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Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft London partner Samantha Hutchinson highlights the challenges for working mothers in the legal profession and how the firm supports women and promotes diversity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the top 10 social trends that are driving new business opportunities. It explains the link between urbanization and smaller households, the impact of busy schedules and long working hours on consumers, and the blur between online and offline life. It explores opportunities from the self-obsession of consumers with information about the products they are buying, smartphone penetration, and customers' demand for better value for money.

The article shows how better transport, improving Internet connections and flexible working arrangements help business owners and professionals work in rural and regional communities in Australia. Visual Expanse founders Alex Creed and Kirsty Rix experienced business growth when they moved to a small town in New South Wales. Sinclair Black, who owns a production firm in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, takes advantage of Internet and phone for communication and digital dropboxes.

The article discusses the investment in race horses by rich people and entrepreneurs in Australia. It relates the story of how taxi driver and part-time racehorse trainer Joe Janiak became rich after investing in Takeover Target, which became a champion sprinter. It explores the implications of The High Court ruling in March 2012 which mandates all bookmakers taking bets on races in New South Wales (NSW) to give 1.5% of turnover to Racing NSW.

The article highlights the efforts of employers in Australia to comply with the Fair Work regime, as they criticise the legislation for being inflexible and unclear. The major complaints of employers about the Fair Work Act centers on award modernisation and the compliance burden for dismissals. Several businesses have complained that the regime has made flexible working more difficult to implement.

The article discusses the 55-year old Sydney to Hobart yacht race in Australia. The race has attracted more than its fair share of "BRW" Rich 200 members such as Bob Oatley, Neville Crichton and Peter Kurts. The article also informs that the race has been haunted by the scepter of six lives lost since 1998 but still the race has morphed into a magnet for the most determined of Australis's business elite.

The article offers information on how to prevent staff termination or how to do it in an acceptable way. Nigel O'Neil's redundancy work required him to fire staff of a small garment finishing business on a Christmas Eve without thinking twice. Ten years after learning of the bad impacts of his actions he now break the bad news to people in a sensitive manner.

The article reports on how industrial designer James Dyson became a notable figure in industrial engineering. Dyson designed a sea truck during the early 1970s before focusing on vacuum cleaners in 1978. His "G-force" bagless, dual cyclone vacuum cleaner was released in 1983. In 2005, his machines had overtaken Hoover as the number one selling vacuum cleaners in the U.S.

The article profiles Brett Godfrey, former chief executive officer (CEO) of Australian airline, Virgin Australia. Despite stepping down as CEO of Virgin, Godfrey has remained a board member of Canadian airline Westjet and Auckland Airport and co-owns resorts in Makepeace Island in Noosa and in Tasmania. Under Godfrey's leadership, Virgin produced a turnover of over 1.7 billion Australian dollars within five years. When he left Virgin, it accounted for 20 percent of the domestic airline market.

The article looks into the capacity of digital pinboard and online photo-sharing platform Pinterest to drive traffic from retailers and enterprising companies. Lorna Jane digital strategist Sam Zivot compares Pinterest with social networking site Facebook as media for business. Social@Ogilvy senior digital strategist Roger Christie point to Facebook as the leading media in terms of attracting a broad audience and captive audience.

The article discusses the issues that arise when business partners are in conflict and how to prevent or avoid them. It claims that strategies like good forward planning, open communication and the use of a business coach or external review can prevent such business disputes. The opinion of Australian Fresh Leaf Herb owner and co-founder Jan Vydrin on the subject is also cited.

The article offers information on the significance and role of chief digital officers. According to Heidrick and Struggles partner Meg Ambrose, companies vary in structuring chief digital officers from the technology department, to marketing. It is said that a chief digital officer will be appointed to improve a company's command of digital infrastructure and the way in which it connects with its clients and consumers.

The article discusses the implications of imposter syndrome, a feeling experienced by some professionals who ooze self-confidence but secretly feel like a fraud and are waiting to be found out, for professionals. A survey of managers carried out by the British Institute of Leadership and Management compared the self-doubt feeling of women and men. A number of ways are suggested to deal with imposter syndrome, including focusing on the positive and using strengths in all areas of life.

The article warns executives of the potential of positive attributes to turn into negative and derail careers and even performance in corporation. It cites the racially and sexually offensive Facebook updates by EnergyWatch co-owner and Chief Executive Ben Polis as a case of a phenomenal strength turning into a weakness. Qualities that can manifest negative force include being excitable and boldness. Emphasis is given on the importance of succession planning, continuous coaching and mentoring.

The article reveals how being a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) student at Australia's Melbourne Business School in the University of Melbourne gave Kate Lawrey the chance to figure out that what she wanted was project-based work in the pharmaceutical industry.

The article reports on the investigation into unpaid work focused on internships, work experience and trial work that will be launched by Australia's Fair Work Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson. Seamus Burke, a partner at law firm Middleton, explains the difficulty to ascertain who derives the benefit from an internship. The experiences of some interns show the endemic exploitation of interns throughout industries.

The article discusses the importance of facilitation to get everyone involved in a business project on the same page. The key role of a professional facilitator is to bring the group into alignment so that they are heading to the same goal. A facilitator will gather all stakeholders and will run the session in a manner that allows everyone to be heard. Besides managing egos and preventing potential flare ups between stakeholders, facilitation is said to create value.

The article discusses the pros and cons of using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) psychosometric test in human resources (HR). It addresses the MBTI's enabling of the categorization of people into internationally recognized and understood character types. Several aspects of the test that may hinder its usefulness in a professional context are also explored, including face validity and a whole self orientation.

The article discusses what senior management members in Australia would want to say to their staff if they could. Earth Heat Resources managing director Tory Marshall talks about how we would like to tell his staff to stop complaining. Chinalco Yunnan Copper Resources managing director Jason Beckton says he wishes he could tell workers to stop wasting money and time on peripheral issues. Kelly + Partners founder Brett Kelly says he wants his staff to grow personally and socially.

The article profiles Chris Nassetta, chief executive officer (CEO) of Hilton Worldwide. Nassetta is responsible for 4,000 hotels in 93 countries. He has been credited with reducing Hilton's debt of 16 billion dollars by 750,000 dollars as of April 12012 and is expected to lower it further to 14.5 billion dollars by the end of the year. According to Nassetta, improving conditions at the Hilton are due to the U.S. economic recovery and the 2010 debt restructure engineered by Blackstone.