Books

Books : reviews

Phil Rosenzweig.
The Halo Effect: how managers let themselves be decieved.
Pocket. 2007

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 highlights 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 how to truly understand business performance and suggests a more accurate way to think about leading a company, a robust and clear-headed approach that can help companies improve their chances of success.