For over 35 years, The Abelson Group has been a trusted partner to organizations, helping them transform their people, teams, and leadership to achieve extraordinary results. Specializing in hiring, coaching, personal development, leadership, and team-building solutions, The Abelson Group helps clients exceed their goals. The company combines award-winning training, highly regarded consulting, and respected psychological assessments to deliver measurable results.

At the heart of The Abelson Group’s approach is a deep understanding of what it calls an organization’s or individual’s “pathology”, the unique dynamics, culture, and written or unwritten rules that shape behaviors and interactions. By identifying these patterns, The Abelson Group helps clients understand people, navigate complex dynamics, and foster stronger, more effective relationships within teams and organizations.

Over the years, The Abelson Group has served thousands of clients across more than 20 industries, primarily in North America. Services are delivered through online and in-person education and training, the Abelson Learning Resource Network (A-LRN), and certifications including DISC, Motivators, and Emotional Intelligence. The company has contributed to hundreds of consulting projects, covering human resources, team building, change management, and strategic planning.

With over 650,000 psychological assessments sold and serviced, The Abelson Group is a recognized leader in North American assessment solutions. Recent accolades include being one of TTI Success Insights Top Sales Performers, and being recognized as a Top Emotional Intelligence Service Provider, Top Team Building Service Provider, and SHRM® Recertification Provider. The Abelson Group continues to combine decades of experience, innovative tools, and practical insight to help clients transform their people and organizations.

The Abelson Group offers assessment tools like DISC and Motivators and team-development programs. What are the core services you provide to organizations and how do they address today’s leadership and performance challenges? 

We offer incredibly accurate assessment tools that measure staff behaviors, motivators, emotional intelligence, stress, and leadership.  Our assessments become extremely useful and come alive via our award-winning training and consulting which maximizes our tools and our clients’ staff.

What distinguishes your approach or methodology from other human-resources consulting firms—what would you say is uniquely “The Abelson Group” way? 

The Abelson Group stands out from other HR consulting firms through several distinctive competences. Dr. Abelson, our founder and CEO, holds advanced degrees in both psychology and business management, unlike most consultants who typically have one or the other but not both. He combines his experience as a therapist, educator, and management consultant to help clients effectively address people issues at all organizational levels. Using his deep understanding of human psychology, the capabilities and limits of our assessments, and how to engage client staff, he helps make management and leadership goals a reality. While most consultants focus on solving issues, he first identifies the real problems and then applies over 50 years of experience to deliver impeccable solutions.

How do you see leadership evolving in organizations today, and how does your organization prepare current or emerging leaders for those changes? 

Dr. Abelson, also known as Dr. A, has developed two leadership theories. The Participatory Benevolent Dictatorship shows leaders how to: 1) be caring, respectful, and benevolent to others; 2) promote sharing of thoughts and ideas and reward participation; and 3) be assertive, act with urgency, and express conviction through decisions. S/he can be assertive or even dictatorial when needed, yet also admit being wrong, redirects, and remains open to others’ suggestions. The leader’s objective is to be successful, not always right.

We also integrate Dr. Abelson’s second leadership theory; Charismatic Leadership. Effective Participatory Benevolent Dictators display many of the 20+ characteristics of charismatic leaders. Charismatic individuals inspire others to follow, admire, trust, emulate, and seek their admiration. Combining these two theories creates transformational and visionary leaders, and we offer programs that teach people how to lead this way.

With many firms turning to digital tools and remote work, how is The Abelson Group adapting its services and delivery models to remain effective and relevant? 

We have been a virtual organization with staff across Texas for over 20 years. The remote work model is second nature to us. Our assessments have always been digital tools, and we have long operated in the digital and remote workspace. Increasingly, our clients prefer more of their training and consulting delivered virtually. While the experience differs from in-person sessions, we didn’t win over a dozen educational awards by delivering training like others; we don’t. We ensure engagement, participation, and connection with clients and their staff, no matter how remote or digital the delivery. People learn from experience, not just words, and we build experience into everything we do.

What metrics or methods does The Abelson Group use to measure the effectiveness and impact of its programs on client organizations? 

We use many different metrics and measurement methods. Our training has a brief, but revealing set of survey questions. We regularly get unsolicited testimonials. Our business grows mostly through referrals with many people telling us how The Abelson Group, and what we do, has changed their lives in positive ways. We find that most clients do not want a formal evaluation. When they do, we recommend they use their evaluation method, and request a copy of it so we can see client evaluations and learn from them. 

Could you share one significant success story where your assessment tools or team-development services produced transformational results for a client? 

We do a lot of team building, a lot! On several occasions, we’ve started team projects facing extensive internal conflict. Sometimes we enter organizations with multiple groups that must operate as one team but instead compete through intense power struggles. In every case, we assess the people, identify the true conflicts and their causes, and then cooperatively begin a process that soon results in all parties working as one. If you have a difficult team situation, challenge us. You may be very surprised by the outcome.

Looking ahead, what key trends or future opportunities do you believe will shape the performance-management and leadership-development space — and how is your company positioning itself for them? 

AI is all the craze. People are concerned that AI will replace them, but we do not fear it replacing us. We embrace AI. It still can’t do what we do. Our clients who work with us also use AI to better maximize our reports, and we show them how to do that. When we conduct team building, no AI can replace us until it is integrated into robots that can fully see and process all the nonverbal stimulation within the team or group involved in the consultation. This will occur in the not-so-distant future, and when that day comes, we will adjust to it. The best organizations are nimble, have a culture that embraces change, and the confidence to succeed no matter what challenges arise. We believe that is our culture.

Dr. Michael Abelson- Founder & CEO

Dr. Michael Abelson has worked with organizations for over 50 years. He is an Emeritus Professor of Management at Texas A&M University (retired), where he was a multiple award-winning professor, teaching more than 50,000 undergraduates and tens of thousands of graduate students and executives. He was also the most active presenter at the College of Business Center for Executive Development, experiences he leveraged to found The Abelson Group in 1986. Since then, he has worked with executives across more than 20 industries.

Under his leadership, The Abelson Group has sold over 650,000 assessments, trained thousands of trainers, coaches, and executives, and contributed to hundreds of consulting projects. Dr. Abelson has also led more than a dozen nonprofit organizations, been quoted in over 100 publications, and authored over 100 articles, books, and book chapters. He resides in Austin, TX, where he enjoys time with his two daughters and three grandchildren, who regularly visit and share lively conversations with him.

“The Abelson Group leverages decades of expertise to understand organizational dynamics, address core challenges, and empower leaders and teams to achieve sustained growth and excellence.”