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In the fictitious advertising agency Miller Shanks nothing ever seems to go to plan. When The Sun picks up a story that Gloria Hunniford has been groped by a client on an film shoot in Mauritius and PAs are making mock suicide attempts back at the office in London you might be tempted to think

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Perfect @ e-mail

  Email etiquette – or ‘Netiquette’ – is causing traditional letters writers to scratch their heads in consternation. For in less than five years, the advent of electronic mail has thrown many writing conventions out of the virtual window. Even Debrett’s has recognised the dilemma and addressed the problem it in its 1996 Guide to

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Liar’s Poker

If someone had tried to sell me the true-life story of a ‘Big Swinging Dick’ I’d have nodded politely while I reached for the mace. If they’d then explained that this particular B.S.D. was a bond salesman on Wall Street, I’d have been far less scared but no more interested. Luckily a friend insisted I

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Steve Redgrave: Casting off

International rowing won’t be the same without Steve Redgrave – five-times Olympic gold medallist and national hero. But will Redgrave be the same without rowing? The commitment demanded by the sport is no less than a lifestyle – on the water seven days a week, 49 weeks a year. When that is gone, what remains?

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Tony Blair

You are the youngest British prime minister this century, so it is difficult to criticise the way you have planned your career. Anyone who captures the number one job in the country certainly knows how to scale the careers ladder. In order to reach your post you first had to become leader of the Labour

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Terry Venables

According to the press, the public, Sir Alex Ferguson and Terry Venables, there is only one man for the job of England football team manager. That man is Terry Venables. Having said that, the press and the public are hardly renowned for their good sense and Ferguson is Scottish, but surely ex-England boss Venables is

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David Beckham

Like your wife, you are at the peak of your career. Also like your wife, you are suffering from a few problems in the public relations department. You must be careful not to sacrifice the respect you have earned for your tremendous skills by behaving recklessly on the pitch. You will find that sponsorship and

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Hansie Cronje: Hero to zero

Fallen hero When South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje was accused of involvement with Indian bookmakers in April 2000, he said the allegations were completely without substance. Yet it took less than 90 hours for Cronje’s statement of wounded integrity to become a guilt-wracked confession of dishonesty. Six months on the situation has only got

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Falling from grace

What is it that causes the mighty to fall? Why do so many of the ultra successful perish as a result of their own misjudgment? We take a look at some of the sufferers of this phenomenon of success You will not be surprised to hear that Sigmund Freud had a theory about this. In

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Victoria Beckham (aka Posh Spice)

Most people settle for one or two significant career changes over the whole of their working life. But you are becoming a post-modern icon by going from one career to three – all within a single year. Pop star and television personality; now you have become the queen of the catwalk. Only Barbie has had

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Leo Blair: This will be your life

Career advice for an infant is difficult at the best of times, but Leo, you’re already off to a very fine start. Your problem will not be being loved too little and ignored. Or having a slightly unusual name – pity instead Brooklyn Beckham, Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon (Madonna’s first child) and Lucas Morad Jagger

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Starting an enterprise

Entrepreneur: in the last 12 months that word has taken a bit of a battering. It is a word seldom seen without the prefix ‘dotcom’, and automatically brings to mind the champagne-toting, get-rich-quick schemes of Boo and its confrères. ‘I saw an article in the Evening Standard the other day, saying the demise of the

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Reinventing yourself

Sometimes, in order to change your career, you need to change yourself. There are many ways to do this – from attending a course or picking up a new skill to the wholesale reinvention of your character, appearance and attitude. So how far should you go?

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A Square Meal in the Square Mile

Calling all those who are absolutely dependent on a fine lunch to see them through the day. Patrick ‘Sir Lunchalot’ Tolhurst (with his fellow members of the round table) has gone forth and eaten, and here presents the definitive guide to what food in the city is worth your hard-earned buck. What an enormous task

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Workaholism

W.E. Oates claims to have invented the term workaholism in his 1971 book, Confessions of a Workaholic, when he defined it as an ‘addiction to work, the compulsion or the uncontrollable need to work incessantly’. But though it seems a recent phenomenon, brought about by the relentless pace of modern civilisation, in reality workaholics have

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Dealing with mistakes

So you’ve accidentally put salt in the client’s coffee. Or you’ve pressed the ‘delete everything’ button on your PC. In the words of the late, lamented Douglas Adams, Don’t Panic! Handling mistakes is as important an aspect of work experience as any. ‘Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new’, Albert

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