Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible (Covenant & Conversation Book 8)

Leadership, as every leader knows, can be lonely. Yet you continue to do what you have to do because you know that the majority is not always right and conventional wisdom is not always wise. Dead fish go with the flow. Live fish swim against the current. So it is with conscience and courage. So it is with the children of Abraham. They are prepared

I said: “I want you to live one word – celebrate.” She turned to me with a sigh: “You don’t understand – we have nothing to celebrate. Everything in the school is going wrong.” “In that case,” I replied, “find something to celebrate. If a single student has done better this week than last week, celebrate. If someone has a birthday, celebrate. If it

Leaders make mistakes. That is an occupational hazard of the role. Managers follow the rules, but leaders find themselves in situations for which there are no rules.

To offer help to those in need, hospitality to the lonely, or encouragement to those wrestling with difficulties, is to do a mitzva, a holy deed. It is to do what God does: He “supports the fallen, heals the sick, and releases those who are bound.” We can heal some of the wounds of this world. We can do something; and we should never be discouraged

On the face of it, the duty of the follower is to follow, and that of the disciple to learn. After all, Judaism commands almost unlimited respect for teachers.

Hence the unusual conclusion that in Judaism, followership is as active and demanding as leadership. We can put this more strongly: leaders and followers do not sit on opposite sides of the table. They are on the same side, the side of justice and compassion and the common good. No one is above criticism, and no one too junior to administer it, if

third case in a series of failures of responsibility. As we saw earlier, Adam and Eve failed to take personal responsibility for their actions (“It wasn’t me”). Cain refused to take moral responsibility (“Am I my brother’s keeper?”). Noah failed the test of collective responsibility.

Leaders sometimes try to “hold the team together” by saying different things to different people, but eventually these contradictions become clear – especially in the total transparency that modern media imposes – and the result is that the leader appears to lack integrity. People no longer trust his or her remarks. There is a loss of confidence an

Look down at the difficulties and you can give way to despair. The only way to sustain energies, individual or collective, is to turn our gaze up towards the far horizon of hope.