So I've got this idea for a new business. Well, not a new business exactly - more of a new line for the current business. I actually came up with it on the way back to London after Christmas, but as soon as I got back into the office I had to put it on the backburner because there was so much else going on. But I haven't forgotten it - and the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced it could work. What I can't decide is: is this the worst time ever to start a business, or is it the best?

I suppose to the average punter, starting a business now would sound like a stupid idea. The economy's in a mess, perfectly good small firms are going to the wall everywhere you look, and you've got more chance of finding Elvis than you have of getting a decent bank loan. There's also a good argument to say that now, more than ever, you need to be focusing on what you do best ('keep the main thing the main thing', as Mr Innocent says). Put it this way: I'm not sure many strategy consultants would tell me that now’s the time to be branching out and trying something new (not that they're generally big on risky ventures, even at the best of times).

And yet... I can't help thinking there's another way of looking at it. If firms are disappearing, and everyone's concentrated on holding onto what they've got, there has to be an opportunity there. Has to be. And if you’re in the fortunate position of having a decent pipeline of business, and a bit of cash in the bank, as we have, surely you should be one of the people trying to take advantage? People do have money to spend, if you get your offering right. And all things considered, I’d rather they gave it to me.

It’s never that easy getting advice about new business ideas – I’m always a bit wary about asking people’s opinion, in case they either don’t get it (and end up putting me off unnecessarily), or like it so much that they pinch it. And it’s particularly bad at the moment, because people are so obsessed with the credit crunch – all of the friends I’ve mentioned it to think it’s a stupid idea (particularly since it’s more of a product than a service, so a bit out of my comfort zone).

Besides, ultimately it boils down to whether you think it’s a risk worth taking. And by definition, entrepreneurs’ attitude to risk isn’t the same as your average punter, so there’s not much point asking them. Personally, I like to roll the dice every now and again – or I wouldn't be doing this. And just because the stakes are higher at the moment, that’s no reason to stay out of the game, right?

I read an article this week (possibly on MT, in fact (indeed - Ed)) suggesting that people like me are actually nothing like as good at interviewing as we think we are. And it really made me nervous. You see, I've always thought I was pretty hot on the old interviewing front - but I said something to a candidate the other day that I'm now convinced is going to get me sued...

Now just to be clear, I don't normally get in a tizzy about random news stories. And I don't have many hang-ups on this front. As a talent-spotter, I like to think of myself as a nice, female version of Simon Cowell – Cheryl Cole with an MBA, basically. OK, so I've made the odd hire that hasn't worked out - I suspect we all have. But generally speaking, it hasn't been for reasons that should have been evident during the interview process.

I also didn't buy some of the reasons the report gave for why we're over-rating ourselves. For instance, the authors seemed horrified by the number of people who were worried about missing a candidate's inherent weakness. Now I ask you, what kind of sensible person comes out of an interview not worrying about that? You'd have to be either spectacularly arrogant, or painfully naive.

They were also horrified by the proportion who felt they might not have enough information to make a decision. This one's even crazier. In an ideal world, before you hire someone you wouldn't just talk to their last employer - you'd also talk to their best friend, their mother, their dog, and the girl they really hated in school - not to mention checking out their MySpace, Friends Reunited and Facebook pages. Let's face it: unless you do the kind of privacy-invading background check that would make MI5 nervous, you're always going to be making a hiring decision on incomplete information. All you can really do is trust your gut instinct that there wouldn't be any nasty surprises if you did all this stuff (an approach that the authors of this survey would probably consider reprehensible).

However, their stuff about asking dubious questions is different. For instance, I saw this candidate for final round this week - she was very nice, but not quite right. Anyway, as she was leaving, I happened to notice that this girl, who was probably in her late 20s, was wearing a very beautiful and very new-looking wedding ring (I tend to notice such things, largely because it makes me self-conscious about the lamentable absence of such accoutrements on my own left hand). So without thinking, I just blurted out: 'Oh, have you just got married?'

Now there was absolutely no calculation or ulterior motive behind this at all. I was basically just making conversation - and I'd already decided what I thought of her during the interview, so it would have made no difference to my decision one way or the other. And to be fair, she just smiled and said she'd got married before Christmas. But my HR manager was horrified – in her eyes, I might as well have said: ‘You’ve just got married – are you planning to stitch me up by taking this job and immediately vanishing on maternity leave, you money-grabbing harlot?’ So I’m now terrified that she’s going to sue me when I don’t give her the job.

