I've noticed a trend in business meetings and I'm wondering if you have noticed it, too.  I've noticed that very little listening is actually happening.

The biggest sign of this phenomenon, to me, is the layered cadence of our conversation style.  I've noticed that, in American business culture anyway, there is an overlap of the final few syllables of the first speaker's sentence with the first few syllables of the next speaker's sentence.  As in... as the next speaker (I hesitate to call him/her a "listener") hears the current speaker's vocal pitch and speed of delivery indicate the end of a thought, he/she begins his/her sentence while the first speaker is wrapping up.  It's actually interruption of sorts, except the first speaker generally finishes the thought while the second is piping in.

Even slightly more surprising, the first words of the second speaker's sentence are usually filler... a bit of a vocal stake in the ground to indicate that he/she is now taking control of the floor.  Words like, "well, I just think" and "now, I would say" are meaningless and generally useless (we presume that's what you're thinking, and of course we know that's you saying it), but they offer you an opportunity to let the room know you are the next in line without losing valuable information to syllabic overlap with the first speaker.  It's a little like the rhetorical equivalent putting a quarter on a billiard table while another game is going on... it says, "yeah, I know you're not QUITE finished, but I need the world to know I'm next."

I wonder if we're getting tired of listening.  We spend a great deal of time writing blogs, emails, comments, responses... we're used to having an open forum for our thoughts and feelings.  Heck, we even Tweet our every move, no matter how banal, just in case the world wants to know that I'm picking up my drycleaning or considering a milkshake.  Ours is an individualistic culture on the verge of another "We" oriented breakthrough (a topic for another post), but we're still largely convinced that the rest of the world could stand to benefit from our every thought and feeling.

I'm not immune either... I'm one of the worst offenders, and have gained a reputation for thinking my opinions important regardless of my expertise on a given topic.  But I still notice it, and it creeps me out.

Fortunately, my job is to listen to others.  By virtue of my occupation, I am learning to listen deeply.  I train in it, I practice it, and I even get to teach it to others.  That's what good qualitative research and ethnography are... are an opportunity to take in humanity, not to dish it out.  I love that.  And I think Western culture is on the cusp of a significant breakthrough in listening... I think we'll see a substantial trend back toward the ancient arts of focus, mindfulness, and presence... and that even the global market research industry as a whole will move toward exercises in deep, intentional listening.  We'll learn to listen to words, of course... but also to heart, to behaviors, to fears, to motivations...  and mostly, we'll learn to slow, and to stay present to those we're seeking to understand.

I'm barely dipping my toe in the practice of deep listening... but I'm enthralled.  It's possible that the world's next great brand is the one that doesn't speak to its target consumer, but learns to listen to him.

Cheers,
Justin

Wanna know what's happening the grey matter a split-second before you make a choice?

Read this article... it will take you 4.5 minutes, and it’s worth it:
http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/subconscious-decision.htm

If you’re so busy you can’t spare the 4.5 minutes, let me give an inadequate summary:  you know what you’re going to do before you know that you know what you’re going to do.

It raises some questions for traditional quals, just about spits on “why” questions in quant, and sounds a trumpet for something Seek (and I) have believed for some time... you can’t truly find out why somebody does something by asking them why they do something.  To get to the real why of the activity, you have to watch the activity, understand its context, know the doer of the activity (including his lifestyle and lifestage motivators), and get to beyond the conscious / liminal level to get him to react to sensory stimuli... you can’t just ask, “why?”  The truth is, a lot of times, we don’t know why, and we’re being asked to confabulate a plausible answer after the fact.

It’s a little bit like asking a witness what the perp was wearing on the rainy day that the crime took place... chances are good, he’ll tell you the perp had a coat, or a hat, or an umbrella... because we’re being asked to recreate something we either never knew or stand no chance of remembering.  And our conscious minds are extremely advanced computers whose whole job it is to take in information, filter out irrelevant details, and draw connections between ostensibly disparate phenomena to fill in the gaps.  Likewise, when we ask, “why do you like blue caps” the truth is, we may as well ask, “why do you jump backward when frightened?” or “why do you dream that you’re flying?”  He doesn’t know why, but he will efficiently, quickly, and subconsciously make something up using the symbology and folklore of his life heretofore:

Blue = Water.  Water = clean and cold.  Clean and cold = Fresh.
So he answers...
“Because it’s fresh.”

