We’ve all experienced moments when we feel at a loss for words. Your boss criticizes your work. A customer demands a discount. Your presentation gets off on the wrong foot and tempers flare. Every time, you’re left thinking, I wish I had been able to think of just the right thing to say to that person! What should I have said? Andrew Sobel says that no interaction, regardless of how tough, is ever completely lost. He suggests transforming tough conversations—and the relationships they affect—by asking a few power questions.

Nobody’s perfect. What quality or ability do you wish you had?

There is no specific change I would wish to make to myself with the possible exception that I wish I could be single-minded and selfish sometimes and put my own interests before the collective. I would have been crooked less, been disappointed in my fellow man less and certainly have lost less money!

What is the best business book you have ever read, and why?

Retailers and brands are using music and multimedia in ever-more innovative ways to breathe new life into their stores and attract more customers.

It is well known that music plays a role in the total shopping experience, but it can also be an important tool in creating a memorable identity for specific retail brands, as well as giving stores a new role in a multi-channel sales environment.

Every organisation should be drawing on the skills and strength of those individuals who can engage, inspire and motivate with ease.

It may be hard for many leaders to picture what their role will be like in, say, five years’ time. Try visualising what the company structure you lead may look like in 2017. Corporate structures are evolving at such a pace, frequently over-shadowed by the uncertain state of the economy, that it is little wonder many business leaders these days don’t even attempt to project that far ahead.

Rolls-Royce has won a contract worth more than £1 billion to deliver reactor cores for the UK’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

The contract from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) includes regeneration of Rolls-Royce’s current submarine reactor core manufacturing facility in Derby, UK. Rolls-Royce said it will introduce the latest technology and manufacturing techniques to deliver increased efficiencies, completing a phased rebuild to provide a “leading-edge manufacturing facility with the highest standards of safety”.

With Eskom no longer having the sole responsibility for electricity generation in South Africa, new independent providers are moving into the market. Cennergi, one of the most recent entrants, is setting itself ambitious targets.

While Europe continues to dominate the agenda, Mexico has achieved a couple of milestones today in th einterbational arena.

The G20 conference taking place in Los Cabos, Mexico today and tomorrow is the first time the summit has been held in Latin America, a region currently enjoying better growth than most developed economies.

Netherlands-based construction company Ballast Nedam has joined forces with Microbeton to form a new joint venture, Concrete Valley, it has been announced.

The new venture, which will focus on specialised solutions in the concrete industry, consists of two companies, Waco Lingen Beton (a Ballast Nedham company) and Microbeton, which develops and manufactures lightweight ferrocement products.

This is a crucial weekend for Greece, Europe and the rest of the world.

Greece goes to the polls on Sunday for the second time in six weeks, with the distinct possibility that the government that emerges from the election may reject the austerity conditions attached to the bailouts it has received from the Eurozone.

Liberty Gold Corp. has acquired a 60 percent interest McCord Creek Property gold project in central Alaska's Tolovana Mining District.

Liberty Gold will be the project's operator.

The McCord Creek project comprises 14 State mining claims located 70 miles northwest of Fairbanks in the Tintina Gold Belt, which has produced nearly 30 million ounces of gold to date and has experienced accelerated gold exploration, development, and mining activity over the years.