Contributors, November 2009

ALISON MAITLAND: The writer of our piece on bosses and daughters is co-author of Why Women Mean Business, just out in paperback. Like the captains of industry she spoke to for her MT article, Maitland has daughters. 'My two teenagers give me lots of useful insights,' she says. 'Except when they're blanking me.'

SIMON CAULKIN: His longstanding Observer column on the foibles of Anglo-Saxon management fell victim to a media squeeze caused by ... Anglo-Saxon management. Caulkin worries France is taking the same route. But happily, differences remain: such as the French ability to build high-speed rail services that run on time.

HELEN KIRWAN-TAYLOR: A week at a yoga retreat in which mobiles and BlackBerrys were banned forced MT regular Kirwan-Taylor to quit multi-tasking - the subject of her feature. 'I can now think in straight lines, and even remember what I thought yesterday,' she says. 'My children were dead impressed.'