Comments on: Debunking Some Hot Business Books

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 08:10:30 +0000

For me Collins did about the best you could do with the data at hand. By the time Rosenzweig gets done with his fantasy 50 year longitudinal study to come up with the truth the competition will have put him penniless in an old folks home. In the meantime he is having a jolly ‘ol time cutting down the narrowing of the confidence interval from the 60% that Peters gave us to the perhaps 80% level Collins has quite generously given us.

By: Daniel Sweet

Daniel Sweet — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 03:08:34 +0000

I think from the healthy debate here alone, we can conclude that there is enough independent thought in the business community to see us through.

And those who can’t think independently will fail (which is good – you don’t want them at the helm, do you?) and, hopefully, learn for next time.

Dan

By: Dan Gilliland

Dan Gilliland — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 06:35:34 +0000

It is true that since Collins only found 15 companies in the modern history of the Fortune 500 that have gone from crappy to great his sample is too small to be 100% perfect. So what!!!!

I’ve been living the 3 circles of the Hedgehog without knowing it. I naturally gravitated towards what God has put me on the earth to do. I love what I do and amazed that I get paid to come to work everyday. I get paid a fair enough wage to live beach front in San Diego. I am able to ride my bicycle on the boardwalk to work 5 blocks from the beach. The last time I was in a traffic jam to get to work was 1994.

I have been using the lessons of the On the Bus/Off the Bus theory to improve my relationships at work. I’ve used the lessons put forth from the book “1st Break All the Rules” to fully use the bus theory.

Keep living the rat race. Maybe you might be able to save enough money to vacation in Pacific Beach San Diego CA. 92109 for your 2 weeks per year.

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:34:56 +0000

Dan, that’s an excellent question. My concern is simply that G2G has been built up by the average business book reader as some sort o panacea that it isn’t. What I should probably be blogging about, really, is the lack of independent thinking among most business folks. The business books themselves are harmless to people who read them with a healthy does of skepticism.

By: Daniel Sweet

Daniel Sweet — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:01:44 +0000

So….I’m confused.

Are you upset because there exist business books with poor research?

Or are you upset because a lot of journalists are swooning over those books?

Either way, I don’t see a resolution coming any time soon to those problems.

And it sounds like you’re thoughtful enough to be able to see what is worthwhile and what is not.

Perhaps the guy next to you (providing he’s not a journalist) is, too.

Dan

By: Rob

Rob — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 06:14:17 +0000

Dan,
I don’t think you need a complete data set to make educated guesses about what works and what doesn’t. Statistical sampling works fine. The problem is that just because you shouldn’t take any book as gospel doesn’t mean you should put them all on equal footing. It’s like saying all fad diet books are equal. G2G receives way more attention than it should, considering that there are plenty of much better and more useful business books.

By: Daniel Sweet

Daniel Sweet — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 20:02:31 +0000

Yes, you read books to learn. But, since you’re presumably older than 12, I’m guessing that you also understand every author (me included) has a bias that probably doesn’t match with yours.

As a result, you don’t accept everything every author says as Gospel. The result is that they make you think about things that you don’t normally think about or in a way that you haven’t thought about it before.

As to the point of the post, the fact that they only took successful companies and tried to figure out what was the same doesn’t mean that they didn’t come up with some excellent ideas for our own companies.

I try to model my behavior after people I consider successful. Now, since I didn’t follow behaviors of all mankind since birth, I can’t say for certain that the behaviors that I model *made* these people successful.

Maybe they picked up the behaviors after they were successful. Maybe they developed from previous failures. Or, just maybe, their success is a result of these behaviors.

The honest truth is that we don’t (and can’t) know for sure either way. That doesn’t mean that the behaviors or bad or that they will make me unsuccessful. But I’ll try a few and find out.

Similarly in business, I could wait for someone to waste a lifetime doing research on all company behavior to determine what the specific reasons for the good ones’ success.

Or, I could try out new ideas on a selective basis, keep the ones that work, dump the ones that don’t, and repeat.

Wow. That was long. Sorry about the length. Hope it’s clear to everyone what I’m saying!

Dan

By: laurence haughton

laurence haughton — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 17:49:30 +0000

“The purpose of books (as ideas in print) is to *encourage* people to think???” To each his own I guess, but I read books to “learn.” (Yes everything is not applicable to every blah, blah, blah) And back to Rob’s point, even for those who only want to be “encouraged to think” how does it help them when they are led to think using severely flawed methods and faulty logic? That’s his criticism as I read it. Am I wrong?

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 16:06:21 +0000

Very well put, Dan!

By: Daniel Sweet

Daniel Sweet — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 13:45:04 +0000

I agree with you to a point. Yes, individual things said in business books often prove to be wrong, not applicable, or only workable in certain situations.

However, the fallicy underlying Rosenzweig’s argument is that people read these books and follow only that and all of that advice to run their business.

Someone seems to have forgotten that the purpose of books (as ideas in print) is to *encourage* people to think.

These aren’t “guaranteed business manuals”, they are books. With other people’s ideas. That frequently contradict each other. And that’s okay.

The benefit of reading other peoples’ ideas is that you’re getting new ideas, trying new things (some of which will work and some of which will not), and improving yourself and your business.

Dan