About Avi Kluger

Avi Kluger is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he has been a faculty member since 1994 and directed the Executive MBA program from 2010 to 2014.

He was born in Tel Aviv in 1958 to Holocaust survivors. He is married, a father of three children (one deceased), and a grandfather.

His early work showed that feedback — even positive feedback — can reduce performance. As he puts it: “Feedback is about telling someone about their current and expected behavior. This telling often backfires.” That finding led him to develop alternatives to traditional performance feedback, and to study the power of listening.

Today his research examines how high-quality listening shapes thinking, learning, relationships, psychological safety, contribution, and performance. He has developed a holistic listening training program and delivers it worldwide.