Dr. Ichak Adizes, Ph. D. Read the latest from Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes' Weekly Blog.
        • The Rules Governing Growing And Aging
          The sequence of PAEI roles in growing should be: first (I) should grow and be large enough, sufficient enough for the (E) to emerge.(E) consumes a lot of energy and (I) creates a fertile ground in the sense that energy is available to innovate, to create. (I) gives maximum energy. Disintegration wastes energy. It is not strange that Artists are narcissistic.
        • The Benefits Of Frustrations
          No one likes to be frustrated. Frustrations take an enormous amount of energy and they might even have physiological repercussions of making one sick from them.Are there benefits of being frustrated, and what should you do to make a lemonade out of a lemon?
        • Why Dogs Bark?
          One day, I was walking with a friend of mine along the beach. I was holding my dog tightly on a leash, but he kept pulling hard towards any and every dog coming towards us. It was becoming difficult to control him.
        • The Destructive Nature of Entrepreneurship
          Within every corporation, indeed every organization, the (E)ntreprenurial role builds the company. That is the source of energy for economic growth and for advancement in the arts and in science.It comes in different forms. It is also called innovation, change management, or change leadership.
        • On Bad Communication
          You have probably heard this complaint before. And probably more than once: "the decision was poorly communicated," "No one really understood what was decided," etc.How can this repetitive problem, complaint, and excuse that people use when not performing well be dealt with? First, there must be an agreement within the capi group as to what exactly we are talking about.
        • Decision Making Pitfalls
          When we have a problem, an issue we are struggling with, and ask for advice, the usual approach of the problem solver is to ask us: “What do you want?” As if you are really clear about what you want, the solution will be self-evident. Or to say it differently, your problem is because you don’t know what you want. It is not necessarily so.
        • Adizes Pursuit of Prime Award Acceptance Speech
          The following is the acceptance speech by Costas Petropoulos, CEO of PETROS PETROPOULOS, for being awarded the Adizes Pursuit of Prime award, which is granted to companies who successfully practice Adizes over a span of many years. The award was presented at the Adizes Convention in India in January 2016.
        • Converting Excuses Into Learning Experiences
          In reviewing performance, actual versus budget results, or the accomplishments of a new project, when there is a deviation from the desired, i.e. when then there is mistake, people give you an explanation why it happened and believe they are off the hook...All wrong. A problem, a mistake that we did not learn from will be repeated.
        • Dysfunctional Participation
          It is not the first time I’ve encountered this corporate practice: workers invited to participate in the management of a corporation. In my experience, instead of this tactic increasing productivity and morale, it only increases expenses and paralyzes the company. What is going on?
        • Organizational Heaven, Managerial Hell
          Let us start with heaven. How would you like to work in an organization where you have a life time appointment? You can be fired only for some extreme violation of ethics. It must be very extreme. You choose what to work on. If you do not like your assignment, you can refuse it until they give you something you want to do.
        • Too Much Can Be Too Bad
          Early in my consulting career, I found myself constantly impressed by what I called, for lack of a better word, “geniuses.” I thought that in their exceptional talent, or intelligence, or creativity, I had found a gold mine. I started investing my money with them. I thought with my consulting experience and money, and their genius, we were going to make it big. Just the opposite. I lost a lot of money and lots of time.
        • What is Wrong With Business Coaching?
          Coaching is the latest craze in organizational development. Thousands are calling themselves coaches and making a living from it. There are dangers in this practice – what are they and why are they dangerous?
        • The Power at Conception
          In my January 31, 2015 blog on narcissism I reported how I traveled back to my earliest memories and discovered an experience that shaped my behavior all my life. That psychological exercise is a well-known psychotherapeutic technique for treating individuals. It, however, gave me an insight that maybe the technique applies to organizational therapy as well.
        • The Fallacies of Pure Thinking
          The joke goes like this: A physicist, an engineer, and an economist are stranded in the desert. They are hungry and find a can of beans. They want to open it, but how?
        • The Adizes Therapy From Birth
          For this week’s blog post, I invited Anna Gurariy, Owner and Director at the Guranya Montessori School, to share her analysis of how the Montessori method and the Adizes methodology are interconnected. I hope you enjoy it.
        • (A) and (I) Substitutions
          I am back to the question of deciding on a just and effective hiring policy; namely to evaluate the practice of employing relatives, friends, and political associates to managerial positions, an accepted form of staffing that is common in many developing countries.
        • The Secret of Success of any System
          It took me fifty years of trial and error to realize my mother, who did not have even an elementary education (not customary for women to attend school and get an education at that time), was absolutely right. More about that later. But it starts with a question. What is the secret of success of any system?
        • Life is Change
          To start with, can we agree that life is change? We are born, grow and age. Constantly changing physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually among many other dimensions.
        • Nepotism vs. Materialism

