Dr. Ichak Adizes Testimonials

Moses—the visionary leader who led the Hebrew tribes from slavery to freedom, from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan—was not allowed to lead the tribes across the Jordan River to the promised land to which he led for forty years. Feels like unfair treatment of a loyal servant of God, doesn’t it?

I learned about political oppression in my classes in political science. That is the way democracy is suffocated: No freedom of speech and whoever speaks against the approved line of thought, dictated by the oppressing government, might end up in jail; You have to follow the official narrative.Democracy is supposed to be different. Freedom of speech. Freedom of expression. Freedom to dissent. But it appears to me this freedom is getting increasingly under attack. Not formally. No laws. No education on what is right and what is wrong. No official censors. 

I want to share with you an insight about two management concepts: effectiveness and efficiency. People interpret these concepts differently. Some languages do not even have a clear distinction between these words.

Working as a Symbergetic™ Organizational Therapist, treating the chronic problems commonly found in organizations, I often come across a problem I call “deadwood.” These are people who no longer provide any functional role within the company. They use up energy and resources, get paid, and some even have people whom they should manage, but they do not contribute to the system they pertain to, and like cancer, they spread.

As times become more and more uncertain, many organizations have a difficult task in budgeting as a vehicle for planning. Leaders that are risk-averse (i.e., the (A)-style leaders) will default to the most conservative budget. They know that it is prudent not to spend money too liberally in a time of uncertainty. But the side effect of conservative budgeting is that it might dampen a company’s commitment to doing its best.

Every system — whether it is a person, a family, a company or a country —to be healthy must be effective and efficient in both the short and the longrun. I’ve discovered there are four roles (PAEI), which can be viewed as organizational vitamins, that need to be performed well in order for the system to be healthy.

Many of us have asked ourselves the question, “What is happiness?” When asked in this way, it can be very difficult to find an answer. Where should one start? Trying to define the term can get you lost in endless interpretations. I suggest rephrasing the question to: “Where is happiness?” Because if you figure out where it is, you just might find it.

The semantic differential—love/hate, hot/cold, day/night, black/white—is not two extremes. If you take one extreme and make it more and more and more and more extreme, it will become the beginning of the other extreme. 

Ichak Adizes, one of the world's most famous business consultants, gave an exclusive interview for the Creative Society project.

One of my clients always hired the managing director of the law firm, the most expensive lawyer. I challenged him: “Why do you pay the top price when you can get someone much cheaper?” His answer was that the expensive ones always pay for themselves because they provide the best service and don't go back to do things over and over again. The less-costly ones make mistakes that cost much more than what he pays to attract the best candidates.