Personal Research & Master Mind Groups

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One of the last classes I took in college (it was the first class in the doctoral track following the MBA) was something called “Business Research Methods.”

Although the course book is now hopelessly out of date, the general idea of “personal research” into anything that grabs your attention is a fertile area of study. 

For one, it will help with your investment decision-making.  But, the broader pay-off is that it changes how you judge – things and situations and thereby live Life.

We’ll jump into that after a few headlines and a look at the Global Conflict in our mid-week ChartPack…

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7 thoughts on “Personal Research & Master Mind Groups”

  2. Hi George,

    Great article – flagged for a reread later today. Your perspective rings true, though not this month, IMHO.

    I had a question since you were a college administrator type: I’m taking an advanced course in imaging systems design – mostly for the info. I’m unsure as to the relative merits of Credit/No Credit vs Auditing such a course. IF there’s no conceivable downside to the former, it seems a no-brainer, but I’m told that some schools and industry might see it as a negative if I don’t do well or drop it due to other commitments. Auditing, of course, has no academic risks or rewards. The so-called “advisers” have no useful information here at all – just doubletalk. Do you have any insight regarding this situation? Thanks!

    • Mike, I think you’re coming up on my age.
      I am tryingn to figure out the baseline of “method acting” here – :”What’s my motivation?”
      If you are going to the course for a new skill (access to equipment and such_) then take the lowest price point to accomplish that.
      If you want to keep your resume polished up, then not only do the for credit, but also join a professional association and contribute a “poster paper” for a professional level conference on topic.
      If you’re taking it for fun? Then put the cheapest way to get in (and get the course materials) in.
      When comes to others, remember you NEVER REPORT FAILURE ON A RESUME! When you said “…, but I’m told that some schools and industry might see it as a negative if I don’t do well …” you were sounding like the opinions of OTHERS mattered.
      Remmember information control: You can not be hung for the information you don’t reveal! POnly that which you self-report. Don’t tell of your failures, and focus only on your successes.
      People have asked me in past job interviews “What are your weaknesses?”
      My standard answer is “Life’s too short to do all the neat stuff I do…” Then I launch into how longevity runs in my family…
      When someone ask “Got any recent exposure to high end imaging systrems?” Then you can self report (on successful complettion) “Yes, I did X., Y, and Z. Plus, I had some ideas on how to im[rove this aspect or that and I did a poster paper on the ideas at Imaging 2019 conference in NYC…”
      Assuming the person who is interviewing you is not an idiot, they will be impressed. Exception: If they are weak and barely holding on, you’re be viewed as a “smarter than them” threat and won’t get the gig anyway.
      That’s what drove me to abandon the DBA track after a 4.0 MBA and a 3.96 undergrad (I confess to a single B grade): I looked at the cost (non-trival_) and the payback (trivial) and decided that calling myself Doctor was not nearly as important as calling myself “c omfortably well-off” and “deliriously happy.”
      When you spend any money on anything, make sure to be clear and straight with Ureself on what you’re buying lest you be pissin money away.
      Hope this helps?

      • Thanks George, great answer! I’m actually a shade older than you(barely), but by taking a course at senior rates(trivial), I get access to an entire university infrastructure. That’s one motivation. I also get some access to the social scene there. I’m taking the imaging course since it fills in some gaps in my knowledge and challenges me with new concepts. Same with Chinese – FWIW. Some of my friends say I need to grow up(Never!).

        The major cost is commuting and spending time on campus, so doing the audit thing and applying Pareto’s law seems to make sense. I’d have had the “doctor” title already if I’d limited myself to just one field, but I’m much more interested in broad(pun intended) understanding rather than just knowing more and more about less and less.

        You’ve convinced me that the audit path makes the most sense. I get to bail whenever the effort/reward ratio gets too far out of whack.

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