The Halo Effect (book)

The Halo Effect is a book by business academic Phil Rosenzweig that criticizes pseudoscientific tendencies in the explanation of business performance. The book was published by Free Press on February 6, 2007. As well as many business magazines and newspapers, the text targets specific books (those that offer secrets of guaranteed business success) and academic research published by business schools. It outlines nine "delusions": mistakes of reasoning that undermine these recipes for business success. In light of these mistakes, Rosenzweig argues, much of business writing is what Richard Feynman called "cargo cult science", having the superficial trappings of science but operating at the level of story-telling. The book also considers some more scientific business research, whose conclusions are more rigorous but do not promise a simple recipe for success. The subtitle of the 2007 US edition is "and the Eight Other Business Delusions that Deceive Managers" while that of the 2008 UK edition is "How Managers Let Themselves Be Deceived".

The book was named "Business Book of the Year" 2007 at the Frankfurt Book Fair. It has been described as part of a trend for books that encourage evidence-based practice in business research.