The setting: a discussion I was leading recently with a group of senior managers.

The issue: their complaint that they spend too much time on internal bureaucracy, and (as a result) not enough looking after their customers.

My contribution: “has anyone heard of Janus?”

They looked blank, so I carefully wrote the word up on the flipchart: JANUS. In block capitals. Where it remained, to my great delight, for the remainder or the workshop.

(Clearly, I was talking about the Roman god, whose two faces look in opposite directions – rather like said managers, forever trying to focus both internally and externally. Any suggestion that I might have been referring to the famous Soho spanking shop or the magazine of the same name would be entirely misplaced. But I was a little disappointed that none of the ladies in the discussion blushed and squirmed uncomfortably in their seats).