(1) One rainmaker asked the government to make it easier for a two-man shop to fire someone if things go wrong.

(2) After all, says Andrea Bernstein, diversity chair at the New York City- based white-shoe law firm Weil Gotshal, "you never know, when somebody leaves, if she would have been the next rainmaker."

(3) Whether they want to or they must, many professionals are driven toward making the transition from trusted advisor to rainmaker. So they look to the sales profession for tips on how to do it.

(4) It is rare that a banker admits to the inevitability of onerous new rules and it is rarer still for a Rothschild rainmaker to speak out.

(5) Niwa would appear to be well-suited to the role of Japan's rainmaker in China, having built up a network of business and political contacts during his time as Itochu's president from 1998 to 2004.