Flirting for business success, not just sex

FLIRTING should be encouraged at work, according to the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce.

Tomorrow, chamber members are invited to a Flirt for Success workshop. The chamber, which represents 1,700 companies with a combined turnover of more than 4 billion, said: "Flirting is not just about sex, it's about relationships, full stop."

Mel Harris, director of the Training Tree, the organisation that will host the workshop, said: "The art of flirting is all about making others feel good and to do that you have to feel good too."

The session will encourage people to interact more with customers, suppliers and colleagues. Harris added: "With a hell of a lot of flirting it's about building relationships. People engage with people, not products and services. To be interesting to others you have to be interested in them.

"That is the art of flirting."

FACT OF THE DAY: 30,000

THE amount of carbon dioxide, in tonnes, that this week's G8 summit in Germany will produce, as the world's most powerful leaders negotiate ways to tackle climate change, according to ClimatePartner. The three-day summit will produce about a third of the emissions caused by the month-long football World Cup in Germany last year.

KILLER QUOTE

THE Scottish Executive is beginning to set out its new approach to the economy. SCDI looks forward to a constructive debate on how to achieve the improved economic performance we all want."

Alan Wilson, Scottish Council for Development and Industry chief executive

GOOD DAY

Randall Stephenson

THE 47-year-old becomes chief executive of AT&T, America's largest telecoms provider, only weeks before the launch of the Apple iPhone, for which his company will be the exclusive supplier.

BAD DAY

KKR & Co

THE private equity group, midway through an 11 billion takeover of Alliance Boots, is facing the prospect of court action from Boot's pension scheme trustees, who claim the pension requires a 1 billion top-up.