Archive | Careers

Jumping up and down when TV breaks

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On January 19, 2016

Category: Careers, Common Courtesy, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Trial Consulting, Work-Life

Temper tantrums are never cute. They are not cute among children and they are certainly not cute among adults. (My husband’s relative had a temper tantrum in our home when he was way too old for such a violent outburst, resulting in my having to repair and re-paint the wall he repeatedly kicked, such that […]

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Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On January 19, 2016

Category: Careers, Common Courtesy, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Trial Consulting, Work-Life

Our work in the trial consulting arena necessitates the use of technologies that are not perfect.  And, we work in unfamiliar places, with rented equipment like televisions, all of which lead to problems with some regularity.  This is one of those areas where, in our work, “ it happens.”  But, we are almost always able, […]

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Boozing it up before lunch – jurors wondering what’s wrong

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On January 12, 2016

Category: Careers, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Litigation Tips, Trial Consulting

The vast majority of my clients conduct themselves in a professional manner when we are working together. Then, there are the others, who are anything but professional. My company, Magnus, works with highly skilled attorneys who pay us a handsome amount of money for our consulting services. Usually, they want to take full advantage of […]

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Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On January 12, 2016

Category: Careers, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Litigation Tips, Trial Consulting

I don’t know if there are any jobs for which drinking on the job is appropriate.  Maybe wine taster, beer maker, etc., but certainly not anything that requires concentrated effort and attention to detail.  And, a mock trial may be a day out of the office and to some, just a play acting exercise, but […]

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Sick Hotels

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On January 7, 2016

Category: Business Travel, Careers, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Small Business Success, Travel, Trial Consulting

The majority of our mock jury research is conducted in hotel conference space, or occasionally, a market research facility. Whether or not travel with overnight stays is involved, we conduct mock juries and focus groups in all sorts of venues. Some of these conference rooms are first class grand ballrooms, others are musty meeting rooms […]

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Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On January 7, 2016

Category: Business Travel, Careers, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Small Business Success, Travel, Trial Consulting

The original title of this post was “candles and hotel sickness.”  David broadened the topic by including other remedies for what we have labeled “hotel sickness,” but I will limit my remarks to the benefits of travel candles.  A dear friend of mine, Margie, is married to a wonderful man who, like me, travels frequently […]

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Story telling

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On December 15, 2015

Category: Careers, Getting the Job Done, Litigation Tips, Trial Consulting, Work-Life

One of my responsibilities when helping my clients (all of whom are trial lawyers and litigators) is to suggest ways in which they can tell the story of their case, to captivate the attention of the jury, mediator, arbitrator, or judge. Almost everyone is familiar with story telling as a way of conveying information, but […]

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Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On December 15, 2015

Category: Careers, Getting the Job Done, Litigation Tips, Trial Consulting, Work-Life

Unfortunately for the characters in the very real life stories surrounding many of the cases we handle, the endings do not result in living happily ever after.  Thus, the stories told to our mock jurors are often tragic.  But, regardless of the facts of the situation, the way in which the story is told by […]

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Organize & Label The Equipment

My years working as a photographer taught me many lessons, some I learned on my own, some I learned from others. I’ve written about one of my photography mentors, Jon Peters, but he was a mentor about small business as much as anything. He also loved his label maker. He labeled everything and numbered duplicate […]

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I am an extremely organized person.  I believe one of the keys to my success is my level of organization.  I like my office to be organized, including all of the equipment I co-own with my spouse/business partner, so that it can easily be accounted for.  We take inventory of all our office supplies and […]

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Adventures

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On December 8, 2015

Category: Business Travel, Careers, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Life Outside of Work, Travel, Work-Life

There are all kinds of adventures in life. Some adventures require travel to faraway places; others take us nearby, to places that are sometimes easily overlooked; while others happen in our back yard. I love adventures and I enjoy planning them, as well as reminiscing about them years afterward. One of the most exciting adventures […]

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Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On December 8, 2015

Category: Business Travel, Careers, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Life Outside of Work, Travel, Work-Life

Starting with the premise that life is an adventure, the question is how adventurous do you want to be?  The boating adventure taught us a lesson in planning (and, in our boating skills which were not very strong at the time causing delays in getting underway).  But the lessons from being adventurous are a big […]

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Watch how many paper clips they buy

Building on my recent post about employees’ shopping issues, I am adding another scenario that has never faded from memory. Again, some things seem so obvious to me, but alas, they are not really obvious to everyone. Many years ago, some of our promotional materials were held together using a paperclip. Because this clip was […]

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David and I evidently harbor strong resentments against some former employees, particularly those who have wasted our time, money, or both.  I am saying this because, years later, we both remember having spent too much money for, of all things, paperclips!  Not only did we waste money on paperclips, but we also had another employee […]

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Shop price – Employees probably won’t

Having run my own photography business, mostly by myself, I co-founded Magnus with one of my roles being managing the business and staff on administrative tasks. This includes shopping to buy everything from computers, video cameras, to pens and paper. We ran Magnus without employees for a couple of years and I knew the price […]

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It is a fact of owning a small business that some employees “get it” and some do not.  When it comes to buying things, I always remind Magnus’ employees to look around at everything in the office.  Everything, that is 100% of what they see, was bought by David and me.  There is nothing, absolutely […]

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Think before you speak.

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On November 19, 2015

Category: Business Frustrations, Careers, Common Courtesy, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Managing Employees, Small Business Success

Think before you speak. This is an old adage that resonates loudly when managing employees. Two examples of the failure of employees have haunted us for years. The first was with our first employee. She was caught off guard when an attorney/client asked her, after discussing Melissa’s academic background with Melissa, “What’s your background?” Mindlessly, […]

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Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On November 19, 2015

Category: Business Frustrations, Careers, Common Courtesy, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Managing Employees, Small Business Success

I suppose there is a time in many girls’ and women’s lives when they dream of becoming a princess.  Unfortunately, however, few people ever realize their princess dream, such that, at some point, they are living in a fantasy world if they persist in their search for Prince Charming.  (As an aside, I have met […]

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Apologize, take ownership, fix it – say I’m sorry

Mistakes happen. In our trial consulting work, some of the tasks employees must undertake are technical and sometimes difficult. Some tasks are more routine, but nonetheless, due to inexperience, careless work efforts, or for reasons beyond anyone’s control, mistakes happen. That is a given. But, how employees react when informed about the problem varies tremendously. […]

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When did apologies cease to exist?  And, by “apology,” I don’t mean saying “Sorry” instead of “Excuse me” when bumping into someone in the grocery store.  When referring to apologies, I mean owning up to one’s mistake, taking positive steps to ensure it is corrected, and being proactive in ensuring the mistake will never happen […]

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