Bibi Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, has a master’s degree from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Last week, a close friend of mine sent me a satirical presentation on how successful companies often wither through poor management of human resources. In brief: –

An ant was known to be happy and productive working on its own. So the lion boss wondered how much more could be achieved with a supervisor, providing direction. So the cockroach supervisor, oh and its secretary, drew up wonderful and pretty reports, helped by the new IT department.

The lion decided that the whole structure needed to be controlled, which led to the recruitment of further staff and resources. But nobody was happy as there was too much paperwork and too many meetings to attend, while production levels remained static.

So the lion turned to the owl for its suggestions. And the wise old bird declared that the organisation was overstaffed. So guess who was the first to go and why???? The ant…for lack of motivation, which had impacted on others.

And what is the connection to the Israeli mouse? For all Bibi’s experience as former leader of the opposition and a previous term as Prime Minister, he has appointed a government of 30 ministers and 9 deputies – for a population of 7.5 million and 120 members of the Kenesset.

This large team, in the space of less than 3 months, has managed to: –

• Oversee a serious deteriation in realtions with the USA, Israel’s most important ally
• Watch placidly as economic and academic boycott’s of Israel continue to sprout up
• Initiate a strong budget, which was replaced at the whim of Bibi’s own economic advisor and with the connivance of the trades union organisation. 

The result? Well, no result. Confusion, fear, lack of leadership.

It is time, now, for Bibi to show the country what management skills he really posseses. In the months ahead, the choices and the decisions will only grow far more difficult. Either Bibi puts his team to better use, replacing rhetoric with actions, or he dumps them. Then we will see if Bibi really knows how to handle the ants of Israel.