"For readers with a taste for nitty-gritty management advice and at least a modest acquintance with the game, there is plenty here to cheer." -- Kenneth Labich Fortune magazine Behind every NFL team lies a management structure equivalent to the most powerful of businesses. And behind every NFL team's successful season stands a head coach who has guided the group in the pursuit of excellence. In Game Plan for Success, ten top current and former NFL head coaches explain in their own words just what it takes to run a successful enterprise. They know firsthand that in NFL locker rooms and executive board rooms, winning is the bottom line. From George Seifert's advice on transition management to Marty Schottenheimer's secrets to building a team, from Mike Ditka's hands-on management tips to Bill Walsh's use of innovative strategies, Game Plans for Success is the quinessential corporate playbook. Each coach stresses the importance of preparation and motivation while covering specific issues, including consistency, the role of leadership, and the effects of environment. Like any corporate CEO, NFL head coaches face a demanding workday, as they operate under the pressures of time, public scrutiny, and the ultimate score. As leaders, they must manage, direct, challenge, and inspire their players to achieve established goals as individuals and as a team. Among them, the coaches featured in this book have eighteen Super Bowl appearances and thirteen Super Bowl victories, and five of them--Mike Ditka, Joe Gibbs, Bud Grant, Chuck Noll, and Walsh--are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. When the scene changes from the sports world to the business world, what holds fast is the sound wisdom and truth of the advice of these experts. Game Plans for Success gives those playing the business game a personal chalk talk on attaining success--from coaches for whom winning is a way of life. Ray Didinger is a sports columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News who has covered the National Football League for more than twenty-five years. Didinger has written or cowritten six books on pro football and contributed to numerous national magazines. The winner of six Keystone Press Awards and two Associated Press Sports Editor Awards, he also received the Pro Football Hall of Fame McCann Award in 1995.
Ray Didinger won six Emmy(R) Awards as a producer and writer with NFL Films. He is the author of ten books on sports, including his three most recent bestsellers: The Eagles Encyclopedia, One Last Read, and The Ultimate Book of Sports Movies.
Didinger wrote for the Philadelphia Bulletin and Philadelphia Daily News for more than 30 years. He was named Pennsylvania Sportswriter of the Year five times by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. In 1995, he won the Dick McCann Award for long and distinguished coverage of pro football, and his name was added to the writers' honor roll in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Didinger is a host on 610-WIP all-sports talk radio in Philadelphia, and appears on Comcast SportsNet TV as the primary analyst on Eagles Post-Game Live. He lives in Philadelphia.
