Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don't.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: Brief article - Book review

By Paul Sullivan. Portfolio, 256 pages. $25.95

Clutch is an intriguing book that's not really about business per se, though it does discuss some prominent executives. It's about learning to adapt, to cope and eventually to excel.

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Author Sullivan, a columnist for The New York Times, has researched episodes and events involving dozens of people, from corporate chieftains like Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, to Tiger Woods, super-attorney David Boies and unknowns such as a sergeant in Iraq and a Secret Service officer attached years ago to Bill Clinton. In each case, he shows that adaptation and learning to perform under pressure made a huge difference--and that "clutch" performance is not born, but acquired.

"Those who wilt when the pressure is hottest fall back on what they expected to do ahead of time, as if it were a security blanket for the only way forward," Sullivan writes. "Those who succeed under pressure readjust: They focus on the goal that needs to be accomplished, not on a specific way to accomplish that goal."

Sullivan offers a lengthy...