Isaac Getz

Isaac Getz is an author, conference speaker, and currently holds the post of Professor at ESCP Business School. He specializes in the areas of organizational behavior, leadership and organizational transformation and has been instrumental for the corporate liberation movement involving hundreds of companies and institutions. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

Biography

In 2009, he co-published the book Freedom, Inc. with Brian M. Carney, which introduced the concept of “freedom-based company” or “liberated company”. Based on the field study of several dozen companies, such as W. L. Gore, USAA, Harley Davidson, Sun Hydraulics, Richards Group, IDEO, Chaparral Steel, FAVI, and SOL, it described the role of corporate—liberating—leaders to build organizational environment based on freedom and responsibility. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8]} The revised and expanded edition has been published in 2016. Book’s editions have also appeared in Sweden, Hungary, Czech Republic, France, Netherlands, India, Israel, China, Romania, Italy, Spain, South Korea, and Japan. In France, it has won the Best Business Strategy Book award in 2013.

In 2019, he co-published the book L'entreprise altruiste with Laurent Marbacher, which introduced the concept of the “altruistic enterprise”. ^{[9] [10]}

In November 2025, he co-published with Laurent Marbacher The Caring Company: How to Shift Business and the Economy for Good (Wiley). ^{[11] [12] [13]} Grounded in a multi-year study spanning several sectors and three continents, the book combines insights from history, economics, psychology and philosophy with contemporary cases. These companies are neither social enterprises nor nonprofit organizations, but genuine players in the market economy, some of which are large, publicly traded multinationals. ^[14] Thinkers50 shortlisted this book for its Breakthrough Idea Award. ^[15]

Publications

• Isaac Getz (Ed.), Créativité organisationnelle, Paris, Vuibert, 2002, 160p. ( ISBN   2-7117-6987-9); texts by Teresa Amabile, James Averill, Todd Lubart, Robert Sternberg, and others.
• Isaac Getz & Alan Robinson, Vos idées changent tout ! [Your ideas change everything], Paris, Éd. d'Organisation, 2003 (2nd edition, 2007), 209 p. ( ISBN   2-7081-2871-X); editions in German, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish.
• Brian M. Carney & Isaac Getz, Freedom, Inc., ^{[16] [17] [18] [19] [20]} New York, Crown Business/Random House, 2009, 304 p. ( ISBN   978-2-08-138021-9) (revised and expanded edition, Argo Navis/Perseus Books, 2016), 400 p. ( ISBN   978-2-08-138021-9)
• La liberté, ça marche ! ^[21] [Freedom works!], Paris, Flammarion, 2016, ( ISBN   978-2-0813-8021-9) (expanded edition, 2020), 374 p. ( ISBN   978-0-7867-5635-3); texts by James MacGregor Burns, Robert Greenleaf, Max De Pree, Bill Gore, Bob Koski, Robert Townsend, Bob Davids, John Wooden, Robert McDermott, Ricardo Semler, and others.
• L'entreprise libérée [Liberated company], ^[22] Paris, Fayard, 2017, ( ISBN   978-2-213-70540-8) (expanded edition, 2019), 482p. ( ISBN   978-2-818-50587-8)
• Robert Davids, Brian M. Carney & Isaac Getz, Leadership Without Ego, ^{[23] [24] [25]} London, Palgrave MacMillan, 2019, 191 p. ( ISBN   978-3-030-00322-7); editions in French and Spanish.
• Isaac Getz & Laurent Marbacher, L'entreprise altruiste ^{[26] [27] [28] [4]} [The altruistic enterprise], Paris, Albin Michel, 2019, 528 p. ( ISBN   978-2-226-44381-6); edition in Chinese prefaced by Zhang Ruimin.
• Isaac Getz (Summer 2009), « Liberating Leadership: How the Initiative-Freeing Radical Organizational Form Has Been Successfully Adopted », California Management Review, Vol 51, N°4, pp. 32–58, on cmr.ucpress.edu (Retrieved May 10, 2017).
• Isaac Getz (March 2011), « 1960s’ Lessons Learned: Liberating Leadership and Transformational Scholarship», Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol 20, N°1, pp. 8–12 , on promostudio.info (Retrieved January 2, 2018).
• Isaac Getz (2019), The transformation: How Michelin redefined the twenty-first century industrial corporation, in The Transformation Playbook: Insights, Wisdom and Best Practices to Make Transformation Reality, ^[29] Wargrave, UK: Brightline/Thinkers50, pp. 74–78 ( ISBN   978-1-999-31572-6), on brightline.org. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
• Isaac Getz and Laurent Marbacher (Autumn 2020), A lesson in creating successful companies that care , Strategy+Business, Issue 100, pp 28–31. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
• Isaac Getz et Laurent Marbacher, The Caring Company : How to Shift Business and the Economy for Good, New York, Wiley, 2025.
• Isaac Getz; Gilles Arnaud (25 June 2024). "The liberated company theoretical concept: current issues and the intimidating complexity of organizational design". Journal of Organization Design. 13. p. 125–145.

