Archive | Getting Through Life and Work

Dr. John C. Brigham

I have been planning to write this post for a long time. Today is the day. As I mentioned in my previous post, my major professor is Dr. John C. “Jack” Brigham. As hard as it is for me to believe, I met Jack in 1980, 40 years ago, when I was trying to decide […]

Continue Reading

One never knows the future impact of making connections.  Jack has been a great mentor to Melissa, and others, for a long time.  In the academic world, these connections are like family trees.  I didn’t always know that,  but I learned it years ago by getting to know Jack and many others in Melissa’s psychology […]

Continue Reading

Make Your Own Luck

I don’t consider myself to be “lucky.” I’ve never won the lottery, well, maybe $4 at a time. And, while I know I’m “fortunate” in many ways, “lucky” isn’t how I’d describe it. I work hard, and have always done so, through school and in business. This week has been a week to reflect on […]

Continue Reading

David is one of the smartest people I know.  That’s one reason I like him!  Even when David was a teenager and recent high school graduate, he had the intelligence, not to mention foresight, to introduce himself to the President of Jacksonville University on, as it turns out, his first day on campus.  Call it […]

Continue Reading

Racial Attitudes in America

Racial Attitudes in America is a scholarly book published in 1972 and written by Dr. John C. “Jack” Brigham. Dr. Brigham is not only one of the most highly regarded social psychologists in the world, he is my major professor. (For non academic readers of this post, a major professor is the primary professor of […]

Continue Reading

Little did I know, when I met Melissa, how immersed in the world of psychology, specifically social psychology, I would become.  It has been quite an education, and a positive one at that!  I took psychology 101, and another psychology course or two in college; more in grad school.  But, my real psychological education has […]

Continue Reading

“I’ll be there on time if…”

Magnus Research Consultants has, for many years, employed on a part time basis people who work with us exclusively on research days. We call our wonderful part time staff members Research Technicians because they handle numerous technical aspects of our research, including video camera operation, video editing, and oversight of our mock jurors. The majority […]

Continue Reading

I never thought I’d get schooled in racism along the way when hiring employees.  But, it has happened!  While Melissa has observed more of these racist incidents directly than have I, ensuring that our team is not negatively impacted by these experiences has forced me into some uncomfortable roles, and required some creativity.  With regard […]

Continue Reading

Be Prepared: Prepared, for what?

I was, for a short while, a Boy Scout. The Boy Scout motto is “Be Prepared.” Though I wasn’t a scout for long, that motto is one I’ve taken to heart my whole life – whether personal or professional. I have always tried to use foresight and prepare for contingencies. Years ago, when working as […]

Continue Reading

It’s difficult to be prepared for something one doesn’t anticipate.  For example, I would never have anticipated that the COVID-19 pandemic would have led to mass hysteria over toilet paper!  What in the world has toilet paper got to do with anything?  (Yes, I know all about it now.  People are resorting to primordial behavior, […]

Continue Reading

Learning New Tricks

As I write this, it has been just over a month since the world’s doors slammed shut. Or, at least the doors in the U.S.A, or at least, in Florida. Well, more or less shut – it changes day by day. As we’ve posted and will continue to do a few more times, COVID-19 has […]

Continue Reading

I mentioned to a friend of mine, who is a retired attorney and, prior to retiring, was a long time client of Magnus’, that David and I are in the process of re-inventing ourselves, and Magnus, in this time of social isolation.  He remarked that it seems a shame for me to have spent my […]

Continue Reading

Working in Changing Times

The times, they are a-changin’” said Bob Dylan, in a song of the same name. Oh yes, the times are certainly changing! The times are changing in ways most people could never have imagined. And, the times are changing whether we like it or not. At this point in my long career, I have suddenly […]

Continue Reading

Dylan may have sung that times were changing, but I’d suggest now, that things have changed.  Forever.  In some ways, there is no going back.  Hopefully, lessons we are learning now will make a difference going forward.  A big lesson is that invisible threats like viruses are more lethal than most any weapon of war […]

Continue Reading

Lost Productivity from a Disaster

Everyone has to find a way through disasters. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, these are some of the usual suspects. In 2020, it is a pandemic. I’m writing this in part just to vent about all of the extra work required to get through such things. We at Magnus have been through it multiple times with hurricanes. […]

Continue Reading

In the month since the world closed its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Magnus, like almost every business worldwide, has been negatively impacted in ways I would never have imagined.  Although we are certainly “all in this together,” I am finding that most people with whom I am in contact are focused on the […]

Continue Reading

Four Types of People During Crises

Since the beginning of the isolation era mandated by COVID-19, the America Psychological Association (APA) has been sending daily emails to its members, including me. I have read all of them and although many of them do not apply to me, due to the fact they concern how to provide psychological therapy to patients via […]

Continue Reading

I think the pressures of COVID-19 have shown cracks in our societies in ways never before seen.  Whether in the political leaders who were “caught with their pants down,” or the fringe members of the public who are, on the one side, out in force with guns exposed demanding the freedom to die, or, on […]

Continue Reading

Loners Like Alone Time

Some people live alone due to circumstances in their life, for example, the death of a spouse, divorce, being a single parent when the last child moves out of the house, etc. Other people truly like to be alone. George Harrison’s first song, written in 1963, was titled “Don’t Bother Me” and famously contains the […]

Continue Reading

In the current time of forced social distancing, it seems that some people have quickly become more distant than others.  I think of friends who live alone and who, most of the time are happy or comfortable with it.  But, forced isolation for many people has become more constricting.  Under “normal” or at least usual, […]

Continue Reading

Powered by WordPress. Designed by WooThemes