Archive | Managing Employees

Not all weekends = fun

Weekends can occur on any day of the week. Depending on one’s work schedule, a weekend can be on Monday and Tuesday instead of Saturday and Sunday. Although I have had varying days off in my work life, since my time in academia, my weekends have been Saturdays and Sundays. Like most people who work, […]

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When Melissa and I first met, I worked as a freelance photographer.  Then, as today, I worked when there was work to be done.  I kept regular office hours Monday to Friday, unless on an assignment, but many of these assignments turned out to be on weekends.  Saturdays were often work days – family portraits, […]

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Get it right the 1st time

I am careful, meticulous, and detail oriented.  I like to consider all of the options before taking a particular course of action.  I dislike making mistakes, especially when there is a monetary cost involved in a mistake.  In effect, I like to “get it right the first time” instead of going full speed ahead, doing […]

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I have a memory from decades ago when I attending an open house at a trucking company with my father and seeing a sign that said “If you don’t have time to get it right the first time, when will you have time to get it right?”.  That stuck with me and, like Melissa, doing […]

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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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Britt

My first professional job upon earning my Ph.D. in social psychology was Director of Marketing Research at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, Florida. My job duties were to analyze the attitudes, opinions, and beliefs of all the hospitals’ constituents: (1) patients; (2) the community at large (the hospital’s source of patients); (3) the medical staff; […]

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I remember Britt as smiling, cheerful, and a true southern gentleman.  The photo I took of him had him showing off his suspenders under his suit coat.  I don’t know if Britt ever wore the pink lady jacket that the few men who were volunteers were expected to wear at that time, but he was […]

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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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When to memorize

There are many things in life that do not require memorization, such as complicated mathematical and statistical formulas that can be looked up or nowadays, calculated by a computer. In addition, there are some things that used to be memorized by most people, such as frequently dialed telephone numbers, which are now programmed into speed […]

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I once took a memory class in Jacksonville, Florida by a local memory expert named John Currie. Currie gave seminars on memorizing things, especially names and faces. His “trick” was to suggest that one form a picture using the name as tied to the face. I found this trick moderately helpful; I was not as […]

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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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Soldier First

Recently, David and I were honored to attend the graduation ceremony of our dear friend, Suzanne, from the United States Army Judge Advocate (J.A.G.) training program.  Suzanne is an amazing young woman, about whom we have written in other posts, and whom we have known for her entire life.  She has excelled in everything she […]

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Melissa suggested that I read the Soldier’s Creed prior to responding to her comments about Suzanne, and I will add that I agree that Suzanne’s humanity is one of her many assets. But, as I read the Creed, I realized that it is very fitting for Suzanne, of course now, but parts of it have […]

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Reducing Uncertainty

This post builds on the evolution of our experiences as trial consultants and goes further back in that history than a related post on a similar topic.  When Melissa and I first developed the marketing materials for our new trial consulting practice (in 1993), we started from scratch on everything.   In time, we developed […]

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As I have mentioned in previous posts, attorneys and psychologists have vastly different personalities and philosophies of life. As a social psychologist, I am, first and foremost, a scientist. Generally speaking, I require facts, figures, data, statistical analyses, and other science based information to make an informed decision about something important. Absent this type of […]

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Poseurs

We all know poseurs. Poseur is a French word derived from pose and poser and as we all know, it is used to describe someone who adopts a fake or insincere way of presenting himself/herself to others. There are all kinds of poseurs, including many politicians and celebrities, who affect their public image in ways […]

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I’m sure that Melissa and I are compatible because we share this genuine personality trait. I’ve never “gotten” or understood the poseurs – whether high school jocks or cheerleaders, or in any other context, including our current work. I know that in our current work, trial consulting, our clients have to put on a “show” […]

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