Comments

And your work ... saved me—as it saved countless others—from either descending into mindless "model building"—the disease that all but destroyed so many of the Business Schools in the last decades—or from sloppiness parading as 'insight.'

— Peter Drucker, Management Consultant

Russ was an inspiration and mentor to many of us, as one of the true pioneers of the systems perspective in management. For me Russ was an incisive, lifelong critic of the modern organizational form. He saw its limitations and argued for radical redesign. He advocated for major re-visioning and processes of change that started with helping people see what they truly valued and where they truly wanted to get, and then working backwards to see what it would take to get there. Anything less would simply lead to naive incrementalism, where 90% of what had been would be preserved while people tinkered around the edges with change that would never amount to "too much change."

— Peter Senge, MIT Sloan

The range, depth, and perspectives of these essays of classic writings on management illustrate, once again, Russ Ackoff's unique genius.

— Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor, USC

I am struck by Russell Ackoff's no-nonsense language…he forces me to face basic business issues that I would rather … bury under some modish fads… yet, again he makes me think about solutions before these issues have become tomorrow's basic business crises.

— Arie de Geus, Royal Dutch Shell

His book Redesigning Society is an important, original treatise on all the critical problems of our time. No one treats complex problems better than Ackoff…

— Ian Mitroff, Professor Emeritus, USC

The book Ackoff's Fables is vintage Ackoff. Like fine wine it should be sipped slowly, savored thoughtfully for maximum enjoyment, and inhaled deeply. This will stimulate your thought buds, enhance your imagination and give you a new perspective on today's world. It's relaxing, entertaining and educational. Move over Aesop!

— Willis Winn, Dean at the Wharton School from 1958 to 1971, and Vice Provost of the University of Pennsylvania

Russell Ackoff…was a scholar of international renown, a sought-after consultant to business and government, a wise observer of human nature and a very nice man. He was an early proponent of what came to be called Systems Theory or what he preferred to call the theory of purposeful systems.

— Charles Handy, Chairman, Royal Society of Arts

Ackoff's Best captures the lucid and compelling explorations of one of the most profound and influential thinkers of our time.

— Ray Stata, Analog Devices

Russell Ackoff has been the master architect for strategic change in countless corporations over his career. Re-Creating the Corporation presents Ackoff's experiences and systems methodologies, which directly address the challenges by those who will lead change in the 21st century.

— James Emshoff, Emstar Research

Talking about Russ Ackoff is not an easy proposition. His uniqueness and multidimensionality defy conventional wisdom. He was forceful and yet kind; caring but not compromising; fearsome but dependable. For me, he was the epitome of wholeness, bringing complementary opposites into a harmonious whole.

— Jamshid Gharajedaghi, Villanova University and Interact

Russell Ackoff is almost a revolutionary, for having played a key role in the creation of a new paradigm for Operations Research, where Ackoff actively expanded lines of research, and where he has brilliant trajectory of almost 30 years. The majority of people that work in science are not involved in the building of a paradigm, but are fully involved in the research within it. Some are fortunate to begin a paradigm and a good idea, but very few have the capacity to see and work in two paradigms. Russell Ackoff is one of them. The two paradigms are Operations Research and Systems Science, the latter of which Ackoff gave birth to.

— Raul Carvajal, United States-Mexico Foundation for Science (FUMEC)