I was driving to a Christmas party yesterday in a suburb of London following the instruction on the car's navigation system. We came up to a traffic lights and the navigation system told me to turn right, which in England means going against the ongoing traffic. You either wait for a space or a filter on the traffic light which I would ordinarily do.

Instead because I was being told to turn right I did so - and went straight across the oncoming traffic. Fortunately I was looking and  there was space and the worst that happened was we got hooted at. I didn't even break the road traffic laws because you could turn right as long as there was space, ad there was. But we were lucky.

However I am sure that if I was not following the satnav directions I would have stopped and waited for a longer gap. How many times have we followed somebody else's counsel for our actions knowing in our heart we should not do so. It can be difficult if say our boss or some other figure in authority is telling us to do something. But the lesson for me here is always listen to that small voice inside you and stand up to what you know is the wrong way to take the turn.

One of the greatest mistakes in law and business is too over complicate issues. Instead of dealing with the clear and obvious points at issue there is a natural tendency to assume everything is really more difficult than it truly is.

Great presenters keep their message on involved and intricate points of law or professional practice straightforward and to the point cutting through all the verbiage.

When all about you are losing their heads in a welter of facts and circumstances apply the "KISS" principle and find  a way through.

I received some very good practical advice this week. If in a business meeting somebody becomes abusive or starts shouting - make notes. In fact make a point of writing down everything that is said, swear words and all. Even ask for particular phrases to be repeated or ask for the correct spelling!

Firstly it's very hard to shout at somebody when they are assiduously making notes and secondly it really doesn't look good later when the details of the offensive language are repeated in the cold light of day.

What the cricketers could do is to record the sledging and play it back later for the media. Or even better mike the umpires so it can all be heard on live TV. More civilized behavior would soon follow. The same incidentally would probably be true in football if we could here exactly what was said to the referees.

How often in a contract negotiation or in a strategy discussion on the future direction of a business is the one truly vital issue everybody should focus on ignored.

It's great to have the best negotiated contract protecting risk and with lots of tough indemnities, but if this agreement does not foster the environment in which service delivery will be successful then it may not be worth the copious pages it is written on.

Similarly when trying to create a new business plan for a professional services firm focusing on new service products it might be a very good idea to find out what clients want first. It's no good developing a new service if nobody wants it. I once heard of a large technology firm being described as living in a circular walled enclosure working on new products which it would "throw over the wall" and see if anybody wanted them. Very hit or miss.

These big "missing things" are the elephant in the room, described quite succinctly on Wikipedia as  "an English metaphorical idiom  for an obvious truth that is either being ignored or going unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss.It is based on the idea that an elephant  in a room would be impossible to overlook; thus, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there have chosen to avoid dealing with the looming big issue."

It might be a good idea to take stock occasionally and check we are not missing something blindingly obvious.