>Home>On the bench>David Brent's wisdom

• What does a squirrel do in the summer? It buries nuts. Why? Cos then in winter time he's got something to eat and he won't die. So, collecting nuts in the summer is worthwhile work. Every task you do at work think, would a squirrel do that? Think squirrels. Think nuts.

• When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question: "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"

• Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.

• If work was so good, the rich would have kept more of it for themselves.

• There may be no 'I' in team, but there's a 'ME' if you look hard enough.

• Too much ambition results in promotion to a job you can't do.

• Set out to leave the first vapour trail in the blue-sky scenario.

• A problem shared is a problem halved, so is your problem really yours or just half of someone else’s?

• Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them.