Archive | Managing Employees

Entrpreneurial Hats

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On March 23, 2017

Category: Business Frustrations, Business personalities, Careers, Getting the Job Done, Managing Employees, Marketing your Business, Partnerships, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting

I don’t wear (real) hats that often, unless I’m going to be in the sun, or in the cold weather. I have lot of hats, a habit of collecting them picked up from my Dad. He has quite a collection, many of them from trucking companies or manufacturers. In fact, as a child I thought […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On March 23, 2017

Category: Business Frustrations, Business personalities, Careers, Getting the Job Done, Managing Employees, Marketing your Business, Partnerships, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting

David is right: I don’t wear as many hats in owning and operating our business as he does. My job primarily consists of preparing for research projects, for example, mock trials; conducting research; preparing detailed reports containing research results and recommendations for litigation strategies; supervising our research team; selecting juries; making presentations to lawyers, insurance […]

Generational Work Ethics

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On January 26, 2017

Category: Careers, Getting the Job Done, Litigation Tips, Managing Employees, Psychology, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting, Work-Life, Workplace Technology

Digressing before I get started, I begin this post by reporting that Melissa and I read many newspapers, magazines and professional publications to stay current. Melissa subscribes to and promptly reads many psychology journals and publications. This post was prompted by a January 2017 Monitor on Psychology article synopsis reporting findings from a meta-analysis of […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On January 26, 2017

Category: Careers, Getting the Job Done, Litigation Tips, Managing Employees, Psychology, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting, Work-Life, Workplace Technology

Stereotyping, although it is commonplace, is never a good idea. I will repeat: Stereotyping is never a good idea. Social psychologists, beginning with Dr. Gordon Allport in 1948, have studied stereotypes and their negative impact on decision making in a multitude of contexts. Research on stereotyping has, in general terms, revealed that stereotypes contain a […]

Common sense

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On January 24, 2017

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Partnerships, Careers, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Managing Employees, Small Business Success

Let’s face it: Some people have no common sense. Other people have some common sense and then there are those fortunate people who have an abundance of what is often referred to as “horse sense.” Like other personality traits, common sense is present on a continuum, with certain people having more than others. Life experience […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On January 24, 2017

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Partnerships, Careers, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Managing Employees, Small Business Success

It has been interesting as an employer to observe the common sense, and intellectual sense, of employees – at all levels. As Melissa pointed out, a high degree of education often has no correlation with common sense. In fact, in the many years I have known Melissa, I have observed that some of her colleagues […]

Take Initiative

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On January 19, 2017

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

I’ve been reflecting on what makes a good employee, a good student, or even a “good soldier.” One variable I think makes a tremendous difference is the willingness of an individual to take initiative to get things done. And, borrowing, and modifying the use of the term “lean in” from the 2013 book by Sheryl […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On January 19, 2017

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

People vary on the personality dimension David refers to as taking initiative. Some people are on the lower end of the spectrum, and are colloquially referred to as “slackers,” while other people are on the higher end of the spectrum, and are often referred to as “taking charge,” “leaders,” and “dependable,” among other things, while […]

Catching Juror with her Pants Down

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On December 29, 2016

Category: Careers, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Managing Employees, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting

Melissa recently initiated a series of blog posts about Crazy Juror stories. In writing these posts, I was reminded of another crazy juror story, which wasn’t really that crazy, but it is now in our company folklore and we continue to chuckle about it. A number of years ago, we were working on a large […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On December 29, 2016

Category: Careers, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Managing Employees, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting

The expression, “caught with your pants down” has, for many years, had a literal interpretation for those of us at Magnus. (The Detroit experience was memorable for several other reasons, including hearing one of my employees inform our client that she wished she were a princess living in a castle, but that has been covered […]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On November 24, 2016

Category: Business Frustrations, Getting the Job Done, Litigation Tips, Managing Employees, Marketing your Business, Partnerships, Psychology, Small Business Success, Travel, Trial Consulting, Work-Life, Workplace Technology

This expression which is the title of this post is credited to English author Charles Caleb Colton’s writing in 1820. I don’t feel flattered. To explain, Melissa and I formed Magnus Research Consultants, Inc. in 1993. We worked hard to come up with a name that fit many criteria we established for our new, nameless, […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On November 24, 2016

I respectfully disagree with Mr. Colton about being flattered by imitation. Think about it. Is imitation leather flattering to real leather? Is eating imitation cheese ever a good idea? What exactly is imitation crab imitating? I could go on. When David and I discovered that one of our competitors had copied our name, we were […]

A woman can be, and is, the boss

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On November 8, 2016

Category: Business Partnerships, Business personalities, Careers, Common Courtesy, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Managing Employees, Partnerships, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting

I have written several previous posts about sexism and its prevalence in many aspects of today’s society. Although there are numerous examples of the removal of gender barriers in many segments of the business world, there remains, in my opinion, an assumption among many people that, being “the boss” means being a man (and a […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On November 8, 2016

I have always been cognizant of the risks of assumptions – there is that adage about assuming which works pretty well. I want to know who’s who and would never want to “step in it” as the person Melissa describes. My career is fairly unique in that I have mostly had women bosses. Even now, […]

Working through a hurricane.

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On October 27, 2016

Category: Careers, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Managing Employees, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting, Work-Life, Workplace Technology

Here we go again. Water, check. Gasoline for generators, check. Food-Publix, check (store was packed). Propane for grill, check. Checklist checked, check. More to do, check. The waiting begins. As I’m writing this, a tropical storm watch has been issued for our geographic area – the next 3 days will tell what Hurricane Matthew has […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On October 27, 2016

Category: Careers, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Managing Employees, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting, Work-Life, Workplace Technology

Fortunately, South Florida was spared from a recent hurricane. All of the planning, preparing, and shopping were, thankfully, a huge waste of time, in that nothing more than a little wind and rain came our way. David calculated that we each spent 30 hours, 60 hours between the two of us, and probably 20 to […]

Sales 101 – Learn Names

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On October 11, 2016

Category: Business personalities, Business Relationships, Careers, Common Courtesy, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Managing Employees, Marketing your Business, Small Business Success

Many principles of sales and marketing have origins in social psychology. One of the most basic principles involved in being a good salesperson is learning the name of a potential customer, then saying the person’s name during conversations, as a way of building rapport. For example, every competent car salesperson asks the name of everyone […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On October 11, 2016

Another of our posts has been about mind games and I would have to say that the story that concluded Melissa’s post about knowing names involved a bit of a mind game on her part. I saw it coming – the person we were meeting with did not. There were several ways he could have […]

Do what you say

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On September 6, 2016

Category: Business Frustrations, Business personalities, Business Relationships, Careers, Common Courtesy, Getting the Job Done, Getting Through Life and Work, Litigation Tips, Managing Employees, Marketing your Business, Partnerships, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting

As a follow up to a post in which I quoted a line from Jimmy Buffett’s song, “Clichés,” “Say what you mean and mean what you say,” I will add another thought, “Do what you say.” Many people talk about doing something, but when it comes down to actually accomplishing what they have talked about, […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On September 6, 2016

This is a topic Melissa initiated – that’s how these posts work. One of us generates the topic and then becomes the first author/blogger. The first author writes what ends up in the left column of the post, the second author then responds. Many times the right column posts follows or expands upon the left […]

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Archive | Managing Employees

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

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