Archive | Business Relationships

I’m a Professional Judge of Character – Trust my 1st Impression

There have been several notable examples of my, and others’, questioning my first impressions of someone. On all of these occasions, my first impression was correct and unfortunately, questioning it caused negative turns of events. In that, as a psychologist, I am what most people would consider “a professional judge of character,” I have tried […]

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One aspect of owning a business never gets easier – hiring.  I feel like it is always a gamble.  And, I’m apparently not a good gambler because I’ve taken chances on hiring people who turned out to be ill equipped to do our work, or worse, a really bad fit, a bad choice, maybe a […]

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Why be Snarky?

Why be snarky when being snarky is unnecessary, particularly in the business world? One of Magnus vendors is a company with whom we interact on a frequent basis. The principal of this company, which will remain nameless, uses the most insulting tone imaginable when writing emails to me, the client. This person never misses the […]

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Any human to human interaction involves personalities, of course.  Most of the time one doesn’t give that much thought unless there is something that causes friction, something that isn’t comfortable.  Snarky or snide comments are one of those things.  It seems like the “snarker” is just picking, for whatever reason, at minor details.  Life and […]

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Tribute to Willy

I am writing this on March 3, 2021, one of the saddest days in the long history of Magnus Research Consultants. Last night, our beloved office dog, Willy, passed away of a brain tumor. Willy was the dog of David’s and my wonderful employee and friend, Megan. For the past 7 years, Willy worked in […]

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As you can tell, this dog, Willy, was truly hu(mans) best friend.  Willy and Megan were tight – she trained him well.  And, he trained her well also.  She communicated with him in his language – she knew what he was trying to tell her.  Usually things like, pay attention to me, feed me, walk […]

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Designated Hug Time

One of our categories for our posts is Work Life, usually said as “work life balance.” Especially when operating a small family run, or mom & pop business, there are additional stresses in the running of that business which would not be present otherwise. Considering that families who work together spend almost 24 hours a […]

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Well, it’s about time David wrote this post!  We keep a list of topics and this topic is David’s #134, meaning it has been on his list of things to write about for a long time.  I have been eager for David to write about our DHTs because this topic is one of the easiest […]

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Ed Groot

Way back in 1993, Melissa and I first started contemplating opening our own trial consulting practice. Pretty soon, those discussions included a third individual, Ed Groot. The three of us were working for another trial consultant in what can simply be described as a toxic work environment. The three of us started planning what became […]

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I’m not sure why I was compelled to search for Ed Groot on my computer today, but something kept nagging me to do it.  I immediately came across his obituary and read that he passed away on November 30, 2020.  He would have been 80 years old on January 2, 2021.  When David and I […]

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Listen as Much as, or More Than, You Talk

Sometimes, these posts almost write themselves. This is one of those times. I am a regular reader of advice columnists in newspapers. (Yes, I still read newspapers, several, in fact, on a daily basis.) “Dear Abby” recently provided some sage advice that included a suggestion for the reader to “listen as much as you talk.” […]

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To borrow from Alex Lifeson of Rush – “Blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah, blah, blah, blah.”  Some of you may recognize this from Alex’s speech following Rush’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  It was an amazing thing to hear and watch – because one could, or at least I could, […]

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Altruists and Narcissists

As a follow up to my last post containing the self assessment survey, I will outline several characteristics that differentiate altruists from narcissists. First of all, some definitions are in order, lest there be any doubt about these terms. An altruist is a person who has concern for other people’s welfare. He or she can […]

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Givers or takers.  Perhaps that is another way to relate to this topic.  The world has too many examples of narcissists; it is easy to identify many of them in the political realm.  Because politics is public, it is easiest to see them, though narcissists are certainly not limited to politics.  Examples from the business […]

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Bob Arnold

I met Bob Arnold in 1986, relatively soon after David and I started dating. At the time I met Bob, he was a client of David’s when David was employed as a professional photographer. David was eager to introduce Bob and me, due to the fact that we are both self described “Beatles freaks.” For […]

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Back when I worked as photographer, I focused (get that) on a few types of clients.  One was the corporate market; public relations departments were usually my point of contact.  I was doing quite a bit of work for a large hospital, and someone new was hired in its PR department.  She suggested I meet […]

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We Do Our Jobs Even When Others Don’t

Recently, we at Magnus had what appeared, at first, to be a promising new business opportunity. This new opportunity was planned as a joint venture among 3 companies, including Magnus. Another company is a company that has been a long time vendor of ours, with the other company being known only to our vendor and […]

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As we write this, the fallout from this experience has continued.  There are some hurt feelings amongst all, especially those with whom we planned to partner.  But, the underlying objective we have at Magnus is to get the job done, and get it done well.  (I’d add that anything Melissa and I undertake is done […]

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Wally World

Soon after earning my Ph. D. in social psychology, I moved to Jacksonville, Florida to work as the Director of Marketing Research at a large hospital. My duties included conducting focus groups and surveys of the various “populations” served by the hospital: patients (soon after their discharge), employees, physicians, and the general public. Surveys of […]

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I remember hearing about Melissa’s trips to Wally World starting shortly after we met at the hospital.  She viewed the various excursions to such places as a job perk, the chance to get out from behind her desk and go for a ride in her sports car, either her red Camaro or black Corvette (there […]

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