Since stars of the Old wealth go, Shu Kim and Khanh Pham flickered. effective for a storied finance firm — Kim, 40, as in-house counsel and Pham, 33, as a real estate investment banker — the two women deployed classic analytical left-brain skills to keep a seemingly well-oiled device humming. A machine called Lehman Brothers.
Lehman is dead, but the two New Yorkers are alive and positive, thanks to a easy yet significant shift. They embraced their right brains, the bold, creative lobe that in the New Economy can make the difference among reinvention and death.
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"Those old jobs are just not there anymore, so to stay alive you have to think outside the box," says Pham, who along with her former colleague recently launched Shustir.com, a marketing website for small businesses. Now, instead of parsing legal and financial documents, the two brainstorm innovative ways to bring their new brand to the masses, relying on flights of creative fancy rather than rote skills.
