Archive | Business Frustrations

Knowing where you’re going

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On July 25, 2017

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Travel, Careers, Getting Through Life and Work, Life Outside of Work, Travel

Some people do not know which way is which. By this, I mean some people are directionally challenged, in that they do not know which way is north, south, east, or west. I am thankful not to be one of these people. I love maps, reading maps, plotting my course, navigating on land and sea, […]

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Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On July 25, 2017

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Travel, Careers, Getting Through Life and Work, Life Outside of Work, Travel

A frustration I have with the tech tools that tell us where to go these days is that they often don’t tell you the big picture. More and more, they provide step by step directions that reveal themselves only as you get to each waypoint. Though this is helpful, I prefer to have a big […]

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Similarities and Shared Challenges: JMI comparison

As I’ve posted previously, I had the honor of being selected to participate in a “continuing education” program recently.  The program was the Small Business Executive Program, sponsored by the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship of the Florida State University College of Business.  The program was 9 full program days over 3 months and […]

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In David’s role as the business person in our company, he attends numerous networking functions, meetings with prospective clients, and programs such as the recent Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship. David has learned many things about operating our business, Magnus, from the people with whom he has interacted while attending these meetings. I am […]

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Knowing where you’ve been

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On July 18, 2017

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Travel, Careers, Getting Through Life and Work, Life Outside of Work, Travel

I have traveled to many places for most of my life. Since the 1980s, I have traveled far and wide, for business as well as pleasure. There are many places I would like to re-visit, many I vow to visit only on business, and many, many more places I’d like to go, when the time […]

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Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On July 18, 2017

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Travel, Careers, Getting Through Life and Work, Life Outside of Work, Travel

I don’t recall all of the details as well as Melissa does – but it is a fun exercise to mentally walk down the street retracing steps long ago taken.  One of the tests for me was re-finding my way in Sydney after having lived there for a year.  On the 2 occasions when Melissa […]

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Too many lawsuits, too many lawyers…

All of us who work with, for, or who are, lawyers, have heard it over and over, “there are too many lawyers/lawsuits” or “lawsuits are frivolous.” Sometimes this includes a reference to McDonald’s and coffee, but it is a comment that we at Magnus hear often in some form. I heard it recently when asked […]

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I am constantly amazed by many people’s willingness to say and do things that dispel any doubt that they have no idea about the subject they are speaking. I have lost count of the number of times when, after revealing my occupation to a layperson, he/she immediately regales me with boring accounts of jury duty; […]

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Take Notes

Having been a student from the time I was 4 years old until I earned my Ph.D. at the age of 26, I learned how to take notes to document the important things in my life. My note taking abilities have served me well in my career. I have calendars dating back almost 40 years; […]

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As we have written, many of these posts are at least partially inspired by our experience as employers. By way of background, I fully agree with Melissa about the importance of note taking, though my notes are usually more cryptic and abbreviated than hers. (I don’t know how she does it the way she does, […]

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Ready for War

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On June 29, 2017

Category: Business Frustrations, Getting the Job Done, Litigation Tips, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Trial Consulting, Trial Science

In the first few months of this year I have received several calls from attorneys looking to engage a trial consultant in what I consider to be ridiculously short time periods. Two cases will illustrate my point. First was a call from an associate attorney at one of the largest law firms in the state […]

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I will begin my part of this post by saying how thrilled I was to read David’s reference to a current rock band, Adelitas Way! I love classic rock and roll, but I love today’s rock and roll just as much. No offense to David’s favorite band, RUSH, or mine, The Beatles, but quoting a […]

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When driving the boss’ car

For most of the two plus decades David and I have co-owned our business, we have had three vehicles: his primary car, my primary car, and the so called “company truck.” The company truck is, in reality, not owned by our company but instead, is co-owned by David and me just like our other vehicles. […]

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Driving the “company” car, or “boss,’” car is a privilege not given lightly. In our business, of course, we know about the liability issues that are also a part of the equation. But, you have to get the job done and, as Melissa said, we have always expected that common sense would dictate that an […]

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“No thanks” to Bad Clients

The older I get, the more I choose to spend time with nice people and the less time I choose to spend with mean people. My philosophy has evolved to include family members, spouses of family members, friends, spouses of friends, and clients. Even though clients, unlike the other categories of people I have listed, […]

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We are fortunate that we have encountered only a few clients who are so abusive as to be the bad ones Melissa described.  The worst one we have encountered was a scorched earth litigator, but in his world, this extended to even include everyone on his team – and to us.  But, his true self […]

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Trial Consultants We Have Known

In any industry, business, or practice, one gets to know one’s colleagues/competitors. And, we have, in the past 30 years, seen the gamut of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Melissa started her career with Litigation Sciences, Inc. and many of the consultants who were affiliated with LSI remain among the top consultants in […]

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In every occupation, there exists a range of people, from the truly excellent to the amazingly inferior. The world of trial consulting is no exception to this general rule. I have a Ph.D. in social psychology and, given that a Ph.D. is the highest academic degree that exists (including M.D., D.D.S., D.O., J. D., E.D. […]

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Clients are People Too

Clients are people too.  I repeat, clients are people too.  This may seem obvious to the astute reader, however, there have been many occasions on which I have had to remind my staff to treat our clients like people, instead of merely treating them like clients.  Magnus’ clients are high powered attorneys, insurance adjusters, risk […]

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On a research day it is a bit of a toss up who the most important people in the room are. The participants, i.e., mock jurors are critical to our projects. Without them we cannot do our work. But, without the clients, we have no work to do. Our support staff usually is comfortable with […]

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