Archive | Getting the Job Done

Be precise

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On August 16, 2016

Category: Business personalities, Careers, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Partnerships

My education and training in social psychology taught me to be precise. For example, when reporting research results, it is essential to include the level of statistical significance so that other researchers know the strength of the research finding, as well as whether it can be generalized to other situations. My training also relates to […]

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Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On August 16, 2016

Category: Business personalities, Careers, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Partnerships

Melissa’s precision is well beyond that required of her as a social scientist. But, it is clearly strong in her rigor of both research design and the analysis of the findings. It is those things that make her a well regarded trial consultant. It is, however, more due to her personality as she clearly explains. […]

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The Bedside Note Pad

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On August 11, 2016

Category: Business personalities, Careers, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Small Business Success

Ask an entrepreneur what keeps him or her up at night and one of many answers you will likely get is a fear of forgetting to do something. I don’t know how many things I tried to make myself remember at 3 or 4 a.m. before I read a very simple, and what should be […]

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Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On August 11, 2016

Category: Business personalities, Careers, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Small Business Success

As fond as I am of making lists, writing notes, and keeping records of my life on various calendars, I do not share David’s penchant for writing notes to myself in the middle of the night. The middle of the night, in my opinion, is for sleeping, not note writing. I have never, ever, stayed […]

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Don’t rely on memory; make lists

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On July 28, 2016

Category: Business personalities, Careers, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Managing Employees

It sometimes surprises me that things I find very basic are not obvious to new hires. I know that my brain cannot possibly keep track of all I need to do such that I have long used lists. I recall being very organized in college about classes, assignments, etc., and perhaps not everyone has to […]

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Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On July 28, 2016

Category: Business personalities, Careers, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Managing Employees

People vary in their memory function, just as they vary on other personal dimensions. There are some people, like me, who remember most things, in great detail and with accuracy; then, there are other people who don’t (or can’t) remember much of anything. Most people, of course, are someplace in the middle of these two […]

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Fiction Imitating Life: “Vigilante Justice”

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On July 21, 2016

Category: Business personalities, Getting the Job Done, Life Outside of Work, Marketing your Business, Partnerships, Trial Consulting

Dr. Melissa Pigott of Magnus Research Consultants is featured as a character in a book by Dr. Linda Foley, Vigilante Justice. Dr. Foley is a social psychologist who, now retired from the University of North Florida, writes murder mysteries set in Gainesville, Florida, in and around the University of Florida. Vigilante Justice is Dr. Foley’s […]

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At the time of this writing, I have known Dr. Linda Foley for 36 years. I met her when I was a psychology graduate student at F.S.U. and she was the Chairperson of the psychology department at U.N.F. At the time I met Dr. Foley, she was well established in her career, while mine had […]

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Educating clients, without alienating them

An aspect of our trial consulting business that is sometimes difficult to address is that, as noted in other posts, we have competitors with a wide variety of qualifications, from those like us, with extensive educational backgrounds and degrees, to those with no education beyond high school. Further, some of our competitors are so uneducated […]

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The title of this post is “Educating Clients, without Alienating Them,” however, there are some clients who, in my opinion, have no hope of becoming educated about the reasons why they should hire my company over one of our unqualified competitors, such that I wish the title could be, “Alienating Clients without Educating them.” Some […]

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Hiring Expertise

A recent client encounter prompts this post.  The client was requesting what we refer to as a “proposal” for mock jury research.  She repeatedly called it a “bid” and I guess it is.  It is (unfortunately) increasingly common that clients seek competitive bids.  And, while I understand this, and do the same for some minor […]

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From the earliest days of co-owning Magnus with David, it has never been our desire to be the cheapest provider of any research or consulting service we provide. It is acceptable, in my view, to provide high quality work at a reasonable/fair price, but being the low cost bidder is not something to which I […]

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The more the merrier

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On June 30, 2016

Category: Business Frustrations, Getting the Job Done, Trial Consulting, Work-Life, Workplace Technology

I have recently been working with a client to explain some concepts that are part of our work. These concepts are some of the fundamentals of social science research, concepts which are so well understood by those educated in this area that they are second nature. This particular concept is easily explained by the adage, […]

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Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On June 30, 2016

Category: Business Frustrations, Getting the Job Done, Trial Consulting, Work-Life, Workplace Technology

One of the most challenging, not to mention frustrating, aspects of my career has been explaining scientific research methods, statistical principles, and other complex aspects of the work I perform to people who lack the education, knowledge, and experience to understand what I am talking about. There is only so much “dumbing down” that is […]

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I’ve Been Everywhere

Driving on I-95 from Jacksonville to south Florida for the second time in about 10 days, I happened to hear Johnny Cash’s version of the song, “I’ve Been Everywhere” (released in 1996) and did the song ever ring true! In our trial consulting work, we go where the clients and cases are. This has taken […]

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Although I haven’t been everywhere, I’ve been almost everywhere, at least in the U.S.A. My traveling days began in childhood, when my parents and I took long road trips every summer for our vacation. All of my teachers knew about my dad’s penchant for traveling, thus, when school began each fall, I was asked to […]

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I am the Greatest

At the time of this writing, Muhammad Ali passed away less than one week ago. Everyone who knows me well knows Muhammad Ali has been one of my heroes since I was a child.  I grew up reading the Miami Herald and, because Muhammad Ali had close ties to Miami Beach and its 5th Street […]

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Though I have always been aware of Muhammad Ali and have known some of the history, I have not had the long connection with his legacy as Melissa has.  But, having watched documentaries about him, like the movie about the Rumble in the Jungle, I recognized how impressive he was, in and out of the […]

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Optimism is Hard Work

I recently attended a 99th birthday celebration for a wonderful woman who has blazed trails her entire life. Her name is Dr. Frances Bartlett Kinne; she is Chancellor Emeritus of Jacksonville University, my alma mater. I have written about Fran in the past, probably more than once. But, a point made during the celebration of […]

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My late mother, who lived until the age of 93, frequently said, “You can choose to be happy or you can choose not to be happy.”  She also had a scrap of paper, attached to her refrigerator door, on which she had written, “I am alive. Life is good. God is with me. I am […]

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