Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt
DR. ELIYAHU GOLDRATT – ODYSSEY CREATOR
Dr. Goldratt, creator of Theory of Constraints, was an educator, author, scientist, philosopher, and business leader. But he was, first and foremost, a thinker who provoked others to think. Often characterized as unconventional, stimulating, and “a slayer of sacred cows,” Dr. Goldratt, the creator of “Theory of Constraints”, was an educator, author, scientist, philosopher, and business leader. But he was, first and foremost, a thinker who provoked others to think. Dr. Goldratt always challenged us to have the courage to face inconsistencies within what we expected (to see or have) and reality and then to challenge our own assumptions (about what is possible and how best to achieve it), which could be limiting us from closing these gaps within both our personal lives and for our organizations.
His first book, “The Goal,” published in 1984, has sold over 5 million copies and has become mandatory reading for MBA and Operations Management programs around the world. Since then, he authored 11 more books on Theory of Constraints, with his most recent, “The Choice” and “Isn’t it Obvious?” published in 2009 and 2010.
Dr. Goldratt was the founder and chairman of the Goldratt Group that consists of Goldratt Marketing, Goldratt Consulting, Goldratt Schools and Goldratt Research Labs. Dr. Goldratt is also the founder of TOC for Education, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the simple yet powerful mindset and methods of TOC to students and teachers.
Although formally retired since 1998, Dr. Goldratt continued writing, consulting, lecturing and challenging himself and others to “think like scientists” to solve important problems and show how to make the impossible possible until he passed away in June 2011. Dr. Goldratt initiated the Odyssey Program in the early 1990’s, initially targeted at young adults, but later opened to anyone that want to experience the power of applying the TOC thinking processes to identify and challenge limiting assumptions that block them from resolving stressful expectation gaps and conflicts and/or setting and achieving their life goal.