Don’t fall for Baron Munchausen
‘Never call yourself an expert,’ the saying goes. Like ‘guru’, it’s a term you should let others apply to you. That makes sense from a…
ViewPlaying a more open game
To maximise your chances of getting the right expert and the right expert strategy, bring us in early. We would say that, wouldn’t we? But…
ViewBe a pragmatic pessimist
Winston Churchill said, ‘A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.’ That nicely sums up the tension…
ViewThe curious case of the familiar file
In attempting to manage uncertainty, many companies go to great expense to develop protocols and procedures. Then they set them in stone hoping that compliance…
ViewAgreements not arguments
‘A contract is supposed to be an agreement,’ a colleague once said, ‘not an argument.’ His words stuck with me. On large complex projects, disputes…
ViewHow many piano tuners are there really in Chicago?
The physicist and Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi, creator of the first nuclear reactor, was the so-called ‘architect of the nuclear age’. But he’s probably more…
ViewLet ’em wait
A simple technique to share with your expert that confers extra credibility—no extra training or knowledge required. A couple of minutes into our expert’s explanation…
ViewKeeping the train on the track
On a recent dreary Sunday afternoon, the Frank Sinatra movie Von Ryan’s Express was on TV. At one point, a train driver coupled some train carriages together.
ViewEvery complex project is unique
If it’s not unique, it’s just complicated. The trick is understanding what’s unique and factoring greater resilience into these project elements. For example, if you…
ViewAn extra pair of eyes provides assurance
How can your legal team for a dispute really know whether your expert’s opinions are correct? Perhaps you should hire a ‘shadow expert’. On cases…
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