Archive for July 19th, 2008

Sway. The irresistible pull of irrational behavior. Ori Brafman & Rom Brafman

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Sway. The irresistible pull of irrational behavior. Ori Brafman & Rom Brafman 2008. ISBN 9780385524384.  Ori wrote the enjoyable and perceptive The Starfish and the Spider.  Now with his brother he has put together a fascinating study that really extends the work of other books like Blink . Why do we do things that clearly do not add value to the situation and any reasonable person would say stop. Yet we do. This book is well researched and annotated , so you can go right to the source for every quirk.

Here an example from HR.  Of the following popular 10 interview questions only one has shown to give any helpful information on the interviewee.  The research from Bradley University tells us that the rest are just useless.   So which one would  you pick as helpful?

  1. Why should I hire you?
  2. What do you see yourself doing five years from now?
  3. What do you consider to be your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
  4. How would you describe yourself?
  5. What college subject did you like the best and least?
  6. What do you know about our company?
  7. Why did you decide to seek a job with our company?
  8. Why did you leave your last job?
  9. What do you want to earn five years from now?
  10. What do you really want to do in life?

We have all hired lots of folks  and I bet you like me have used these and more questions. The book analyzes each question to show you the flaws until you are left with? Number six is useful because it shows if the candidate has taken the time to research the company. The rest are no help at all. Consider this for irrational behavior, the department at Bradley U. which sponsored the above research has not put these results into place in their own interview process!

There is lots more here but you should get the idea. This concise easy to read – short plane ride book is well worth your time.  It will certainly get your brain working.

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