This is a question we may find ourselves asking frequently. Or indeed, another way of approaching it is - am I an easy person to be around? Because let’s face it, upbeat and optimistic people are easier to be around.

At the beginning of the holidays one summer, after a long year, I stumbled across Anna Karenina. All 800 pages. You may have read or heard about it.

A true friend supports and helps us through the ups and downs in life; someone who is there for us not only when the going gets tough, but also in times of joy. 

I think there are only a small number of people who can embrace conflict and welcome it with open arms. Instead, most of us want to run at the first hint of a conflict. Conflict however is an integral part of everyday relations. It is endemic in every society and like everything else in life has a good and a bad side to it. However, conflict, when used wisely, can provide a huge opportunity for change and development.

What about our own ordinary situation of work, which may be far from the walls of creative and innovative businesses? Is there room for the creative impulse? And even more relevant - is there time in the day to develop and foster it? Or is it just a daydream?

Manners are an integral part of all cultures, and every culture has its set of codes of behaviours that they deem apposite or acceptable. Manners are proper to humans; animals don’t know too much about manners unless they have been trained by a human.