This process takes him 1/1000th of a second, and he may be right; it may symbolize just that to him.  But he has no idea why it symbolizes fresh to him, and it may turn out that blue motivates him for an entirely different reason that he can’t conceptualize (his favorite blanket growing up, for instance, was blue... and this reminds him of his mother’s comfort and safety).  But he has been asked a question he cannot answer by a professional question-asker and amongst a group of strangers.

To me, this underscores the need for observation, for association exercises, for real symbology and semiotic understanding in decoding the male mind, and for letting our experts be experts... using the consumer expert to bring the learning and its rich context, letting the color/form expert bring us the color/form that will respond to the depths of that learning (instead of taking the consumer at his word and simply making the cap blue), etc.

That’s all... I hope we are up to this challenge, and that we continue to revel in the mystery of the decision.

Cheers,
Justin

From Jane Stephens' study on leadership...I love this explaination of chaos, and the re-framing against a child's fearless quest for adventure.

Innovation finds the trail where there is none...Never has this been more important than in a challenged economy. 

How is your company approaching this? 

I've been tempted in the past few months to be lulled into believing that we're already innovative enough...we're already finding plenty of new trails.  But, then I realized...if everyone else is striving for that level of trail blazing, many will be successful...and the bar of what's "innovative" will be raised.  

So, the business of challenging paradigms takes on even more importance.

What leadership practices are we employing that are sheltering paradigms that keep us from new approaches? 

What barriers are we putting on ourselves that prevent us from thinking REALLY differently?  

What books are we not reading, or blogs are we not following because we "don't agree" with what they hypothesize or support? 

What would happen if we truly immersed ourselves in new ways of thinking...

I'm anxious to find out!

So I’ve been cooking more than I used to cook.  In relearning my way around the kitchen, I’ve noticed that I was missing a vital tool in the preparation process – a good cook’s utility knife.  All the knives we own are older, duller, and not too sexy.

We’re in Nashville this weekend visiting the boys.  We were on 21st Avenue in Hillsboro Village, one of our favorite shopping districts, when I noticed a little shop that I’d never been in before – Davis Cookware (1717 21st Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212).  I stepped through the door found myself face to face with Ted W. Davis III, the owner and proprietor of Davis Cookware going on 41 years.

I started off by pleading complete ignorance when it came to good kitchen knives.  This seemed to be exactly what Ted wanted to hear.  He proceeded to get our four large knives and placed them on the counter between us with the points facing away from me, 

I was expecting a sales pitch – since I noticed the prices on the knives ranging from $20 all the way up to $120.  But instead of berating me with the reasons I should by the expensive one … he started asking questions.

He let me talk.

He wanted to know what kind of cooking interested me.  He wanted to know how often I plan on cooking at home.

He let me talk.

He paid rapt attention.  He seemed to be interested and even enthralled as I spoke about my experience in the kitchen. 

He let me talk.

After several minutes of this – he finally spoke.

“After listening to you, I think I can recommend this knife to you because it seems to fit your needs better than the others.”  He gestured to the $36.98 Fibrox Carving Knife made by Victrinox.

I asked him about the $120 knife.  He said he could sell it to me if I really wanted it, but he really thought the other knife would be more to my liking in the long run.

How often to we listen?  How often do we really listen?  How often do we think we already know what would work best for a client before we’ve even asked the most basic of questions?  How often do we want to recommend the newest and coolest methodology that we have to offer when in fact – if we’d listen to the client – we’d change that opinion immediately?

I don’t know, but I think I learned quite a valuable lesson from Mr. Ted Davis.  Whether we are doing qualitative research, an ethnographic study, or ideation - listen, listen, and then listen some more.

For now – I’m off to cut stuff up.  I don’t know it needs to be cut up … but dang it – I’ve got a new knife.

I was recently reading a book about writing, and the art of writing, when I came upon an apocryphal tale of the power of brevity.  I’m not sure where and when and even if it happened, but it’s rumored to, and it doesn’t matter if it did because the story is just as powerful as a story...and the implications for qualitative research, new product concepting and ideation, and ethnographic storytelling are interesting.

The story tells us that Ernest Hemingway, an American literary deity who was maligned by Classics scholars for his undecorative, straight-to-the-point writing style, was dared by a friend and contemporary to “write a compelling short story in six words.”  The only rules were that the story must have a beginning, middle, and end, and must be compelling enough to get published.  Hemingway accepted, and spent an evening or two with pen to paper, scrawling out miniature narratives.  He returned with a story so compelling, and with such depth, that it was published the very next week in The New Yorker.  The story read:

For Sale:  Baby shoes.  Never worn.

