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Discusses leaders in the field of aviation throughout the twentieth century. Difficulties in seeking fortune in airlines and airline manufacturing; Juan Trippe, who was chief executive officer of Pan American Airlines and handled all United States overseas air routes; Example of C.R. Smith of American; Fred Smith's Federal Express Corp., now known as FedEx; Herb Kelleher's Southwest Airlines. INSET: Wing Nuts.

Discusses Compaq's decision to fire chief executive officer (CEO) Eckhard Pfeiffer. Ben Rosen, who sits as chairman of the board for Compaq; Why Pfeiffer was fired, including loss in profits; Details of his time as CEO; Achievements; Mention of executives who left as a result of Pfeiffer, including chief strategist Robert Stearns; Pfeiffer's suggestion that aggressive pricing by IBM caused Compaq's woes; Comparison to other personal computer (PC) companies. INSET: Andy Grove: The PC Industry Won't Be the PC Industry.

Focuses on Barry Diller, chief executive officer of USA Networks. His demeanor; Career history; His increase of the companies market capitalization; His plans to merge the Home Shopping Network (HSN) and certain other assets with Internet portal Lycos; His intention of owning a network; Changes in the business of network television over history; Criticism of Diller; His comments on business strategy.

Highlights Dell Computer and its chief executive officer, Michael Dell. The success of the company; Where the company ranks in return on stockholders; The rise in the stock price; Dell being the winner in the personal computer wars as of late-April 1998; Where the company's competitors stand, including Compaq, IBM and Hewlett-Packard; Details about Dell International; Performance on Wall Street. INSET: Sharing the Dell wealth, by Jeanne Lee.

Focuses on the problems faced by what would have been the biggest casino in the world in New Orleans, Louisiana. Early revenue projections for the casino; The project becoming bankrupt; Hope that a scaled back version of the casino will be operating by 1999. INSETS: THE MONEY PIT;Lunching With Edwin.

Focuses on Ron Carey, chief of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters labor union. Charges made against Carey that have ranged from questionable real estate deals to alleged Mafia connections; Controversy surrounding Carey's reelection as union boss, including illegal contributions from the union's treasury. INSET: A rogue's gallery..

Offers advice to baby boomers in the U.S. on how to prepare for their retirement. Problems to be faced by the boomers when they retire; Feasibility of investing in property; Usefulness of investing in a long-term healthcare policy; Practicability of investing in the stock market.

Discusses the recreation in the 1980s and 1990s of Mexico's annual Carrera Panamericana car race. The original running from the 1930s to 1950s; Focus on the 1997 race; The race running along the Mexican stretch of the Pan-American Highway, from Tuxtla Gutierrez to Reynosa; The use of car models in the 1990s which were in existence at the time of the original race.

Looks at the feuding of the Koch brothers, sons of Fred C. Koch, founder of Koch Industries. The size of their family fortune; Colorful private agendas with which they have been involved; Accusations they make against one another; Details on Bill Koch's efforts to get $1 billion from his brothers; Questions about non-financial motives for Bill in his quest for the money.

Discusses a term called market value added, or MVA. How MVA looks at how much a company's stock has fattened or impoverished investors' pocketbooks over its life, and compares it with the capital those investors have spent; Details on another Wall Street favorite called economic value added, or EVA; Listing of 1000 companies, along with MVA rank for 1991, 1995 and 1996; EVA; Capital ; Return on capital; Cost of capital.

Details the rise and fall of Bill Agee, former CEO of Morrison Knudsen Corp.--a bridge, dam, and factory builder based in Boise, Idaho. Career history; How Agee came to be CEO of Morrison Knudsen; Personal life; His marriage to Mary Cunningham; How Agee nearly wrecked the company and thoroughly destroyed his reputation as a corporate manager; Reaction to Bill and Mary Agee from the Boise community; Details of Agee's management mistakes.

Reports that failure may not be as bad as people think. Discusses how, from Walt Disney to Babe Ruth to General Electric's Jack Welch, history is littered with winners who have screwed up spectacularly. How a failure can actually benefit your career; How an ability to overcome mistakes and take risks is valued in the business world of the 1990s; High profile corporate failure stories. INSETS: 20 Famous Failures: Where They Are Now;Where Failures Get Fixed.

Reports that 1995 is the beginning of a global expansion of vast proportions where developing countries, not the usual elite club of rich nations, are leading the charge. How the largest developing economies will average an estimated 6% annual growth in GDP through 1996, more than double the rate of mature economies of North America, Japan, and Europe; The increase in debt as a percentage of GDP in mature economies. INSET: Canada's endangered bacon.

Asserts that the links between the corporate community and the Republican Party are weaker and more strained than ever. How business' influence has given away to ideology; How the Republican majority in Congress is dominated by small-business populists, anti-government conservatives, and the religious right; Implications for corporate America. INSETS: CEOs on the GOP presidential sweepstakes (poll results);Put on your helmets for the culture war.

