Archive | Small Business Success

The Psychology of Litigation

This is a topic I came up with because I’ve been thinking about what is it Melissa and I really do as trial consultants and in our company, Magnus Research. We know what we do, but it is sometimes difficult to come up with ways to explain it. And, especially as we encounter lawyers who […]

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My education and training in social psychology was aimed toward the pursuit of a career in academia. However, experiences in graduate school led me to the realization that I would be more suited for a career in applied social psychology (in the “real world”) than becoming a college professor. My skill set is broad, such […]

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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

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, […]

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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 […]

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Do you really know what I’m thinking? Do you want to know?

In this final post inspired by a dreadful meeting David and I recently attended, I will cover a dangerous game played by some people. These people, none of whom are psychologists (or our counterparts in the medical field, psychiatrists), have an inflated sense of self and often believe other people share in their belief that […]

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There are several takeaway lessons from the fateful meeting which prompted this series of posts. One is definitely “know what you don’t know.” A favorite professor of mine once told me about the difference between smart, and not so smart, people. The smart ones know they don’t know it all and try to learn what […]

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A woman can be, and is, the boss

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 […]

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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, […]

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Find out who you’re meeting with

A Point of View

Melissa Pigott, Ph.D.

On November 1, 2016

Category: Careers, Common Courtesy, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Marketing your Business, Small Business Success

I prepare for every meeting with every client and potential client by researching them via the many sources available for finding out about people. In that most of my clients are attorneys, it is relatively simple to find out about them by looking at their firm’s website, attorney ratings services, and their bar association. Prior […]

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Another View

David H. Fauss, M.S.M.

On November 1, 2016

Category: Careers, Common Courtesy, Employment, Getting the Job Done, Marketing your Business, Small Business Success

Once again a post was inspired by 1 particular, and unusual, meeting. But, to Melissa and me, it had many problems which are now turned into opportunities to discuss and thus is born another post. Melissa covers the reasons to do one’s homework prior to a meeting. We like to know something about those with […]

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Working through a hurricane.

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 […]

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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 […]

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The Sound of Silence

“The Sound of Silence” (originally titled, “The Sounds of Silence”) was written by Paul Simon, recorded by Simon and Garfunkel in 1965, and covered in 2015 by the band Disturbed. The premise of the song, according to Art Garfunkel, is the inability of people to communicate with each other in a meaningful way, resulting in, […]

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The meeting that inspired this series of posts was not quiet; there was little silence.  But, there may as well have been silence because the words being spoken were drifting into the ether with the hot air being expelled as they were spoken.  It was a surprising disconnect.  I know there were some explanations for […]

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The more you talk, the more you’ll convince me you have nothing to say

The more some people talk, the less they have to say about anything important. And, the more some people talk, the more I am convinced they have nothing to say. We have all met people who chatter on and on, saying many words about nothing in particular. Some people have “the gift of gab” and […]

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The last sentence of Melissa’s post is a variation of one of those things that everyone’s mother says to their children, or used to do so, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”  But that virtue has gone by the wayside in a world where the presidential candidates fight it out […]

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Sales 101 – Learn Names

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 […]

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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 […]

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GPS (orientation x3)

In medical settings, and in psychological assessments, patients are almost always asked 3 important questions: (1) Who are you/What is your name?; (2) Where are you, right now?; and (3) What time is it? People with cognitive impairment are often unable to answer these simple questions and sometimes, they become confused as to why they […]

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Oriented X3.  I’ve certainly seen this concept utilized in the medical arena, especially as it relates to cognitive testing.  But, in thinking of the broader context about which Melissa writes, it occurs to me that there is another way we commonly relate to this concept.  That is, “the lights are on, but nobody’s home.”  We […]

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