As I read this little gem of writer’s folklore, I was struck by how powerful, rich, and deep this six-word story was.  It brought so much to mind...let my imagination fill in the plot gaps and the faces and the names... but what was more remarkable was how much it explicitly told me.  In six expertly selected words, I could access 29 years of human experience to instantly and powerfully fill in these gaps with more than just conjecture... I could lean on my gut to fill in the gaps...and without wild subjective conjecture or speculation.  Someone had a baby on the way (pregnant, likely), and planned ahead.  She anticipated that child, she looked forward to it, and even planned far enough into the child’s life to invest into shoes the baby wouldn’t need for several months into his/her life.  Then, something happened.  Likely something dreadful.  The baby was gone, the dream with it, and the shoes rendered a purposeless reminder of what should have been.  The would-be parent even went so far as to sell the shoes; to post an ad to both remunerate her now useless purchase, and to excise this tragic memento from her home.

This is a tragic story with a beginning, middle, and end, and is every bit as emotionally compelling and haunting as some of the best short fiction I’ve read.  And it reminds me that, when crafted carefully and artfully, even a few words can tell a very big story.  Whether in a letter to a loved one, a Carlos-Williams poem, a song lyric, a quotation scrawled on a blackboard, an epithet yelled at an enemy, a commercial concept, a political mantra, etc. etc., it only takes a few choice words to make a huge impact.  And when I sit down to write long summaries of research, or tell a neverending tale to a friend, or to pen lengthy blog entries (such as this one), I do well to  remember that, and to flex the power of selection a bit.

As an aside, if you haven’t explored this genre of “flash fiction” (stories written in a few words or a single sentence), I encourage you to check out onlineflashfiction.com and onesentence.org.  There are some very funny, sad, and encouraging pieces on there [one read something like, “‘I’ll never do that again,’ he thought, as he slipped cautiously into the warm tub.”].  And I hope you’ll try to write your own...you can’t possibly claim you don’t have the time.

Cheers,
Justin

There is a social experiment spreading rampantly on Facebook right now.  The big idea is that you post "25 Random Things" about yourself, tag 25 of your friends, and each of them replies with the same.  It's a bit like the old chain-mail scams of the early days of the internet, but without all the bad karma and "FW:Fw: " headers.  What's more interesting about this one is that it's not spread by fear of retribution ("...if you don't send to 10 friends a piano will land on your dog...") or sense of charity ("...for every email sent the government will donate 10 cents to a starving child...") or even a pressure of social outcasting ("...only a heartless person wouldn't send this to everyone they know...").  This phenomenon seems to be entirely self-motivated... driven purely by the user's desire to participate.

So, the big question for me is... why?

I couldn't help but wonder what in the world people get out of posting 25 random facts about themselves...everything from "I love butter" to "my first cat ate a marble and had to spend a week in the hospital"...for their entire social e-network to see.  Then, I tried it myself, and I realized something... there is something built into us that wants our story to be told.

As I worked through the excercise of picking 25 random points from my life... everything from the spiritual to the downright banal... it occured to me how much joy, and how much catharsis came with the process.  I don't know why I want the world to know that I'm not a "real" germaphobe, or that I'm incapable of using slang effectively... but it felt so good to tell those stories.  They feel close to me, they feel familiar, and they feel oddly personal, for being so minute.  And the fact that I could type them out, and that someone else might actually read it...all of a sudden I started to understand that we want to talk about ourselves... we want to get our story told, no matter how small... we just need the right venue, and ears that will listen without judgement or repercussion.

Like the GroupHug.us project or the Secular Confession Booth installation, this gives average joes the chance to unload a little personal baggage... to real live people... with a sense of safety.  What strikes me as different is that the "25 Random Things" phenomenon lacks anonymity, which I considered critical to the other projects.  And yet, "25 Random Things" has produced some of the most stirring, soul-bearing confessions I've seen... ("I was angry at God when my son died...and now I'm just not sure if he exists", "I've never kissed a girl", "I can't remember most of the 80's") all shared with a group of people who know you at some level or another.  It's no longer anonymous, but it still works.

Why?  Why do you think this is spreading so fast, and why is the content appearing to get deeper, and beyond random trivial minutia?  And, if I can be so professional about things... what does it mean about the way we meet "respondents" versus the way we meet "real people"?  What does it mean for market research, ethnography, qualitative research in general?

What do you think?

