The Hindu Business Line : Delusions in the business world

Our thinking about business is shaped by a number of delusions, declares Phil Rosenzweig in The Halo Effect: How managers let themselves be deceived ( www.landmarkonthenet.com). These delusions, he says, are promises that you can achieve success if you do one thing or another, and comforting tales of inspiration based on shaky thinking. The business world is full of people who are plenty smart — clever, quick of mind, and conversant in current management concepts. “In short supply are managers who are wise — by which I mean discerning, reflective, and able to judge what’s correct and what’s wrong.”

Communication thru repetition

Artless repetition is boring, uninspiring, and ineffective; but ideas repeated in different ways and words, at just the right intervals, can constitute effective communication, says Lorin Woolfe in The Bible on Leadership: Management lessons for contemporary leaders ( www.jaicobooks.com). “This is particularly true if the ideas are new or if they represent a new paradigm that the audience finds difficult to understand or that represents radical change.” He cites a quote of Tom Peters, from Fast Company, thus: “Leadership takes a bottomless supply of verbal energy: working the phones, staying focused on your message, repeating the same mantra until you can’t stand the sound of your own voice — and then repeating it some more, because just when you start to become bored witless with the message, it’s probably starting to seep into the organisation.”

D. Murali

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Delusions in the business world