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The article discusses the positives of contingency planning as a way to deal with problematic situations by reducing the influence of variable outside factors. The author suggests that panic in stressful circumstances affects leaders’ decision making and gives examples from business, sports, and warfare. Attention, creativity, and adaptivity are outlined as important qualities for the successful planning of contingencies.

The article talks about the art of delegation at work or in an organization. Topics discussed include the varying virtues of micro- and macromanagement, the importance of autonomy especially at the lower levels of the command structure, and the role played by the ability of any assembly-line worker to stop the line in revolutionizing the way American automakers do business. Also mentioned is the link between the ability to delegate effectively and the ability to give credit to subordinates.

The article discusses successful business strategies for entrepreneurs beginning new companies after having initial success with a previous project. It stresses that business climate is always changing. It emphasizes that the key to effective business management lies in constantly adapting to the market. It provides the examples of Steve Jobs and Paul Brown to stress effective strategies.

The article discusses developments in the operation of technology firm AT&T as of early April 1996. It cites the move by the company to implement the first of 40,000 layoffs and examines its effects on the employee's morale. It claims that such move makes it hard for companies to generate loyalty, as well as maintain productivity and continuity in their operation.

Ponders how important it is for leaders to find a middle ground between the well-being of the people who work for them and the achievement of a goal. The ethical and practical costs to achieving a goal; The problems associated with worrying too much about your staff; How the desire to be loved is incompatible with effective leadership.

The author suggests quality as the first guiding principle to succeed or win. Topics discussed include how this principle, which was applied by the author in coaching the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League, helped the team to win the Super Bowl which was the result of their hard work to improve the quality of the team, and the challenge of attaining goals. Also mentioned is single and committed leadership which has to siphon off the pressure created by failure and frustration.

The article focuses on the use of intuition in the hiring process. It discussed the early career prospects of Joe Montana, who ended up being acclaimed by Joe Madden as the greatest quarterback ever. It mentioned the advantages of free agency. Also discussed are essential points to consider in hiring that includes trusting one's gut feeling, choosing based on the candidate's strength, and the importance of being able to re-evaluate and the willingness to correct a mistake once it has been made.

The article discusses crisis creation as a subtle problem in crisis control and which is more likely to occur in crisis-ready organizations. Included in the discussion are some reasons why people encourage chaos, the trickiness of the crisis creation situation, and how to look for signs of addicted troubleshooters. It also offers a list of what to do to the troublemaking trouble- shooters once pinpointed.

The article discusses various aspects of anger as a tool for motivating employees. Topics discussed include how San Francisco 49ers football team's quarterback Steve Young's anger after being benched by coach George Seifert helped the team win games, anger among talented employees dealing with highly competitive workplaces and outbursts as a means of relieving workplace tension.

The article discusses how leaders of organizations should deal with information. It emphasizes the importance of separating emotion from information and discusses the importance in leadership of knowing how and where to get information, developing and analyzing it, and knowing how to use it. Ways to minimize the effects of faulty information are suggested, such as identifying people whose information is more dependable and creating an intelligence network and sharpening its skills.

The article discusses the proper investment of praise for motivating people to action. Topics noted include the author's experience of making high demands on his players as a former football coach for the San Francisco 49ers team, motivation as the key to get people to respond well to demands, and the difficulty of managers to praise their employees publicly. The article mentions that the best time to recognize individual achievement is when morale is high in the organization.

The author reflects on the difficulty of handling creative people as one of the enduring aphorisms of management. Topics discussed include the key relationship of U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower with U.S. Army General Walter Bedell Smith, the need for creative staffers to understand that they have to package innovations to superiors, and the development of a controlling force that focuses on change that lasts.

The article discusses the new concept of change called "kicking the tripod." Topics include the need for the revitalization of doing things, existing in one's comfort zone of success, and the loss of the thrill that comes with great achievement. It also talks about an individual's feelings of redundancy and restlessness, a team's feeling of boredom with a leader's management style, and the importance of new challenges.

The author expresses his opinion on handling change for those who have been good at how they have been doing things. He declares that the true test of leadership is the manager's ability to adapt and be flexible to this type of situation. He adds that the challenge comes in being able to leave one's comfort zone. He believes radical change inevitably demands self-assessment.

The article explores how chief executive officers (CEOs) can lead their companies to survive problems and failures. Topics discussed include tendency of some managers to blame someone for failures instead of identifying the problem, importance of a reality check by seeking objective feedback from outsiders, and why managers should separate their concern for the group or individual employees from their assessment of reality.

Presents an interview with Roberto Hernandez, chairman of Banamex, Mexico's largest bank. Views of Hernandez about close organizations; Suggestions of Hernandez to foreign investors about investments and good returns; Prospects of derivatives market in Mexico.

The article discusses the seize-the-day attitude in business and its relation to success. According to the author, if one fails to take advantage of a business opportunity this doesn't necessarily mean that the crucial moment is gone and success is inevitably gone. Instead he thinks that businessmen should be prepared to act when the next good chance appears.