There has been a lot in popular "maverick" leadership press over the past few years about titles. All over, "hip" companies are letting folks create their own titles, or giving people very descriptive titles ("Change Agent" or "Optimizer" or "Detail Driver") while moving away from "traditional" titles like Vice President or Director. Tradition is bad! Change is good! Freedom from the chains of stuffy old definitions that put people and their contributions into a pre-determined box! Let people create a title that communicates what they uniquely bring and who they uniquely are...

I have been a big supporter of this movement for quite some time...

However...I've been thinking about it a LOT lately, and I might be changing my mind a bit...

I was reflecting on big moments in my own personal growth, both in my career and in life in general. I realized that almost every time I've made a significant leap in my growth, it's been PREceded by some "title" that was given to me. Usually, I had some understanding of what the "title" meant or the mantle it carried, but never did I feel worthy of it or ready for it. In contrast, times when I've given myself a title, it's reflective what I thought I was contributing or reasonably capable of contributing at the time, but rarely something way beyond me that I could grow into.

A few examples...

"mom" -- I was given the title "mom" when I first became pregnant with my first child. Arguably, at that point, I was not doing any of the things I thought "moms" do...I was still taking care of myself, would vomit at the sight or smell of someone else's vomit, needed a good 8 hours of sleep, and thought my life was "busy." Ha! But, something about being called "mom" inspired me to begin to live up to the title.

"mentor" -- this was a big one for me...a young manager at P&G asked me to be her "mentor" several years ago. I had a pretty good idea of what a mentor was, and I certainly didn't think I was capable of being one to someone else...I was, at that point, mostly a mentee -- seeking guidance from my own set of mentors (wise people with lots of career and life experience). But, again, somehow, being called a mentor inspired me to begin to live up to the title.

"coach" -- again...same story for me. Several others: "Manager" "Associate Director" "General Manager" "Executive Director"...each time, I've not felt ready or worthy, but I had a pretty good working "definition" of what the title meant, and each time, growth came because I strove to live up to the title.

Anyway, a bit of rambling tonight...but food for thought...and a few questions to ask myself (maybe that you need to ask yourself, too!):

• Who in my care do I need to bestow a big title on?
  
• Where do I need to embrace the "traditional" titles because they will inspire growth for me or for someone I'm coaching or mentoring?
  
• Where might a title be holding someone back from what they could be?
  
• Are any of my own titles holding me back? If so, even if no-one else changes them, how might my own perspective or behavior shift if I strove to be worthy of a different "title?"

I've been getting back to my literary analysis roots and thinking about qualitative research as narrative.  There's so much power in story.

An editorial by New York Times contributer and advertising guru Errol Morris says, "People think in narratives - in beginnings, middles and ends. The danger when you edit something too severely is that it no longer makes sense; worse still, it leaves people with the disquieting impression that something is being hidden."  I don't think it's a coincidence that there's such a war cry for authenticity in this generation.  Some of the story has been hidden and we've been duped by that - the hidden story of the credit crisis is a great example.  People are questioning, "how did we get here?"  I've heard this amongst consumers/respondents in all different fields of work.  Anyway, that's a side note. 

Back to the bigger point.  People think in narratives.  What does that mean for us as researchers?  I'm shaping some methodologies around this.  I think part of it is bringing the story alive for the research team, giving them a lasting memory of what life is like for their consumers - influencing the team on a daily basis as they make decisions.  Their familiarity with the story of their consumer gives agility to look at research from an aggregate view instead of the specific initiative.  Another take on leveraging narrative altogether.

I'm reading Primal Branding by Patrick Hanlon.  The premise of the book is that we're looking for our brands to engage in narrative, giving us a sense of belonging larger than ourselves.

I'd love to hear about the narrative that has most shaped your life.  Feel free to drop me an e-mail or comment below.  Is it Starbucks?  Apple?  The Koran?  Why?  Which narratives shape our consumers?  Why?

Segmentation is crucial to what we do.  Without understanding who we're talking to and the different mindsets within the WHO, it's difficult even to ask the right questions.

I often think of myself as being the protector of research, helping guide what's appropriate when.  This article from Stanford Business School was a great voice of reason.  Thought you'd like to check it out.

Just to pique your interest:

The idea that verbal, visual, or cognitive cues can have predictable effects on consumer behavior might tempt marketers to look for magical cues to herd customers like lemmings. But two Stanford researchers have found that one prime does not fit all and, in fact, can have the opposite effect depending on the group. The moral: Take care to segment your market.

The rewards of qualitative research rest largely on two principles: getting "mushy" and getting "empty."

