On the experience of “forgiveness”

Doctor Ichak Adizes, one of the world’s leading experts on improving the performance of business and government, has visited Kyiv. Executive Excellence, one of the most prestigious US business journals, ranked him 29th on the 2005 List of the Top 100 Leadership Consultants. Dr. Adizes visited the capital of Ukraine at the invitation of the International Institute of Management (MIM-Kyiv) to take part in the international conference “A Look into the Future: Readiness for Changes.” At this forum, he delivered a lecture to students and presented a unique method (fundamental changes without chaos and conflicts) which many multinational companies, such as Coca Cola, Bank of America, Volvo, and Visa Group, are applying today. He also answered MIM-Kyiv students’ and guests’ questions about the main achievements of today in the effective organization of management. Ichak Adizes has been a political consultant to the governments of many states and, at the same time, has been pursuing a teaching career. He has been a full-time instructor at California University’s Andersen Management School for 30 years, taught at Stanford and Columbia universities, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv University. He is now at the head of the Adizes Institute which he himself founded. Adizes is a Ph.D. and a MBA of Columbia University as well as a BA of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of seven books translated into 22 languages. The Day spoke to Dr. Adizes on the eve of the forum.

What is the aim of your visit to Kyiv? What are you going to say to MIM-Kyiv students?

“I came at the invitation of the MIM-Kyiv management to take part in an international forum and share my management experience with students. I’ll be telling them how to teach the staff to be trustful and respectful. Besides, MIM-Kyiv has awarded me by an honorary doctorate. This is also a pleasant occasion. And, in general, I like Ukraine and its people. This is not the first time I am in your country.”

You keep consulting the heads of many governments and private multinational companies on economic and political matters. What steps would you advise Ukraine to take to ride out the current economic and military crisis in the most effective way?

“This is a very difficult question. The first and foremost step is to create and support a hope. It is a hope that supported Jews in a 2,000-year-long history of trials and persecutions. It  is a hope that the new revolution gave to the Ukrainian people. You must believe that there is a way out. This is forming true leaders today. Secondly, it is important to understand that Ukraine will never solve its problems militarily. The use of force will only be aggravating the conflict. Therefore, the country’s leadership – parliament and the president – should find a way to rally all the residents of the country together and try to understand Russia.”

How can this be achieved?

“The most serious problem that Yanukovych left behind is corruption. You must get rid of it. I’ve read in the newspapers that you want to set up a new body – the anticorruption bureau. But I am afraid you will establish another prosecution office. This will not work. You will thus be struggling against the manifestations, not the causes, of the problem. The root cause is that the current system of licensing and public administration is in an utter mess. This system is noticeably changing – there’s a transition from a planned to a market economy. This change has made loopholes which people use for the sake of corruption. Of course, you can put somebody inside, but this will not radically solve the problem. You should close the loopholes to ward off the temptation to take bribes. Let me give an example: you can’t possibly kill all the mosquitoes, but it is possible to reclaim a marsh. Should this prosecution office emerge, a half of Ukraine will end up behind bars. For, as far as I can see, you can’t survive in this country without giving or taking bribes. I think you should use the experience of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. I call it ‘forgiveness’: tell people to give back what they stole if they don’t want to be punished.”

Maybe, carrying out the economic reforms, which have been put off in the past 23 years, will be a solution for us?

“Yes, undoubtedly. Open the system, make everything transparent. All kinds of devilry breed in the dark, but the light always destroys it.”

You have consulted managers of major banks. Ukraine has seen stress-tests for its 15 largest banks, which showed a need for additional capitalization. How do you think we should reform the banking sector so that no harm is caused and effect is achieved?

“Reforming the banking sector, remember the American experience. US banks received low-interest loans from the state, but, instead of funding the real sector, they invested this money in governmental bonds and earned bonuses for doing in fact nothing. Therefore, one must exercise utmost caution in refunding. If banks fail to achieve a real success, they must receive no bonuses. Refunding should be carried out under very strict supervision.”

Answering the first question, you said the Ukrainian government should decide how to unite the country and understand all the parties to the military conflict. How can this be done, when none of the arguments work so far?

“Ukraine does not need to join NATO. It should remain neutral. All the relevant sides should display unity of their positions. When there is no unity, conflicts will come up. The revolution proved this, when the president spoke about economic rapprochement with Russia, but the populace opted for Europe.”

But the president’s position has no sense if it runs counter to that of the people. In this case either the government’s position or the president himself must be changed.

“I will answer you with a joke a former president of Czechoslovakia told me. Once a German, a Russian, and a Czechoslovak caught a golden fish, and it promised them to fulfill three wishes. The Russian wished that Germans be wiped out, and the German – the other way round. But the Czech, who stood between the two, was long thinking what to do and said to the fish: ‘If you have fulfilled the two previous wishes, just give me a cup of coffee.’ Ukraine should drink its cup of coffee. At the moment, you cannot afford to take somebody’s side. You need neutrality, otherwise you will never end this war because you are exactly in between.”

What is your attitude to the idea that European and Russian businesses have merged so much that the EU does not have courage to impose the required economic sanctions on Russia because of its aggression against Ukraine?

“This is what is not spoken out loud. It is a community of interests… You are like a child in a family where parents are divorcing.”