Mark Mccormack - The Japan Times

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Mark Mccormack

For Mark Mccormack's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT

Feb 26, 2002

Avoiding strikeouts when you decide who to promote

When it comes to success rate, business shares at least one thing with baseball -- you tend to strike out a lot more than you get on base.

BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT

Jan 1, 2002

Don't let 'star' staff dazzle your judgment

Assessing performance ought to be every manager's meat, the one area in which he or she strives to obtain as fair and equitable a result as possible. Yet as we at IMG work with Sports Illustrated to produce our annual "Sportsman of the Year" gala, I'm frequently reminded of the capricious and mysterious ways that fate anoints some people stars and others also-rans. After all, what could be more perplexing than weighing the accomplishments of the world's most accomplished athletes? How do you rank a Lance Armstrong against a Bonds Bonds, a Venus Williams vs. an Annika Sorenstam?

BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT

Dec 18, 2001

Rampaging egos make perfect targets

We human beings are strange creatures. We'll work and slave and sweat blood to turn an idea into reality -- to start a business, compose an opera, run for political office or, most commonly, to create an initiative at our companies. And yet, when we do succeed, we immediately put everything we've worked so hard for at risk, all because of a single flaw:

BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT

Dec 4, 2001

Dreaming of starting your own business?

"I want to go out on my own and start a business," a new acquaintance confessed the other day, "but then I look around at other people who've done it, and I hesitate. It really bugs me that I can't pick out what makes one person a success and another a washout. There just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Do you see any?"

BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT

Nov 20, 2001

Getting in downtime

An executive returned from a weekend getaway in the Caribbean with a touch of sunburn, a sore shoulder from too much tennis, and a story. As he tells it, he'd been involved in an extremely tense negotiation for the better part of a year. "The principals knew they needed to do this deal, but they were at each other's throats the entire time," he said. "You know who that left in the middle? Me."

BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT

Nov 20, 2001

Getting in downtime

An executive returned from a weekend getaway in the Caribbean with a touch of sunburn, a sore shoulder from too much tennis, and a story. As he tells it, he'd been involved in an extremely tense negotiation for the better part of a year. "The principals knew they needed to do this deal, but they were at each other's throats the entire time," he said. "You know who that left in the middle? Me."

BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT

Nov 6, 2001

In sport, beauty sells

The recent uproar about the nontennis activities of Anna Kournikova shows no signs of abating. Already steamed up by the contrast between her extraordinary endorsement earnings and her actual tournament ranking, self-appointed pundits have lately taken to denouncing her for her exercise video. Since the situation has, as the English say, gotten everybody's knickers into a twist.

BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT

Oct 23, 2001

Avoid sinking into the comfort zone

There's a common affliction suffered by baseball pitchers and corporate managers alike, a tendency that derails many careers, perversely, just when things couldn't be going any better. It's called "pitching too fine" in baseball, and if you're a fan, you know how heartbreaking it can be.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Live like a lord or lady for a night at Ozu Castle

Live like a lord or lady for a night at Ozu Castle

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