The Art of Managing Humans

The Art of Managing Humans: Management Practices that Actually Work is a practical, experience-driven guide to the complexities of modern organizational life. Its starting point is simple: business comes down to “people, product, and profits,” and people come first. Successful management, author Tsvika Abramovitch argues, fundamentally revolves around nurturing the relationship between employees and leadership.

The book is built around the Seesaw Model, a framework Abramovitch developed over more than three decades as a Chief Human Resources Officer at leading Israeli corporations. The model was born in the field, not in academia, and offers a practical way to manage employees. Working relationships are dynamic and constantly in motion, like a seesaw. Balance comes not from ignoring the swings, but from steady investment in transparency, employee involvement, development and attentiveness.

The book walks leaders through six stages: mapping strengths and weaknesses, in-depth assessment, analysis of findings, outdoor events and “smart games,” follow-up processes and work plans, and finally “fruit-bearing” investment in people. It also sets the model against the dramatic changes in the workplace over recent decades, from the submissive, lifelong employee of the 1950s–80s to today’s knowledgeable workforce, and the “revolution” brought on by the pandemic and remote work.