As I argued before (read this blog post on the halo effect), we like simple stories that account for a company’s success or failure. These stories are almost always delusional. So, what should you keep in mind when you pick up the latest best-selling business book written by a famous CEO or management thinker? The …
Finally, this last year, long overdue, I picked up Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow (2011). And what a book it is. If you still thought you were a rational human being, deliberately making judgements, weighing pros and cons for every decision you make, consider this quote from Thinking Fast and Slow: (..) emotion now …
Holiday Reading List 2018 – The Rationalist Delusion Read More »
One of the catch phrases I picked up in my university days, and still use when appropriate, is: ‘There’s nothing more practical than good theory’. During change efforts in any type of organization (i.e. profit, nonprofit, government), whether they are design changes or execution changes, it is always a good idea to keep a number …
Being influenced in my thinking on business strategy and execution mostly by the work of Igor Ansoff (see Implanting Strategic Management), I have always wondered why business books like In Search of Excellence and Good to Great had such huge success. Ansoff stressed that business performance is highly dependent on the specific environment your business finds itself in …
