From Roy Moore and Al Franken to Kevin Spacey and Bill Cosby, the court of public opinion outpaces legal liability and the dead hand of legacy planning.
It just takes one long-buried accusation right now to rock elections, shut down high-profile media franchises and end otherwise promising careers.
Al Franken’s non-consensual lip lock happened over a decade ago. His fans discount it as an artifact of his roots in 1970s-era frat house humor. Others want him to resign.
Roy Moore reportedly had a thing for high school girls working in the mall. It was the ‘80s, his defenders say. Times were different and it’s unfair to judge the man of today by his behavior back then.
But whether it’s fair or even legal, society now judges public figures on choices they made half a lifetime ago. That’s a fact.
And that means everyone who wants to build a legacy needs to embrace two basic principles. First, you’ve got to accept that the future will be different from the past. Second, you’ve got to find a way to integrate your past into the person you want to be today.
Add them together, and the fundamentals of career planning today and estate planning tomorrow are worth at least a little review.
Posterity is a moving target
Love or hate Bill Clinton, his indiscretions with an intern were considered sleazy 20 years ago but they obviously weren’t a career-killer in themselves at the time.
She was an adult, even though he was her boss. While it wasn’t considered legal harassment, the only other laws that even got bent were in the cover up.
Either way, the legal statute of liability ran out ages ago, so it would ordinarily be past time to admit or reject past failures and move on. Presumably he’s had time to get ahead of evolving social standards so he never gets in trouble again.
Instead, he’s got senators from his own party deciding that his career should’ve stopped right there. That’s not a legal argument, it’s the equivalent of shunning someone whose behavior has drifted too far from the mainstream.
That’s what’s happening to all the actors, producers and politicians in the hot seat now. Their shows are being cancelled and their futures have clouded because the facts of their moral choices don’t line up with the modern earmarks of good character.
Go back to the Kennedy administration and these behaviors were rewarded or at least politely ignored. A generation from now, people will probably navigate a completely different set of rules, avoiding a new set of taboos while flaunting whatever freedoms the future allows.
The one constant your clients need to recognize is that sustainable behavior isn’t what the law lets you get away with. It’s about striving to do what you authentically believe is the right thing.
With that ideal in mind, you can justify yourself when the tide of consensus swings against you. If you’ve changed along with society, you can articulate that evolution.
Even if you haven’t changed, you can explain why not. It’s a conscious choice either way: you’re an alert moral actor with your eyes open.
The alternative is getting blindsided when revelations from your past contradict modern moral expectations. In general it’s good to avoid doing anything you might not be proud to admit to your grandchildren, but if you do, have a good reason to offer.
And know how to read the times. Once the skeletons in your closet start to stink, prepare for exposure. Prominent people may not share all their scandals with their financial advisor, but business managers and family attorneys probably rate advance warning.
If you realize your clients are setting themselves up for scandal, it isn’t the end of the world — the accusations may never come, and if they do, it’s simply time to retire from public life.
Kevin Spacey’s career, for example, is probably over for the foreseeable future. While his behavior hasn’t changed, society has changed around him to the point where exposure as a predator has cancelled his shows and written him out of upcoming films.
Ditto Bill Cosby. Even if he's never found legally culpable for anything, the reruns of his show are poison now. In both cases, the advisors need to have enough wealth put aside to protect the client's standard of living until — if — the work comes back. The more they know, the better they can manage the risk.
Keep the dead hand moving
The future will go on judging your more prominent clients when they’re dead. If you’re the trustee, publicity manager or simply tasked to protect the family fortune, you still need to recognize that the goalposts of public opinion are going to shift.
Even the most detailed estate plan will miss some of the subtleties. We can’t predict everything. History is built on surprises.
Once your dynastic clients become statues in the town square or just the cemetery, they can’t defend themselves.
Their posterity is going to need living people to do that, people who can read the times. Ideally the heirs will help, but sometimes professional support is required.
Decades from now, society may judge Jeff Bezos or Warren Buffett harshly for the way they treated their kids, tear down the political legacy of the Bush family or the lifestyle choices of an Elton John.
When it does, a dead hand isn’t going to roll well with the changes. Robots can’t handle it either. I’m thinking there’s a long-term niche here for living, breathing advisors to add value.
After all, if the star is bright enough and fortune is big enough, the intangibles can keep making money for generations to come, provided of course that the brand remains relevant and free from taint.
Look at Jimi Hendrix, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley. They were imperfect people in life but their heirs keep making money because posterity has yet to judge them guilty of some offense the posthumous handlers can’t talk their way past.
Social media and digital editing technology are going to make it easier to keep these estates vibrant. That means their handlers are going to need to remain as nimble as they were when the clients were alive.
These are the trusts of tomorrow, an opportunity for the advisors of tomorrow to recognize and capture. Otherwise, all your clients will leave behind is a pile of money — and money is dead, growing with investment returns and shrinking as the heirs spend it down.
