The Halo Effect
by Phil Rosenzweig · first published 2007
11mentions
8recommended by
9HN commenters
2007–2022first – last mentioned
89% recommend11% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Critiques popular business books like Good to Great by showing how retrospective research can mistake success stories for proven causes; useful for managers and readers skeptical of management advice.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…-Influence (Robert B. Cialdini) -Your Money or Your Life (Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin) -When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace (Le Ly Hayslip) -The Halo Effect (Phil Rosenzweig) -The LessWrong.com sequences on rationality
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗A great book on this is "The Halo Effect". It specifically calls out "Good to Great" as an example of really poorly done research that does nothing but call out coincidences. The one part I loved about the book is when it provides tips on…
on “How Steve Jobs Became a Billionaire” ↗The Halo Effect, by Phil Rosenzweig, does a good job describing many of the problems with popular business books like Good to Great and In Search of Excellence. It's worth reading. http://www.amazon.com/Halo-Effect-Business-Delusions-Manager...
on “Feds to take over Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac” ↗_The Halo Effect_, Phil Rozenzweig: http://www.amazon.com/The-Halo-Effect-Business-Delusions/dp/... This revisits books from earlier in the decade (like _Good to Great_), and shows that many of the profiled companies…
on “Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read” ↗Jim Collins' books are based on pseudo-research. Phil Rosenzweig does a beautiful job of showing this in The Halo Effect: http://www.amazon.com/Halo-Effect-Business-Delusions-Manager...
on “Characteristics of Great Companies” ↗If you're going to read that book, I'd suggest you read "The Halo Effect" as well. It talks about how questionable the "retrospective" research from these books is. http://www.amazon.com/The-Halo-Effect-Business-Delusions/dp/...
on “Yahoo spends $58 million to fire its chief operating officer” ↗Read "The Halo Effect" instead of a Jim Collins book. https://www.amazon.com/Halo-Effect-Business-Delusions-Manage...
on “Ask HN: How do early stage startups define their culture or core values?” ↗Re this type of study, I highly recommend the book, "The Halo Effect" by Phil Rosenzweig.
on “What we learned in studying the most effective founders” ↗The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig
on “Ask HN: What is the best book you read in 2020?” ↗See also The Halo Effect, by Phil Rosenzweig
on “How do news reporters come up with a reason for why most stocks went up or down on a particular day?” ↗…research. I used to be a business book junkie until I realized what weak foundation most of it was built on. I've gradually come back to the genre but more for context and story than predictive power. The Halo Effect [0] amped up my skepticism. Of course it was a business book [1] that introduced me to the Halo Effect... :-) [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect [1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Halo-Effect-Business-Delusions/dp/...
on “SEED: Software Engineering Evidence Database” ↗