The “Halo Effect” book

June 19th, 2007

Just finished reading The Halo Effect: … book by Phil Rosenzweig. It is almost exclusively devoted to debunking these three books:

  1. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras
  2. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
  3. In Search of Excellence : Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman

I’m very glad that Mr. Rosenzweig bothered to do it. I read “Build to Last” several years ago and it immediately struck me a pile of bovine manure and, yes, it’s easy for me to say in hindsight. You see, I’m a former scientist and the main argument of these books is logically similar to this:

  1. Start tossing coins.
  2. Discard all the tails.
  3. Claim that coin toss produces heads.

And that was just a start. If I dared to present something like this at any scientific forum or journal, I would be laughed off the podium and never allowed to speak again. Yet, Messrs. Collins, Porras, Peters, and Waterman have managed to build a nice cottage industry out of their respective delusions.

Phil Rosenzweig has many more insights into the fallacies of these books, but the most crucial idea is simple: they tell compelling stories we’d like to hear - similar to motivational speeches - and we suspend our critical thinking in awe. The actual facts produced by the scientific methods are far less glamorous, but much more honest: we simple do not know the recipe for success and our chances of finding out are slim given the complexities of the business world. There are some subtle hints, though.

So, I’m now a big fan of Mr. Rosenzweig now and I highly recommend this book.

Posted by Ivan K Filed in Business