Boris Zlotin and Alla Zusman

From the authors

We grew up in the USSR under the communist regime. When we arrived in the United States in 1993, we were sure we would support the Democratic Party, considering it an antithesis to the communists. Doubts appeared when we began to understand better what was said on TV. The speeches of the Democrats and President Clinton in that remote 1993 somehow smelled of socialism.

Chapter 3. A Fish Stinks from the Head Down

This is an ancient Roman proverb. There is a known phenomenon in biology called parasitic zombification – the situation when parasites not just feed on their prey but also become its “superiors,” i.e., influence its actions and even its physiology in their own interests. The affected organism starts acting in the parasites’ interest without realizing all the harm and dangers this could cause.

Social Parkinson’s Disease

In 1998, a prestigious hospital purchased our software Innovation WorkBench® for solving inventive problems. They also requested a three-day workshop with the use of “computerized TRIZ[1]“ to obtain solutions to several problems in the process of training.

Dear readers! We are starting series of articles about the impact of bureaucracy and market on our lives, about their continuous cooperation and fight, about how creatively solve tasks of conquering bureaucracy in general in the country and in your personal life and workplace. We will try not to get you bored, so you can acquire maximum advantage from our papers. Wish you all the best!