The Mushy Principle states simply that we "enter and continue our conversation with empathy, patience, and levity."

• Empathy - everyone’s got a story: immerse yourself in his / hers
• Patience - (s)he’s getting to the good part (don’t ruin it)
• Levity - take him / her seriously; not yourself

A way to conceptualize this more broadly is to imagine how difficult it is to leave a detailed impression on a rock.  Now, think about how easy it is to leave a detailed impression on soft and supple clay.
 
When trying to learn about a person's thoughts / feelings in a way that you can later share with others, think about yourself as the soft and supple clay...

The Empty Principle suggests we "enter and continue the conversation with no expectation, no knowledge, and no memory."

• No Expectation - you don’t know this person; all you have are questions
• No Knowledge - you don't know this subject matter; again, all you have are questions
• No Memory - you have never, ever heard any of this before

Looking at this more generally, think about how difficult it is to add more material to a full container.  Now, think about how easy it is to drop that material into an empty container.

When trying to learn about a person's thoughts / feelings in a way that you can later share with others, think about yourself as the empty container...

What does this get me?
Following both principles, your answers will be authentic – as  opposed to filtered or customized to suit your anticipated need - and the responses you record will be fully articulated – so you don’t have to figure them out afterward.

 So, in the last few weeks I've seen my share of airport security lines.

Not until now have I been accused of being a frequent traveler by one of the security dudes.  My life is complete.

I've learned effective habits and practices for successfully navigating the security line and I didn't even realize it until I got two comments from airport workers this morning.  For example:  

- I hold down my shirt when going through the drug-test machine that shoots air at you.
- I grab exactly two plastic bins to put my stuff in - one for my laptop and one for my bag and shoes.
- I know when to put away my license.  
- I get out my flight number and know which screen is next on the Delta check-in kiosk.

Without an outsider's perspective, I wouldn't have realized the adjustments I've made to make it through the system.  That's part of ethnography - I've learned to look at consumers' lives with a new lens, seeing things that they don't realize that they do, behaviors they've adapted, habits they're doing.  

Where have you adapted to a system?  Could that system be improved?  I sure know the airport security system could be (enough said...but then again, who's even asking?).  How can you innovate to make the system better?

These are questions we're constantly asking at Seek, externally AND internally.  Hey, there's always room for growth!

It's easy to forget the assumptions we make before entering a space we've never visited.  This next exercise aims to dredge up a) what we imagine before b) what we experience. 

The "outside" template is to be completed before entering.  After entry, just soak up the next 15 seconds.  Next, the "inside" template can be completed.

What can we learn by comparing the two completed templates?  Are some circles tougher to complete than others?  Why?


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Some great media consumption trends from a recent BusinessWeek article that are definitely worth taking a look at and understanding...

The average American (age 12 and up) with Internet access spends more than 6 hours a day watching movies, shows, news, and sports—or playing games—on screens of one sort or another. That’s up from 4.6 hours in 1996, says Solutions Research Group, which predicts a rise to 8 hours a day in 2013. The group, which studied the viewing diaries of 1,014 people, found that on average TV accounts for 4 of the current 6 viewing hours. The other 2 hours involve the Web, DVDs, gaming consoles, and mobile devices. (The ratio is roughly reversed for the 12-to-24-year-old set.) By 2013, the group forecasts, Americans will spend an average three hours daily viewing or playing with PCs and mobile devices. “Wherever you go,” says Solutions Research President Kaan Yigit, “you’ll be bathing in video content.”

Recently, we've used Facebook, MySpace, blogs and photo websites to screen respondents before qualitative research.  This works best when we've been looking to fill a difficult recruit for segmentation that has visual characteristics that are manifested through a respondent's profile.  This is especially helpful with teenage respondents.

So, we study people. Their habits, practices, why they buy this, why they buy that...

Seek Research has never ceased to provide me an abdominal workout in the form of laughing.  I get to travel the world with friends (also known as co-workers) and meet new people.  There's always a funny story.

Is it a good or bad thing when your client asks the rest of her team if you remind them of Lloyd Dobler?  So, what do you do with that?  Was it more about me being an average kickboxer, holding a boombox over my head, or delivering unsolicited manifestos on the nature of the world? 

I don't do those things.  OK, I do one of those things (hint: never kickboxed, never held a boombox aloft)...

