Archive | Partnerships

Road trips

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On June 13, 2017

Category: Business Travel, Getting Through Life and Work, Jury Research, Life Outside of Work, Litigation Research, Magnus, Magnus Research, Partnerships, Travel, Work-Life

When I was growing up, my parents and I regularly took road trips. Sometimes, the road trips were relatively short, for example, to Wakulla County in north Florida, where my dad was from, to visit his relatives (to whom he referred as his “kin folk”). Other trips were of 2 or 3 weeks duration, when […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On June 13, 2017

Category: Business Travel, Getting Through Life and Work, Jury Research, Life Outside of Work, Litigation Research, Magnus, Magnus Research, Partnerships, Travel, Work-Life

Those who are reading this post know that the road trip Melissa mentioned that we were planning turned out well. The Mississippi Delta provided fun, good food, new friends, and some life expanding experiences. Growing up, I did experience a few road trips, but, probably because my traveling Dad didn’t always find road trips to […]

“No thanks” to Bad Clients

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On June 6, 2017

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Partnerships, Business personalities, Business Relationships, Careers, Common Courtesy, Getting the Job Done, Litigation Consultants, Litigation Research, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Marketing your Business, Partnerships, Small Business Success, Trial Consultants

The older I get, the more I choose to spend time with nice people and the less time I choose to spend with mean people. My philosophy has evolved to include family members, spouses of family members, friends, spouses of friends, and clients. Even though clients, unlike the other categories of people I have listed, […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On June 6, 2017

We are fortunate that we have encountered only a few clients who are so abusive as to be the bad ones Melissa described. The worst one we have encountered was a scorched earth litigator, but in his world, this extended to even include everyone on his team – and to us. But, his true self […]

Clients are People Too

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On May 30, 2017

Category: Business Frustrations, Business Relationships, Careers, Common Courtesy, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Jury Research, Litigation Consultants, Magnus, Magnus Insights, Magnus Research, Managing Employees, Marketing your Business, Partnerships, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting

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 […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On May 30, 2017

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

Red Flags when hiring a Trial Consultant, part 1. Predictability Claims

A Point of View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On September 1, 2016

Category: Business Frustrations, Getting the Job Done, Litigation Tips, Marketing your Business, Partnerships, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting

I recently had the opportunity to view some materials produced by a competitor for a client. In the materials, the competitor stated that a certain methodology they offered would predict the trial verdict with 90% accuracy if the case goes to trial (this is paraphrased, but is essentially what was claimed). As someone who has […]

Another View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On September 1, 2016

Category: Business Frustrations, Getting the Job Done, Litigation Tips, Marketing your Business, Partnerships, Small Business Success, Trial Consulting

This is a “G rated” blog, so I will limit myself to saying there are many, many trial consultants who are full of IT (the astute reader will know what IT means in this context). Conducting small group research doesn’t predict any outcome with 90% accuracy. If it did, why would political polls assess opinions […]

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 […]

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. […]

Best friend(s)

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On July 26, 2016

Category: Business Partnerships, Business personalities, Business Relationships, Getting Through Life and Work, Life Outside of Work, Partnerships, Small Business Success, Work-Life

Throughout my life, I have been fortunate to have many friends. In fact, due to the vast age difference between my two older brothers and me, I have friendships that have strong bonds that most people usually associate with family members. Among my friends there are a few extraordinary people whom I consider my “best […]

Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On July 26, 2016

Category: Business Partnerships, Business personalities, Business Relationships, Getting Through Life and Work, Life Outside of Work, Partnerships, Small Business Success, Work-Life

Starting at the end of Melissa’s post I’ll say it is great to have her as my bestie. As we have written this blog it has been interesting to see how we have different perspectives sometimes, but have a common bond, and a perspective on life and work. I’m not sure it would be possible […]

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Archive | Partnerships

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David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

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