Mentor extraordinaire

HERE possibly isn't a more prolific octogenarian around than John Bittleston, nor one with brighter shirts or a more inventive mind. The 85-year-old British businessman is business mentor and career coach to executives - several thousands to date, over the past 25 years. At the same time, he pens, every other day or so, thought-provoking nuggets of wisdom on, as his Daily Paradox column is billed, "life, work and everything else that makes the world go round". And usually in the wee hours - "Four o'clock in the morning is a very good time; you're really full of beans then," he tells BT.

In a post on the need to analyse with an eye on the future too, not just the past, he set several posers, such as :

Any one week could find him talking about muddled meetings one day, and then about human rights, or green energy, or interacting with robots, or "deep words and mealy-mouthing" the next.