          I am in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. At the Forum for a sovereign state fund, Samruk Kazyna, to discuss organizational transformation.A distinguished British leader of a company with 350,000 employees speaks before me. He is focusing on what he believes is a major fault with the managerial practice in Kazakhstan.
        • Dr. Adizes’ Speech at the Samruk Kazyna Transformation Forum in Astana

          I have been invited to speak at a forum on how to make a holding company with 350,000 employees and assets of 100 billion dollars competitive in the global marketplace. The goal is straightforward enough: meet or exceed global indicators of success like EVA or ROI. Here is an edited version of my ten-minute speech delivered at the Samruk Kazyna Transformation Forum in Astana.

        • What is Wrong With Business Schools?

          Fifty years ago, when I received my MBA and doctoral degrees at Columbia University Business School, MBA programs were not yet popular. Since that time offers have grown like mushrooms after the rain, especially in Eastern Europe and the developing countries. What is wrong with that?

        • The Value of Disagreements

          People by and large find disagreement to be disagreeable. Annoying. Upsetting. And in the case of someone who is narcissistic, it is likely to engender belligerence. Why? Because disagreements interfere with our sense or desire for control.

        • How to Compete with E-Commerce

          By now it is old news that Amazon “killed” the bookstores. We all know that bookstores are closing left and right. It is easier to buy books on the internet. The banking industry is in trouble too. But the impact of the internet is far greater, way beyond books and banking.

        • On Core Competency and Value Propositions
          One of the cornerstones of strategic planning is, of course, to analyze core competencies and value propositions (what value you provide that makes your customers come to you and not to your competitors). We take that for granted. But should it be the responsibility of the CEO? Is that his role in the company?
        • Change and Its Repercussions for The Banking Industry

          Changes have always existed but their speed and frequency have become rather apparent. Changes are present in all areas of life, but here we focus on those happening in the banking industry. Banks are undergoing revolutionary changes and they must change or perish in their present form. The article explains why banks must change and what are the threats to both asset and liability sides they would face otherwise.

        • Growing and Fixed Pies
          Okay, the title is a bit of a teaser. “Pies”, in this instance, are a serious business. When I use the term “a fixed pie,” I am referring to a belief system that assumes that if someone has a bigger piece of the pie, others have less.
        • “IF”

          In my consulting experience, I come across many instances when people in the meeting say “IF” so and so happens than…And, I find this “IF” to be disempowering. It also does not point or direct us to think actively, proactively at what we will do.

        • The Dimension of Time – What is it?
          Bjarni Snæbjörn Jónsson, a doctoral candidate from Iceland at the Adizes Graduate School for the Study of Change and Leadership pointed out to me to an interesting finding. Here it is in his own words, which I edited.
        • Not All Energies Are the Same

          Calories are related to physical energy. That is the energy we need to operate our body. That is the (P) energy, so to say. Exercise also gives and uses (P) energy. Whether the exercise leaves you with more net energy or less net energy depends on your physical condition and the degree of exhaustion from the exercise. But there are other forms of energy.

        • Mixing Incompatibles

          We know and have tested the hypothesis that in an organizational structure it is dysfunctional, to mix (P) and (E). Thus, Adizes methodology recommends not to have one VP for sales and marketing in the corporate structure. Why?

        • Attitude for Mutual Trust and Respect

          Mutual Trust and Respect have always played a central role in my thinking and, of course, in many of my books. The reason is simple: They provide the compelling underpinnings that all systems need in order to be successful. And by all systems I mean every kind from an individual (in which case it becomes Self Respect and Self Trust), a family, a business, a society, or even a macro system (meaning a nation-state). I would suggest that the concept applies to the global world as well.

        • What is a “Real” Asset?

          David Tice, a friend and a professor of Business from the University of California, Berkley, in a seminar that we jointly taught in Moscow, made a point on strategic planning which was illuminating. I want to share it with you. What is a real asset of a company? (He used the phrase “real core competence.”)

        • Who Will Succeed?

          There is change. Change means “something NEW is happening.” Whenever something new happens that impacts you, you have to decide what to do about it, and that includes the decision to do nothing. You must choose.

        • What Should be the Goal of a Corporation?

          Economists and conservative politicians say the goal of a business is profits–long-term profits. It makes sense: It is a clear goal. It is measurable. It represents the interests of the owners. But it has a problem nonetheless 

        • The Fear of…Success

          You probably know, as I do, that fear of failure is a psychological concept. Do you ever wonder how that is possible? How someone can spend his life being afraid of failing? I have come across a different pattern of behavior, of people who fear success. 

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