The best advice i ever got … Business is about relationships. the worst advice i got … I was once told that great creative ideas emerge from conflict. Don’t underestimate … The importance of being obsessive about customer  

A surprising number of people on Desert Island Discs have a fondness for Yale mathematics professor Tom Lehrer’s zany satirical songs with such titles as ‘The Old Dope Peddler’, the last line of which is ‘doing well by doing good’

We need more case histories of brand failures, says Rory Sutherland

Kamil Michlewski explains how offering too many channels discourages customers from using any of them

David Nichols reflects on Japanese women, earthquakes and ad agencies

How does your brand sound? MICHAEL BAYLER

Attitudes and behaviour refuse to follow logical patterns, says Melanie Howard

The opportunity for women in the marketing and advertising community to earn a place in the boardroom is still relatively untapped, but several recent initiatives should make it easier. Janet Hull reports

If any CEO knows about marketing’s contribution to success it is Tesco’s ex-marketing director, Sir Terry Leahy. Here, he urges marketers to take advantage of these difficult times

Agencies have always liked to think of themselves as partners but Derek Day questions just how realistic this is.