Drilling for Diamonds

In what has to be one of the business books of the year, Phil Rosenzweig unmasks the delusions that are commonly found in the corporate world.

These potent delusions affect the business press and academic research, as well as many bestselling books that promise to reveal the secrets of success or the path to greatness. Such books claim to be based on rigorous thinking, but operate mainly at the level of storytelling. They provide comfort and inspiration, but deceive managers about the true nature of business success.

The most persuasive delusion Rosenzweig argues is the Halo Effect. When a company’s sales and profits are up, people often conclude that it has a brilliant strategy, a visionary leader, capable employees, and a superb corporate culture.

When performance falters, they conclude that the strategy was wrong, the leader became arrogant, the people were complacent, and the culture was stagnant.

In fact, little may have changed - company performance creates a Halo that shapes the way we perceive strategy, leadership, people, culture, and more.

Rosenzweig shows how the Halo Effect is widespread. He shows how business bestsellers, In Search of Excellence, Built to Last and Good to Great use flawed data which has been corrupted by the Halo Effect.

Read the book. It will make you rethink how you look at business performance.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Most of use recognize how hard it is to change old habits and behaviors.

Change experts, J. Stewart Black and Hal B. Gregerson remind us;

“Its not that ‘an old dog can’t learn new tricks.’ Rather, it is an old dog has a devil of a time unlearning old tricks.”

Popularity: 7% [?]

Changing behaviors, cultures and systems is never easy.

In a remarkably practical and insightful book, Leading Strategic Change, J. Stewart Black and Hal B. Gregerson spell out their CBAs of change.

The CBA acronym stands for Conceive, Believe, and Achieve.

These three stages correspond with and overcome the three gravitational forces or barriers to change.

Conceive. First people must conceive or see the old way is wrong and visualize the new right way.

Believe. Second, people must believe in the path to the new promise land.

Achieve. Finally, people must achieve and know they have achieved the desired result.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Sydney Finkelstein, author of best-selling books Why Smart Executives Fail and Breakout Strategy, tells the story of a construction company that had completed a project for a private school, which was the first part of a multi-million dollar master plan that had not yet been awarded.

The project had been completed without a hitch and the client was “ecstatic”, which boded well for the construction company getting the major part of the construction project as well.

However, the school was having problems with a doorknob and workmen came a couple of times to fix it. But they never replaced it.

One day, it came off in somebody’s hand and locked him in the office.

The trapped man happened to be the person who would award the master plan contract.

The CEO of the construction company now has that doorknob on a plaque in his office, labeled “The $10 million doorknob”.

No need to explain why.

Popularity: 11% [?]

With every product, service and company calling itself a brand we regularly need to remind ourselves what a brand is.

My favorite definition is one coined by Patrick Hanlon, the author of Primal Branding. He argues that;

“Brands are belief systems all belief systems have seven pieces of code that work together to make them believable. The more pieces, the more believable the belief system becomes.”

The seven pieces of code are:

1. The Creation Story. All belief systems have a story.
2. The Creed. The set of core principles.
3. The Icons. The symbols such as the Nike Swoosh.
4. The Rituals. The key ritualistic behaviors that set us apart.
5. The Pagans. The non-believers. The heathens and idolaters.
6. The Sacred Words. All belief systems have a set of specialized words which must be learned.
7. The Leader. The visionary, catalyst, risk taker who founded or defined the brand.

Popularity: 15% [?]