Halfway through there female jurors began softly crying.
Only these three women jurors in the first row out of the 12 and the 2 alternates were crying.
I had for a clIent a particularly sympathetic and grandmotherly if loopy hillbilly crime boss/Ma Barker-type defendant (mother of the other three defendants) about 70 who was facing jail time.
Was it my great closing or just 3 chicks who like many other women were all completely nuts?
Posted by JD Hull at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2017
Facebook is an often goofy but good thing. What other vehicle in history allows you to introduce people you knew and loved in 3rd grade to people you just met and admire and get them talking? I lived in 7 different towns before I was 12. So Facebook is an awesome people curator.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)
Speech.
Two things:
1. The Left now asks us to exercise Free Speech in a Particular Way.
2. Free Speech in a Particular Way is not Free Speech.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)