The Accordion Player: My Journey from Fear to Love

by Ichak K. Adizes

Overview

“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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798986048307
Publisher:	Ws Press
Publication date:	02/21/2023
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

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.

Table 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

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Ichak Adizes’s drive and smarts made a major contribution to better understanding human nature, especially human beings in personal and corporate environments. He developed a blueprint, a strategy, a process to improve human relations while at the same time increasing productivity and respect.” — Abraham Foxman, Former National Director of the Anti-Defamation League

"The Accordion Player: My Journey from Fear to Love is one of the best books I have read so far. Just like Man’s Search for
Meaning, written by Victor Frankl, who was also a Holocaust survivor, this book leaves a deep impression on the minds of the readers, inspiring them to overcome fear by embracing love." — Daaji, Spiritual guide of Heartfulness Meditation Worldwide

Interviews

“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