By following these 4 steps you will be doing more than most people ever do to control a negotiation.

1. Determine your position. What will you ask for specifically? Be careful not to over ask, you'll look like you are trying to take advantage of the other side and that may destroy truth and future relationship. Your position is the ideal solution from your point of view for resolution of the issue.

The world's wealth is not distributed evenly; whilst bonus-banking bosses are sitting aboard luxury yachts in the med, hungry children are walking five miles to get a cup of rice for the family to share. While the public masses invest in the latest Xbox offering, there are families around the world that attempt to keep warm around a single fire in a derelict apartment block.

The best time to bid your corporate insurance program is when the market is good for purchasers (defined as a soft market). The next best time is when the market is difficult for purchasers (defined as a hard market).

We are presently in a soft market for commercial insurance. This may change with the current upheaval in the financial markets.

How would you like to have a simple way to judge the overall health of a company that you are examining?

It is a known fact that happy, healthy employees do not have workers' compensation claims or on-the-job injuries.

Here is how

The way to tell the general health of any company is to obtain the Experience Modification Factor (E-Mod or EXP MOD) for the past five years.

Much of our work today depends on our ability to influence groups of people we lead or work with on projects. Groups are made up of many personalities, mindsets, motives, and agendas - some explicit and others hidden - so having a specific strategy for influencing teams can mean the difference between success and failure.

To successfully lead a group or team, consider the following do's and don'ts.

Public relations is no longer something that just happens; how a company or corporation is perceived in the public eye, particularly in the eye of the company's shareholders or potential customers, isn't something that's left to chance. Companies have entire departments and large budgets in place to ensure that they will be viewed in a positive light by the public.

There is an old saying in the West that says that if the preacher talks too much about stealing, better sneak out a little early, race home and lock the cellar!

The same holds for the good old boy that says, Ah, we don't need to have a contract. You can trust me. The most innocent reasons for putting something in writing are that frankly each of us forgets, changes our minds or some folk just plain lie!

Robert Ringer famously said in the 70's, If you have it in writing, you have a prayer.

First, avoid credit counsellors, stay away from credit counselling agencies, some of which are being investigated for fraud or have ties to credit-card companies.

When financial disaster strikes, lives are shattered, jobs disrupted, and properties destroyed, marriages breakdown and on top of all that you've got an income problem and need a money fix.

If you're drowning in debt, you are already well aware that it can really make life difficult. This is simply because these debt collection companies hunt you down like a pack of hyenas. No one likes to talk to these skunks but sometimes doing so can be beneficial.

Avoid Debt Councillors, some are fraudsters and many are in league with credit card companies.

I don't usually recommend refinancing to pay off credit cards, unless you've got the sense not to throw your money away again. In 2007, homeowners spent a cash mountain, (more than $190 billion), from second mortgages to pay off credit cards and other debt. At the same time, trillions of dollars, (another cash mountain), worth of home equity has been tapped to make home improvements and buy second homes.