Archive | Common Courtesy

Introduce yourself to the property manager

Magnus Research Consultants has been headquartered in the same location since 1996. In the first few years in our office space, the owner of the building also had an office in the same building. He retired, then passed away, leaving his family in charge of his vast business holdings. When the building owner moved out, […]

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I wholeheartedly agree with Melissa.  Ray is an interesting guy and, as with many relationships, it is beneficial to spend time getting to know people who impact one’s life, whether on a regular or infrequent basis.  Running a business involves many moving parts, whether it is the property manager, the teller at the bank, the […]

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You have control over your reactions

David and I have attended hundreds of meetings with attorneys and their clients in the decades we have owned and operated Magnus Research Consultants. Usually, these meetings are non eventful. Their purpose is often to explain to the end client (the person involved in the lawsuit) the advantages of retaining a litigation consultant to assist […]

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Litigation is stressful!  Having been there ourselves, Melissa and I know about the stress, the lost sleep, the lost focus on “real work,” and the time required to be an active participant in one’s case.  I get it.  I also know the costs of sticking one’s neck out – even if one must do it […]

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Know when to ask for help

We, at Magnus, recently ventured into new technological waters and various challenges surprised us. This is not about the specifics of that situation, but rather, a more global commentary on the need to be open to asking for help. In this situation, we, or rather our most excellent research assistant – tech person, got bogged […]

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Any post that includes lyrics from a Lynyrd Skynyrd song is an excellent post, in my opinion!  This being said, as David mentioned in a recent post, there are times to “do it yourself” and there are times to obtain expert advice and/or turn over a task entirely to someone who possesses greater expertise than […]

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If someone isn’t nice to me, they won’t see me again, ever.

My time is valuable. It is valuable to me, if not to anyone else. (In that Magnus’ clients compensate my company, and thus, me, in relatively high amounts of money, I would argue that my time is perceived as valuable to someone other than me. But, I digress.) Because I value my time and my […]

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Fortunately, as we wrote in the prior related post, our clients are usually nice, professional, even kind and friendly.  We all know we’re working together for a common goal and egos usually stay in check.  But, there are exceptions. I used the example of a particularly toxic client we once had who, with our help, […]

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Hospitality

This post is about hospitality. Not the at home type, I think we’ve covered that before; but rather, the industry type. As trial consultants, we are road warriors. I don’t know how many nights we spend away from home, but I once calculated that Melissa, Melissa and I, or I, by myself, spent 75 nights […]

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Because my personal and work lives lack routine and involve many unknowns, I find it comforting to stay in the same hotels when I travel to certain cities.  In my hometown of Fort Myers, Florida, my “hotel” used to be my childhood home until 2010, when it was sold after my mother’s passing in 2009.  […]

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Most lawyers who hire me are nice to me

People are people, regardless of their profession. There are some people who are popular and well liked and there are others who are not well liked. Attorneys, of course, are people and, as such, there are some attorneys who are well liked and well respected by their colleagues and then, there are others, whom no […]

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Many of our clients are feared by their opponents, and sometimes, their own staff and litigation team.  I don’t know if the latter is a good thing, but I’ve seen it as an overall positive.  Being feared by the opposition is probably generally positive as long as the fear is because the attorney’s litigation skills […]

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Don’t say yes, when you mean, I don’t know…

We once had an employee who was full of lessons for us. She worked hard, but sometimes she had to work extra hard to overcome her own limitations. This resulted in her inability to focus on a question at hand. And, I don’t know if it was to be dismissive in order to return to […]

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It’s a long, long way from “Yes” to “I don’t know” and, for that matter, from “No” to “I don’t know.”  As anyone who knows me well will assert, I speak in a direct manner, as succinctly as possible.  I rarely “beat around the bush.”  Instead, I say what I mean and I mean what […]

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Ask Me a Question, then LISTEN to My Answer

Recently, I have had several experiences in which someone asked me one or more questions, then constantly interrupted me while I attempted to answer the question(s). This has happened more times than I can count, however, it happened several times in the period of a few days, both in business and personal situations. One of […]

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I think part of the listening dilemma is an occupational hazard. Our clients are mostly attorneys and attorneys are paid to talk. Listening seems more difficult for some, not all, of them. This manifests itself during jury selection when some seem to have difficulty actively listening to the responses to the questions they are asking. […]

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The Hosts Should Have Fun, Too!

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On September 24, 2019

Category: Common Courtesy, Getting Through Life and Work, Life Outside of Work, Work-Life

David and I host a lot of people in our home. We have frequent dinner guests, parties, and overnight/weekend visitors. Until she passed away, my mother was, for many years, our most frequent visitor and the person who stayed with us for the longest period of time on each visit. As hosts, David and I […]

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Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On September 24, 2019

Category: Common Courtesy, Getting Through Life and Work, Life Outside of Work, Work-Life

We have had our share of guests whose interests and happiness were exclusively their own. But, we learn our lessons quickly and they are typically one time guests. The positive experiences with visitors occur when everyone is in tune with each other. Living in south Florida, we have many choices of things to do and […]

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The Game Warden’s Badge

An event I observed decades ago on a dove hunting field created a memory I will never forget. Opening day of dove season is a social event, the hunt, or shoot, occurs on a large field, 30, 40, or more acres; hunters with shotguns are spread around the field. There are social norms of politeness […]

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Jumping to conclusions is rarely a good thing to do. Sometimes, one may be right, however, other times, one may be wrong. David mentions authority figures who fail to consider all of the circumstances before wrongly accusing someone of something. We have all heard numerous examples of police officers who shoot first and ask questions […]

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