Awards and distinctions

• The article "Liberating Leadership: How the initiative-freeing radical organizational form has been successfully adopted", California Management Review received the Academic Award from SYNTEC Management Consulting in 2010 for the best article of a French researcher in the category “Management / Human Resources / Organization". ^{[30] [31]}
• The 2016 study by FNEGE (French national foundation for management education) of 1600 French managers ranked Isaac Getz as the fourth most influential living author in the world, in the field of management. ^{[32] [33] [3]}
• Thinkers50 have shortlisted Isaac’s work on corporate liberation for its 2019 Breakthrough Idea Award ^[34] and on the caring company for its 2025 Breakthrough Idea Award ^[35] .
• Marconi Institute for Creativity, part of the Fondazione Guglielmo Marconi gave Isaac Getz the 2020 Marconi Creativity Award for "his groundbreaking work on creative organizational approaches based on freedom and altruism." ^[36]

Notes and references

1. "Isaac Getz, "Hierarchies are unnatural – it's time for a liberating revolution", in People Management". www2.cipd.co.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2017.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
2. "Andrew Hill, "Power to the workers: Michelin's great experiment"". Financial Times. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
3. "Adam Gale, "Employee engagement: The French way", Management Today, January 24, 2017". www.managementtoday.co.uk. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
4. "Andrew Hill, "Why the future of ESG is at a crossroads"". Financial Times. 7 September 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
5. "How Labor Is Liberated". WSJ. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
6. Schramm, Carl J. (19 October 2009). "Capitalist Liberation". Forbes. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
7. "Bill Gore's Formula for Failure". strategy+business. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
8. "Brian Carney & Isaac Getz, "Give Your Team the Freedom to Do the Work They Think Matters Most"". Harvard Business Review online. Archived from the original on 17 September 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
9. Andrew Hill (7 September 2022). "Why the future of ESG is at a crossroads". Financial Times.
10. Sam Haddad (24 March 2023). "Could ignoring the bottom line be the route to resilience?". raconteur.net.
11. Andrew Hill; Samuel Agini; Jonathan Moules; Leo Cremonezi; Andrew Jack (2025). "Business books: what to read this month". Financial Times.
12. "Book Excerpt: The Caring Company". The Philadelphia Citizen. December 1, 2025.
13. "Isaac Getz & Laurent Marbacher: Why the Caring Company Model Builds Trust That Lasts" (podcast). Ideas for Leaders. December 5, 2025.
14. "Behind the Book: The Caring Company with Professor Isaac Getz". ESCP Business School. December 4, 2025.
15. "Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award Shortlist". Linkedin - Thinkers50. August 11, 2025.
16. "How Labor Is Liberated". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
17. Carl J. Schramm. "Capitalist Liberation". Forbes. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
18. Paul B. Brown (28 October 2009). "Helpful Hints From the Printed Page". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
19. David DesRosiers. "Publisher's Picks: Top Books of 2009". RealClearMarkets . Retrieved 20 August 2020.
20. Harvey Schachter (27 January 2010). "Freedom: the avenue to employee engagement Freer workers are better workers". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
21. Régine Turmeau (14 September 2016). "4 idées à retenir de " La liberté, ça marche ! "". Les Echos . Retrieved 2 September 2020.
22. Christophe Bys (19 January 2018). "Interview management". L'Usine Nouvelle . Retrieved 1 September 2020.
23. Régine Turmeau (29 May 2019). "Les 7 idées de... " Leadership sans ego "". Les Echos . Retrieved 1 September 2020.
24. Sally Percy. "Five Insightful Business Books To Read During Covid-19". Forbes. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
25. Isaac Getz. "Real leaders need to lose the ego". Management Today. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
26. Margherita Nasi. "Comment lier entreprise et progrès social". Le Monde .
27. Bruno Jacquot. "L'altruisme, stade suprême du capitalisme". Le Figaro .
28. Isaac Getz & Laurent Marbacher. "Altruism can be good for business, as these companies show". World Economic Forum . Retrieved 9 September 2020.
29. "Brightline Publishes New Books to Support Leaders on Understanding and Delivering Transformation Initiatives". financialpost.com. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
30. "Remise des trophées de la deuxième édition du prix académique Syntec Conseil en management". LExpansion.com (in French). 1 May 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
31. "Interview Isaac Getz - Freedom Incs". Youtube. 29 September 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
32. "M. Kalika, S. Liarte, & J. Moscarola, " Enquête FNEGE sur l'impact de la recherche en management "" (PDF). Fnege. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
33. "FNEGE study Top 50 Ranking" (PDF). Iseor-formations. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
34. "BUSINESS GURUS SHORTLISTED FOR THINKERS50 DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS" (PDF). thinkers50.com. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
35. Thinkers50 (11 August 2025). "Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award Shortlist". linkedin.com.
36. "MIC Conference 2020 programme" (PDF). Marconi Institute for Creativity. Retrieved 17 September 2020.

External links

• Isaac Getz official website
• Isaac Getz presentation on the site of ESCP Business School
• blog related to the book Freedom, Inc. and to corporate liberation movement