The article discusses how businesses succeed or fail after experiencing success. Topics include how success can become an obstacle to sustained success, the importance of dealing with distractions while trying to achieve goals, and how executives can deal with personnel problems after success. Also discussed is the importance of developing employees to replace employees who leave, how to assess the strengths of employees, and how self-satisfaction can lead to failure.

The article discusses the ability of chief executive officers (CEOs) to deal with talented individuals, who work for their companies and are referred to as stars, in order to keep them productive and happy as a part of the team. The author compares the employees in a firm to the players in a sports team. Topics include training, salaries, and motivation of the stars, coping with competitors, and organization of information technology companies.

The author reflects on his experiences of failure in sports. As the coach of the football team San Francisco 49ers, one of his failures was when he ended the season in 1979 with the same number of losses as the former coach he had replaced. He also shares that their losses led his team to win the Super Bowl.

The article presents the author's comments on the competition faced by business enterprises. According to the author, successful enterprises often become vulnerable to new business enterprises which have nothing to lose. He says that the failure rate of new firms is high. The author adds that leadership and determination are needed to tackle new competitors.

The author comments on handling situations where there is too much information from many sources. Topics discussed include the development of electronic information and its impact on decisions, consequences of following all types of information, and the role of information collection in making decisions. Also stressed is the importance of interpretation not just information in making decisions.

Discusses the advantageous effect of learning from failure. Statement that learning from failure can be advantageous in business and in athletics; Impact of loosing on the moral strength of athletes and sports teams; Need to develop an ability to revisit failure by businessmen; Experience of the author in coaching the San Francisco football team in the 1980s; Evolution of the team under his guidance.

Opinion. Focuses on competition in the business world. How older, established businesses become conservative while new competitors take risks; How older businesses need to approach young competition; Re-inventing the company.

Reports on the overload of information. How business and political disasters are akin to military disasters; The irony of too much information; The seduction of information; When problems arise on the information highway; The three consequences of information; The quality of interpreting information.

Opinion. Relates the author's experience and advice when returning to an organization after being away from it. His former position as president and coach of the San Francisco 49ers professional football team; Why, despite how much one knows about the business, success is not a given; The positive and negative sides of returning to an organization; Three rules for a successful return.

Discusses the importance of successful delegation of authority. Dangers of failing to delegate responsibilities successfully; The effect of such delegation in World War II; Difficulty many executives have delegating; Transition from an actual to a symbolic leader; Use of top lieutenants.

Editorial. Presents the author's opinion on why the willingness to change is an important factor in being successful. Why people shouldn't use the same approach time after time in business; Why it is crucial to forget the immediate past and make a formal analysis of the job's circumstances and parameters; People the author has learned from.

Presents ways in which managers can inspire employee loyalty in an era of downsizing and layoffs. Understanding how the workplace has changed; Narrowing the focus of loyalty into small groups as military leaders do; How to get employees to care; The possible consequences of improving employees' skills.

Opinion. Offers observations about corporate strategy. Suggestion that aiming high is good when setting goals for yourself and your company, but realism should be the guiding principle; Example of the author's stint as coach of the San Francisco 49ers; Commitment to attaining incremental goals that can be grueling; Benefits of a goal of steady development rather than dramatic victories.

Suggests that true leadership is defined by the ability to foster interorganizational competition without creating a Darwinian disaster. General Leslie Groves, project manager for the Manhattan Project, as an example of one whose leadership did not fail; Pet ideas being in competition, not the individuals; Job survival not depending on winning or losing; Damage control as the key; Managers seeing themselves as choreographers being critical to the outcome.

Offers tips from the author, a coach for the San Francisco 49ers, on how to improve the hiring process of employees. Paying attention to gut feelings; Selecting for appropriate strengths; Knowing when to give up on someone even when reputation is at stake; Why timely correction of mistakes is a high priority; Joe Montana.

Discusses effective crisis management for modern business leaders. How to find employees that exhibit grace under pressure; The need for crisis preparation, such as conducting emergency drills; The problem of crisis creation; How certain people seem to thrive on chaos; How to recognize signs of troublemaking employees who thrive in times of crisis.

Comments on what a positive force anger can be. Example of the anger of quarterback Steve Young after he was replaced in a football game with an unseasoned quarterback; The emotional situations in a very competitive workplace; Why a boss should not suppress some types of anger from employees.

Offers suggestions about how managers should analyze intelligence. Views about why the chain-of-command should not be used for acquiring information; Minimizing the effects of faulty information; The warping effect of enthusiasm on information; The importance of separating emotion from information.

Suggests that the best way to motivate people is to inspire hard work with the example of one's own work habits. Comparisons with professional football; Comments on the work ethics of the U.S. administration led by U.S. President Bill Clinton; Observations related to aspects of micromanagement.