Just returned from some concept work in Columbus.  Tried a new methodology for concept exposure and I think it went pretty well.  For you qualitative research fiends out there, talk to me.  I might have a little something for you.  You know you're sick of the straight up FGI and there's no need to settle--your clients are sick of it, too.  Mix it up with smaller groupings, client interfaces, rotating respondents, and start your debrief while the respos are still in the room.  I didn't do that--but I should have.  I mean, I really should have.

I'm looking for a dare-to-be-great situation.  Wish me luck.

As a Qualitative Research Consultant at Seek Research, I'm finding more and more that I thrive in adversity.

So, today was a great day for me. 

I'm not really sure what set it apart from any other day.  We are working on a proposal for a large global market research/ethnographic study that is a big challenge!  What I loved is that we really came together as a team -- Tracy, Sara, Greg, Renee and several others have played a key role in pulling together a very cool learning experience design.  Our client is a true business partner with us as we've worked to create the right balance of deliverables and cost efficiency. 

Sound boring?  Not to me...I so enjoy the camaraderie between Seek and the client, and across our team.  I so appreciate the ability that I have to bring my best every day and really work in a way that leverages my strengths!

Anyway, kudos out to the Seek team -- great work today!  I'm so humbled to be part of this team!

I was naked in New York City this week...well not entirely naked in the literal sense, but I found myself basically naked in the city that never sleeps..."The Big Apple".  Let me back up and rewind a little.

Over the weekend I flew up to the great northern city of Minneapolis.  "Minnie" is one of my favorite cities in the U.S.  It has a lot of very fun and eclectic places to shop, hang out, grab a drink or dine on some incredible food...and then there's of course the lakes.  Oh my gosh the lakes are amazing and beautiful.  God truly kissed the ground where these lakes formed. 

I traveled to Minneapolis to see my niece's first baptism.  The baptism was at a beautiful Basilica in downtown Minneapolis.  (This is where the story's foreshadowing comes into play...)  While walking across the street to "Joe's Garage" (a little bar) to grab a drink before entering the Basilica, a young man walked out of an alley wearing nothing but a small brown leather "Daisy-Duke-Cut" shorts that laced up the back very loosely.  His outfit would make Times Square's "Naked Cowboy" appear over-dressed.  The laced area of his shorts exposed his entire back-side and his "cheeks" peaked out the bottom.  Oh wait...it gets better, he was a ethnographic study segment that has yet to be categorized.  This barefoot, leather & lace-undergarment wearing individual was covered in a slimy film of body paint and something clear that had all smeared together.  In his hand however was a small step ladder and in the other was a high-end digital SLR camera.  He turned and looked at us and then at the young man walking next to us with a wild eye look.  He yelled at the young man next to us, "what the hell are you looking at?"  Obviously an answer wasn't necessary to provide.  That marked what was the be the "weirdest" moment of our trip.  The rest of the trip was relitively uneventful until we tried to fly back home. 

We got up early and arrived at the Minneapolis airport at 6:00am.  We were flying stand-by and had planned on flying out on the very first flight to Cincinnati at 7:00am.  However the "god's of commercial airline flight" were not so kind to us that day.  The aircraft experienced mechanical issues and was postponed indefinitely and then sent to Cincinnati empty.  This set a domino effect of over-sold ticketed seating into motion.  We ran back and forth literally from one end of the airport to the extreme other end trying to make alternating flights on two different airlines every 60 minutes.  Unfortunately we missed the "Cleared Stand-By List" always by just a few names.  After 12 hours of racing the airport courtesy shuttle carts a decisions had to be made. 

We had checked our Minneapolis bag back to Cincinnati and it was on its way back home.  I had a bag packed with clothes and toiletries for my upcoming New York City trip along with my MacBook Pro and all my qualitative research supplies, but it was also in Cincinnati awaiting me.  The plan was to fly home early Monday morning to Cincinnati, grab my NYC bag with my Mac and catch a flight to NYC from Cincinnati.  It sounded like a good plan at the time.  However, I had to decide whether I risk / attempt to make the next flight to Cincinnati that would give me less than an hour to deplane, take the shuttle to my car, grab my NYC bags, grab the shuttle back to the airport and make the last flight to NYC....or take the last flight from Minneapolis directly to New York City, without any thing but the shirt on my back.  Where's my Magic Eight Ball when I really need it?

After studying the pros and cons, I made the decision that it was more important that I be present rather than not be and have all of my clothes, computer and supplies.  What is qualitative research without the researcher?  And what city would be the best city to have an excuse to go shopping than New York City? 

So long story made just a little bit longer... the qualitative research went perfectly, the client was very happy with the design and the findings and I got to shop in New York City.  Life is good.