It wouldn’t be so bad if I had any confidence that a tribunal would be sensible about this, and give you the benefit of the doubt. But it seems to me that the system is massively weighted in favour of interviewees, and against employers – particularly small businesses, who don’t have the resources to fight these claims. It’s an absolute minefield. No more post-interview small talk for me...

A few people asked me this week how I normally deal with flexible working, given our discussion last week about snowed-in staff working from home. Well, I have a confession to make: I know it's not very progressive for me to admit to this, but I really don't like it. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that my heart sinks every time someone brings the subject comes up.

It's not that I don't trust people to work hard when they're away from my steely glare. Well, ok - it's precisely that, in some cases. I was only thinking the other day about one person in particular - now very much an ex-employee - who used to develop a sudden obsession with home-working every time England were playing a cricket series (then again, he spent the whole time following it online when he was in the office, so I suppose it's as broad as it's long). When people see flexible working as a synonym for 'working in front of the TV in pyjamas', it’s always going to end in tears.

But it's actually more that I just like having everyone in one place. I know that these days you can email, and phone, and IM, and webcast, and Skype, and Twitter, and so on - indeed, there have never been more ways to keep in touch. I just find everything so much easier when you can see people react in real-time, rather than at 30 frames a minute; where you can have a conversation without that annoying delay I always get in conference calls and web conferences. Basically, I just like speaking to people in person. I suppose Google would probably argue that this makes me a bit of an old-fashioned freak these days.

There's also a team element: I don't care what anyone says, it's a hell of a lot easier to foster a spirit of collaboration when everyone's in the same room – no matter how good a manager you are. It's also much easier to gauge the general mood, to assess what people are good at, and to nip problems in the bud (there's always a chance that flexible working will lead to resentments, which is one headache I can do without just at the moment). And better still, if more people are in the office, I have more people to make me coffee.

That said, I do appreciate the principle behind flexible working. I know that if I don't offer it, I'm effectively discriminating against particular sections of the workforce - not least, women with children. I don't have children (or even any prospect of conceiving them, at the moment), but I can tell you now that there’s no chance of me packing in work to spend my days baking cakes. On the assumption that plenty of other women feel the same, I want to give them the chance to work for me. Besides, it’s a win-win - offering flexible working is popular with staff, and cheap to implement, so I’d be crazy not to.

But even so, I can’t help wishing the Government wasn't forcing us all to expand it this year, of all years...

First of all, apologies for being such a miserable cow last week. In retrospect, it occurred to me that whingeing about the general state of gloom was only going to add to the general state of gloom. Not very bright. Still, the good news is that I'm a lot more cheerful this week - and it's all to do with the great British weather...

You see, I love snow. Ever since I was little, I've always thought there was something magical about waking up one morning and seeing the world suddenly covered by a fresh white blanket; I've always adored the sensation of fresh powder crunching under your feet, and the exhilaration on people's faces as they run around in this strange new land. I suppose us Brits are obsessed with the weather at the best of times – so when it actually does something interesting for once, we're bound to get a bit over-excited.

Sadly, I'm no longer five years old – I'm a proper grown-up, with day-to-day responsibility for the professional lives of several other grown-ups (not to mention a very small portion of the UK's economic output). So, although all I really wanted to do on Monday morning was rush out to the nearest park and build a giant snowman, I had to spend the first few hours in organisational mode. Unfortunately, there was no chance of me getting into the office, since every conceivable mode of public transport was out of action - and much though I admire that guy who hiked 18 miles into work, there was no chance of me doing the same.

For one thing, it's a waste of valuable working time. With a laptop and an internet connection at home, I can get through just as much work there as I can in the office (more, probably). So I did that, and instructed any similarly-equipped staff to do the same. As always, there's an element of trust involved – particularly on this occasion, since any computer-less colleagues who couldn't make it into the office effectively got the day off. Since I couldn't think of any way round this, I decided not to worry too much about the prospect of any of them spending the whole day having mass snowball fights with the local schoolkids.

And to be honest, I didn't begrudge them it anyway. It's not easy to come up with something that will give a simultaneous lift to your entire workforce – and I think that Monday (either because people enjoyed the snow, or because they got an unexpected extra day of weekend) did exactly that. I know I came back into work the next day with a big smile on my face, and I wasn't the only one. A bit of time spent embracing our inner five-year-olds was just what the doctor ordered.

Of course, the only downside of snow is that two days later it turns into a ugly pile of black ice and slush, which is good for nothing except ruining your new Uggs (a Thursday casualty). Let's hope my newfound optimism takes a little longer to evaporate.

secretdiary@managementtoday.com