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“My heart was in a cage. My life was a long struggle to find happiness, to overcome fear, and to find love I had lost. I did not give up, and that is what my story is about.” — Dr. Ichak K. AdizesSeeing every challenge as an opportunity for growth, Dr. Ichak Adizes moved beyond a childhood marked by imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp and immigration to an unfamiliar country to discover the benefits of opening his heart.
Rejecting isolation and fear, he became a renowned thought leader who advises companies and governments worldwide on structuring thriving organizations around a culture of trust and respect.
Dr. Adizes’s personal story is more than a string of external events that propelled him through adversity after adversity to become the insightful, compassionate person he is today. It is also a map of his journey into a heart which, like the accordion that he played to earn a living and put himself through school, ultimately expanded and opened up to the universal truths that connect us all in our humanity.
The Accordion Player is a compelling account of a remarkable life—an unvarnished view of a man whose decision to recognize the value of change and creative conflict allowed him to love. His story reveals the enduring human ability to turn possibility into reality.
List of contents
Introduction ix
Foreword xii
PART I
CAGING THE HEART
Preface 3
A Sudden Silence 9
My Pain 19
The Jews of Spain 27
Fugitives 33
The Jewish Will to Survive 39
Stray Bullets 45
The Risk He Would Take 51
Peace Is Coming 59
In Search of Home 67
The Accordion Player 73
Sailing to Freedom 81
My Lost Family 87
Foreign Again 93
White Spots 101
Walking on Hot Coals 109
Serving the Germans 115
Follow Your Heart 119
PART II
CAGED HEART
America 129
Live and Let Live 137
Unexpected Help 145
Hungry in America 153
Becoming Jewish 161
I Used to Live Here 165
Hypnotized 173
Is That All There Is? 177
Being First 185
Someone Wants Me 195
Would I Make It? 201
Helping Others While Failing Myself 207
Healing Organizations 213
What to Ask and When 219
What Kept Me Going 225
The One-Eyed Man 231
A Change Has a Price 239
The Price to Pay for Success 247
Symbols That Imprison 253
What’s in a Name? 263
PART III
OPENING THE CAGE
Making a Wish 273
On the Spur of the Moment 281
Facing the Wounds 289
My Enemies, My Friends 293
Heaven and Hell 301
Seek the Light in Your Heart 307
Kissing the Marble 313
Epilogue 321
Postscript 327
Documentary 331
Afterword 333
About the Author 334
Acknowledgements 335
Praise for the Adizes Methodology 337
The Adizes Institute 340
Published Works 342
About the author
Ichak Adizes, Ph.D. is the creator of the Adizes Symbergetic™ Methodology for Managing Change and the founder of the Adizes Institute Worldwide.
Leadership Excellence magazine named him one of the “Top Thirty Thought Leaders,” and
PRovoke (formerly the
Holmes Report) named him one of the “Best Communicators
Among World Leaders,” alongside Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama. He is an international best-selling author of 28 books translated into 36 languages.
Summary
“My heart was in a cage. My life was a long struggle to find happiness, to overcome fear, and to find love I had lost. I did not give up, and that is what my story is about.” — Dr. Ichak K. Adizes
Seeing every challenge as an opportunity for growth, Dr. Ichak Adizes moved beyond a childhood marked by imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp and immigration to an unfamiliar country to discover the benefits of opening his heart.
Rejecting isolation and fear, he became a renowned thought leader who advises companies and governments worldwide on structuring thriving organizations around a culture of trust and respect.
Dr. Adizes’s personal story is more than a string of external events that propelled him through adversity after adversity to become the insightful, compassionate person he is today. It is also a map of his journey into a heart which, like the accordion that he played to earn a living and put himself through school, ultimately expanded and opened up to the universal truths that connect us all in our humanity.
The Accordion Player is a compelling account of a remarkable life—an unvarnished view of a man whose decision to recognize the value of change and creative conflict allowed him to love. His story reveals the enduring human ability to turn possibility into reality.
