No one wakes up intending to build an apathetic organization.
Yet many leaders do exactly that — methodically, predictably, and at scale.
Here’s the playbook.
Tell people they can work from home as much as they want, as long as the job gets done.
Then act surprised when work becomes a contract, not a commitment.
Eliminate wasteful meetings — especially those unstructured conversations where people talk, wander, and connect.
Call it efficiency. What you’re actually cutting is trust.
Replace real conversations with WhatsApp, Slack, and chat threads.
Now everything is urgent, nothing is important, and no one feels heard.
Normalize checking phones while talking to one another.
You’ve just taught people that attention is optional and respect is negotiable.
Set aggressively unrealistic goals “to bring out the best.”
Add wellness programs to manage the damage.
This isn’t balance — it’s gaslighting.
Give the same task to multiple people and see who performs best.
You won’t get excellence. You’ll get internal competition and silent resentment.
Automate HR, travel, and logistics through global shared services.
Congratulations — support is now efficient, anonymous, and emotionally vacant.
Promote work–life balance — except for clients, boards, executives, and financial crises.
In other words: balance applies until power speaks.
Hire in kitchens and parking lots to prove your DEI credentials.
When symbolism replaces content, cynicism follows.
Never bend on compensation because “the system must be protected.”
The system survives. Loyalty does not.
Run difficult messages through PR until they’re smooth, safe, and empty.
People stop listening when they stop believing.
Acquire innovative companies and put them under middle management supervision.
That’s not integration. That’s suffocation.
None of these decisions are accidents.
They are choices.
And the message they send is crystal clear:
“Deliver results. Don’t expect meaning. Don’t expect fairness. And above all — don’t care too much.”
People hear that message.
They adjust.
And then leaders ask the most dangerous question of all:
“Why is everyone disengaged?”
אלון יקירי.
נראה לי שאתה הופך להיות נוסטלגי.
העולם מחליף מערכת הפעלה.
הקורונה והבינה המלאכותית הן שריפות היער של העצים הגדולים. מה שמאפשר לצמיחה של מודלים חדשים ואחרים. האם הם הבשילו? כנראה שלא.
יחד עם זאת הערגה לפעם לא באמת עוזרת לארגונים להבין את הצציאות החדשה. מפתיע אותי שיועץ שהיה פעם חדשן עם חשיבה מקורית שמתמחה בייעוץ להנהלות בכירות מתקשה להבין שאנחנו בשינוי טקטוני. מנהלים מחפשים שליטה. ובמודל החדש הם מרגישים שהשליטה ניטלת מהם. מסקרן אותי לדעת איך אלון ההוא, החדשן המקורי, היצירתי היה מגיב לאלון זכותה את הפוסט הזה. ????
Yossi we disagree.
Look how the service industry has been ravaged by digitalization.
Look at the buck-passing in organizations where 88 emails are sent to get one matter settled.
Try to settle a matter settled with a mother working from home and listen to her screaming children in the background as she fiddles around with a CRM that doesn’t give an answer to your needs.
Look how many failures occur due to blocked communication channels albeit the new techniques. Look at the ignored emails preceding Oct 7th.
I have never adapted any new OD fad as being necessarily better. I was one of the few who saw TQM as total nonsense given the way high tech companies make committments.
Oct 7th was proof positive that too much adaptation of new modes of communication were a HUGE mistake…they took scissors, cut the fence and fucked us. Despite the emails and technology.
Or perhaps, because of them,
That is NOT nostalgia. It;s a fact.
Great points Allon, and I agree with your comment.
Yossi, I think the issue here is that the “promise” of new technology, digitization, work from home, etc. hasn’t delivered. It hasn’t brought us closer together, made us more effective, built stronger relationships with additional touch-points, but quite the opposite, more disconnected, transactional, isolated. Easier to exploit.
That said, I believe that the value is in how we use the tools, what we model, measure, reward, and demonstrate for others. I.e. what kind of culture do we create and maintain? The vendors have their preferences, which are rarely if ever aligned with what’s best for people or workplaces. But we don’t have to do things the way the vendors want us to. The technology (and how it’s implemented) should support humanity and build a stronger workplace, rather than encourage people to check out and remain disconnected and disengaged. It’s up to us to see that it has the effect we want, not necessarily what the vendors want.
Another gem from you, Allon. So well articulated. Thank you for putting into words what many recognise but struggle to name.
Thanks Noel!