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The Halo Effect: .and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers
 
 
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The Halo Effect: .and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers (Hardcover)

by Phil Rosenzweig (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Review
"In "The Halo Effect," Phil Rosenzweig has done us all a great service by speaking the unspeakable. His iconoclastic analysis is a very welcome antidote to the kind of superficial, formulaic, and dumbed-down matter that seems to be the current stock in trade of many popular business books. It's the right book at the right time."-- John R. Kimberly, Henry Bower Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Product Description
Why do some companies prosper while others fail? Despite great amounts of research, many of the studies that claim to pin down the secret of success are based in pseudoscience. The Halo Effect is the outcome of that pseudoscience, a myth that Philip Rosenzweig masterfully debunks in THE HALO EFFECT. The Halo Effect describes the tendency of experts to point to the high financial performance of a successful company and then spread its golden glow to all of the company's attributes - clear strategy, strong values, and brilliant leadership. But in fact, as Rosenzweig clearly illustrates, the experts are not just wrong, but deluded. In this irreverent and witty book, the author shows readers how to truly understand business performance. Readers will learn about the Delusion of Single Explanations, the Delusion of Absolute Performance, the Delusion of the Wrong End of the Stick, and other fantasies lovingly held by managers that ultimately destroy business success. Rosenzweig also suggests a more accurate way to think about leading a company, a robust and clearheaded approach that can save any business from ultimate failure.

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4.9 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Debunking business pseudo-science, 6 Jul 2007
By James Taylor "Enterprise Decision Management ... (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I just finished reading Phil Rosenzweig's book "The Halo Effect...and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers". This book takes aim at the general run of business books and, in particular, their tendency to dress up vivid stories as scientific study. Phil does not seem to have anything against stories per se, nor does he disagree with some of the advice given in the books. What he takes issue with is the focus on a single, definitive "scientific" set of recommendations when there is no real scientific rigor behind them.

He lays out 9 specific delusions and shows how they distort the advice in management books:
- The Halo Effect - tending of analysis of a company to reflect only the overall results
- The Delusion of Correlation and Causality - the lack of proof of causality in many situations
- The Delusion of Single Explanations - one factor is unlikely to be the reason for success or failure
- The Delusion of Connecting the Winning Dots - problems with only considering "winners"
- The Delusion of Rigorous Research - mistaking large volumes of data for good data
- The Delusion of Lasting Success - most companies trend to the mean eventually
- The Delusion of Absolute Performance - companies can do well and still fail if a competitor does better
- The Delusion of the Wrong End of the Stick - successful companies may do various things but that does not mean that doing those things will make you successful
- The Delusion of Organizational Physics - business organizations are just not that predictable

Phil uses various stories to show how the perception of companies and leaders changes when the company's performance does. He also shows how the vivid but unscientific stories that arise from this are then used as evidence by later studies. He repeatedly makes the point that the business world is not a laboratory but a messy and complex world and that this limits our ability to do analysis. He shows that rather than a specific behavior leading to strong company performance, the behavior is at least as likely to be caused by strong company performance. He likens this to Cargo Cults who hope to get planes full of goods to return by recreating the look of a jungle airstrip, mistaking cause and effect.

The overall effect is to make you take most management books with a large pinch of salt - not ignoring them, but recognizing that they are just stories, not science.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A healthy dose of cynicism and realism in "cutting down tall poppies", 27 Aug 2007
By Siriam (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
Do not worry about what the Nine Delusions are that the author uses to develop his thesis - they largely overlap and interlock and as you read the book will be seen as a powerful continuum. Why you should read this book is because bottom dollar like me you will have read one of the prior highly successful tomes that is one of the key targets for his thesis.

Whether it is "In search of excellence", "Built to Last" or "Good to great", by the end of this book you will I reckon have a more questioning attitude to such works (if not 100% cycnical) because this book challenges many preconceptions and makes you think and look afresh at how one will ever achieve success in business management.

The theme is not just "cutting tall poppies" down to size, but more basically that nothing is as simple or easy as many have claimed in writing such books. His chapter on why "strategy" and "execution" are actually so hard to do well, is alone worth the price of the book for me.

The core argument of the "delusions" being based on too much retropsective story telling is bought full circle by the three examples at the end of companies and business leaders who have in the authors opinion sought to face reality and do not underestimate the uncertainty that faces everyone.

A highly recommended book since it makes its points thoroughly and cogently and as such comes over as thoughtful and provoking of fresh views - as such it is a welcome change from too many of the best selling tirade type books that have come to represent both business but also political and history bestsellers recently. Definitely a book that is long overdue and one hopes will be succesful plus lead to more realism in such future writing.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Straight talk about corporate results, 2 Mar 2007
By Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This serious book will change the way many people think about the pursuit of managerial excellence and, indirectly, about the criteria they use for managing (and coincidentally) investing. Phil Rosenzweig provocatively challenges prevailing concepts about the traits that drive corporate performance. He asks revealing questions about previous research assumptions that labeled companies "excellent." It seems that earlier accolades about "the best" companies - including the claims in some blockbuster books - were based on faulty research techniques that led authors to mistakenly attribute achievements to companies that did not accomplish them or could not sustain them. Rosenzweig distills his compelling ideas clearly, and buttresses his case with specific examples and original research, adding to the book's power. As a result, we would compare this very readable, focused book to fine brandy: palatable, enjoyable, memorable, a little heavy - and imbued with the potential to change your mind. Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars An alternative perspective on Business Textbooks
I found this book interesting and the main tenet of the book compelling. Rosenzweig suggests that when organisations are doing well that the business press are keen to make the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by S. Gale

5.0 out of 5 stars How to separate the "nuggets" from the "nonsense"

According to Phil Rosenzweig, "The central idea in this book is that our thinking about business is shaped by a number of delusions... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Robert Morris

5.0 out of 5 stars What does (not) lead to high performance?
Phil Rosenzweig is a Professor at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. He earned his PhD from University of Pennsylvania's The Wharton School and has spent six years on the faculty of... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Gerard Kroese

5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing look on the world of business
This is a very unorthodox and refreshing look at the world of business. The author is not afraid to admit, that, when it comes to deciphering what works, we know very little. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Lenka Peniskova

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
I have to say this is one of the best finance/business books I have read in long time. Much of it is taken up with trashing the typical "analysis" you find in the business pages... Read more
Published 21 months ago by tomsk77

5.0 out of 5 stars has one major flaw - should have been written years ago!
The Halo Effect is an excellent book, in all respects. It is a fast and concise read, with an engaging style. Read more
Published 23 months ago by A. Green

5.0 out of 5 stars Compulsory Reading for ALL Managers
This is an important book berating the media fixation of attributing success characteristics to business leaders when there is little or no supporting evidence... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Stephen Parry

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing thinking
The author condemns most successful business books of our time as little more than entertaining bedside reading - and lays logically out the reasons why. Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2007 by tn_espoo

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