We all want to believe that practicing good ethics in both our personal and professional lives is the right thing to do; that we should not wrong, cheat, or defraud others. The reality though is we have allowed unscrupulous ethical practices to creep into our lives like a vine that starts at the root and, if left unchecked, slowly climbs the tree and eventually strangles it. The current recession is indicative of how we are all having to pay a hefty price for ethical corruption, e.g.; companies are closing, people are out of work, houses have been foreclosed, retirement funds are depleted causing people to work longer and creating a crowded job market for young people to enter. Some would say the recession is a simple matter of economics and nothing else. Nonsense.

We've been reading about the future in Skype.  Not about horoscopes, but about figuring out what might happen in the future.  Here's an article from John Prytz about the concept of Futurology.

Prophecy isn't all balderdash. I make this prophecy that the Sun will rise tomorrow morning in New York City! I also make this prophecy that New York City will experience at least one thunderstorm between May and September 2011. Further, I'll make another prophecy that there will be at least one murder in New York City in the month of June, 2011. But, if I make a prediction that aliens will invade New York City in 2011; some New Yorkers will experience the Biblical Rapture in 2011; or that planetary alignments suggest that 90% of couples living in Manhattan will divorce in 2011, well you'd call that balderdash. So, what's the dividing line between making balderdash prophecies and making sensible predictions?

I make some serious marketing mistakes. And a big one is not implementing what I already know. I read a lot, buy online programs, attend seminars and yet I implement a fraction of what I've learned.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that you don't have to implement a lot to be outrageously successful. You just have to implement a few things consistently. And I've seen many Independent Professionals focus on one area of marketing and grow their businesses brilliantly.

An interview is simply a tool used by a potential employer to assess a candidate's ability to perform a role. The interview will normally be the first time that the employer has the opportunity to meet you. They need to assess whether or not you have the qualities to perform the role competently, the experience that you have so far in a similar role, and also whether they like you as a person and whether you are likely to fit into the team environment. It is also your chance to find out if you want to work for the company, so it is a two-way process.

There are different kinds of interviews though, and some jobs will require more than one, and there may be more than one interview, so it's just as well to be prepared for this eventuality.

Human nature is funny. Put a person in a room with a "specialist" and they tend to want a little bit of free advice. My friend Robin, a lawyer, says whenever she goes to a party someone usually asks for a little legal advice. My friend Steven, a doctor, says it's always "By the way Doc, I've got this pain..." And me, the Customer Care Coach, I get the customer abuse stories. It's hard for people to resist telling me the last time they got left by the airline, or the last time a bank teller ignored them

As a working mum I run my own business, and keeping everything up in the air takes military precision and timing. Everyone can benefit from getting themselves organised at home and at work.

Here are my top 10 work tips:-