What Management Hears—but Too Often Fails to Understand
אָזְנַיִם לָהֶם, וְלֹא יִשְׁמָעוּ

I speak three languages fluently—Hebrew, French, and English. I can read Spanish reasonably well (though I don’t speak it), and when I overhear a conversation in Arabic, I usually grasp the essence.

Russian, however, is different.

Since the large-scale immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel, Russian has been part of the soundscape of daily life—on buses, in offices, in cafés. I have heard it constantly for decades. And yet, I do not understand a single word. Not one. Despite exposure, despite familiarity, it simply does not register.

That realization led me to a broader question—one that is deeply relevant to leadership and organizational life:

What does management hear, again and again, without truly understanding?

French offers a useful distinction here. One can écouter—to listen in a technical sense—without entendre: without grasping meaning, implication, or urgency. Many leaders écoutent. Far fewer truly entendent.

Below is my attempt to articulate the messages that organizations repeatedly send upward—and that management often hears, but does not fully absorb:

1. The timelines are unrealistically aggressive.
   Current schedules are aspirational, not analytical. They reflect hope rather than planning.

2. Releasing this version prematurely risks reputational damage.
   Speed is not always a virtue; credibility, once lost, is difficult to regain.

3. We cannot recruit effectively at these compensation levels.
   Entry-level salaries signal how much we truly value talent.

4. Several key contributors are actively looking elsewhere.
   This is not noise—it is an early warning system. People are, in fact, our greatest asset.

5. Employees from the acquisition completed a year ago are disengaging.
   Integration is not a legal event; it is a long psychological process which often fails.

6. If frontline employees are not convinced, execution will fail.
   Decisions that are not “sold” internally rarely survive contact with reality.

7. Diversity is not a moral luxury—it improves results.
   Heterogeneous teams consistently outperform homogeneous ones when properly led.

8. The lack of cooperation between Units A and B is not structural.
   It is not about roles or charts—it is about trust.

9. Trust, once damaged, is extraordinarily hard to restore.
   If leadership withholds or distorts the truth, skepticism will persist long after the facts change.

10. After a downsizing, top performers begin to leave.
    They assume they are next—and unlike others, they have options.

These messages are not whispered. They are spoken clearly, repeatedly, and in good faith. And yet, too often, they fail to penetrate.

Which brings us back to the ancient insight from Psalms 115:6–7:

They have ears, but cannot hear;
and noses, but cannot smell.
They have hands, but cannot feel;
and feet, but cannot walk;
they cannot make a sound.

Leadership is not defined by access to information, dashboards, or briefings. It is defined by the capacity to entendre—to recognize meaning, risk, and human reality before consequences make them undeniable.

Hearing is easy.
Understanding is the work.