Presents information on bear markets. Discussion on earnings that continue to surge, but high interest rates may imperil the current bull stock market; Focus on the decline in cash flow into domestic equity funds; Impact of higher interest rates in the growth potential of stocks; Details of corporate profit gains which were lagging behind the average of past recoveries.

Examines six specific mistakes made by managers chosen as the most important reasons behind corporate failure in the United States from a consensus of business experts. Business identity crisis; Failures of corporate vision; Mishandling of debt loads; Complacency and resistance to change; Focusing on the customer's needs; Low employee morale and hostility; Real-world examples; Advice from corporate turnaround experts.

Analyses the poll data by Marquette University professor Paul Reynolds, which indicates that more people are actively laboring to start their own business. Reasons that cause shift to self-employment; Aspiration for better quality of life by employee; Education level of people starting small business. INSET: A new twist in consulting..

Profiles the six new members that `Fortune' recently elected to the National Business Hall of Fame. Junior Achievement's sponsorship of the Hall of Fame; Robert F. McDermott of USAA; Stanley C. Gault of Rubbermaid Inc.; Walter H. Annenberg of Triangle Publications Inc.; W. Edwards Deming, an independent consultant; Levi Strauss; Rebecca Webb Lukens of Lukens Inc.; Hall of Fame roster of past laureates.

Discusses the reasons to control prices in the drug industry in the U.S. Significance of the drugs in the improvement of patients' health; Management of health care that encourages lower drug prices; Ways of generating the earnings by the drug companies; Expectations of pharmaceutical companies to thrive in a competitive environment.

States that labor leaders are offering companies a new deal: guarantee us work, and we'll work smarter, a reform spirit that seems to be spreading in the face of global competition. View of union traditionalists; Breadth and depth of reform movement; Effect of Democrats in office; Vanguard of the reform movement--Kenneth Coss, Jack Sheinkman, and Lynn Williams; Simple element of deals working well; Model of Xerox; Convincing the rank and file; Need to thrive.

Contends that the good news about American productivity, which is based in large part on labor flexibility, disguises three disquieting facts: US productivity is improving more slowly than before and slower than its rivals', American business needs to work on investing in people and innovation, and productivity growth in the service sector is sluggish. Probability insufficient investment has slowed productivity; The case of Rubbermaid; Incentives.

Reports that many homes for orphans raise kids with consistency, safety, and love--all rightful parts of childhood. Life for boys and girls who live in the Boys Town community, which is near Omaha, Nebraska; Comments from Chester Finn, a founder of the Edison Project; Circumstances that result in these children being placed in group homes.

Documents articles which mention the phrase `family values.' Factors which accounted for a 324 percent rise in the family values `index'; The failure of the administration of George Bush to say anything significant about the Los Angeles riots; Details of theory about the source of Mr. Bush's problems in this area of domestic policy.

Explains why the aerospace sector of the defense industry is poised in 1997 to have an economic boom. The demand from the US armed services for fighter aircraft; Four possible companies that will emerge as leaders in the industry; Lockheed Martin; The Boeing/McDonnell Douglas group; Raytheon/Hughes; Northrop Grumman.

Opinion. Argues that microchip manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will not be able to compete successfully against Intel over the long term. AMD's struggle to remain competitive; Its K6 processor, thought by many to be superior to Intel's Pentium Pro; The belief that Intel's lead in the microprocessor is too great to be seriously challenged.

Features various graphs and charts which depict how much information and information technology actually costs businesses and consumers. The difficulty in calculating the true costs of information technology; How the value of information itself is difficult to pinpoint; The cost of processing, storing and distributing information; The cost of producing information versus the cost of obtaining information; Corporate spending on info tech hardware.

Reflects on the tendency of liberal journalists and writers to make analogies between Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dicken's `A Christmas Carol.' Quotes from various articles; Paul Hyde in the Houston `Chronicle'; Why the author prefers the commentary of Michael Levin found in the December 1994 issue of `Free Market,' in which Levin defends the character of Scrooge.

Looks at some of the problems encountered when a 70-year-old man tried to get particular information from the Social Security Administration's toll free number. Discussion of how the information was more forthcoming when a group represented themselves as journalists; The steps to calculate your retirement benefits.

Presents information about Nexis search, which is an information storage and retrieval system. Information that the search was designed to turn up media commentary on the 300,000 dollars Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) loan made in 1986; Discussion on policies for regulation of money by the Small Business Administration; Cites the impact of the SBIC program regulations on the money lending processes.

Cites the study by Daniel S. Hamermesh (University of Texas at Austin) and Jeff E. Biddle (Michigan State) entitled `Beauty and the Labor Market,' which found that looks really do affect income. Germane to the emerging big issue: should ugly folks receive protection under the Americans With Disabilities Act; Description of the databases the authors are working with; Positive correlation of IQ to both appearance ratings and productivity; Other studies on this subject.

Focuses on the U.S. Supreme Court's desire to expand the law of sex discrimination. History of the law of sex discrimination; Expansion of the law in 1986 to cover "hostile environment" in the workplace; Discussion on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.