Praxis: The Taylor Group Blog
If this company were an epic drama, my friend Frank Ferrucci would be a central character.
I met Frank in 1980 when he was at Southern New England Telephone in the business research group and I was an analyst at Lou Harris.
Over the years Frank was variously a client, a competitor, a supplier, a consultant, and a colleague--and through it all a friend. He was a major part of our work when we began operations in 1987, and he was working with us until just months before his death last year.
When Frank started a sole-practitioner consulting firm in the late-1980s, he named it "Praxis": a Greek word defined as the practice or exercise of an art, science, or skill--as distinct from the theory of it.
In seeking a name for a Taylor Group blog, Praxis came immediately to mind for me. Market and opinion research for us is a practical art, not a theoretical one; and the name Praxis allows me to honor the memory of a good friend and colleague--who was taken from us way too young.
We plan to use this space to reflect on our experiences in practicing the art and science of market and opinion research, but we don't intend this as a purely "methodological" blog. Rather we intend it to be as much about musing as method, as much about stories as statistics, as much about who we are as people as what we do as professionals.
My colleagues and I hope you will visit now and then, and when you do, we hope you will join in.
Scott Taylor
http://www.thetaylorgroup.com/blog/trackback.cfm?74C9E691-1422-22E7-2388DD0FB8E871A6
Enjoyed your introductory blog. A touch of humanity to remind us of the art as well as the science of understanding human behavior. Best wishes to the success and nourishment of this blog.
As a former consultant to the Taylor Group (for nearly 18 years), I can't think of a more appropriate way to capture the feeling of the group and I very much appreciate the tribute to Frank who was such a large part of my experience with Taylor. There has always been thoughtful philosophy combined with humor and humanity in the approach to any and all projects. I love the creative turn of mind that allowed this to be captured in the company blog. Best to all your endeavors.
