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

Hence the significance of one remarkable feature of Judaism: its principled insistence – like no other civilisation before – on the dignity and integrity of the individual. We believe that every human being is in the image and likeness of God. The sages said that every life is like an entire universe (Mishna Sanhedrin 4:4). The Rambam says that eac

That is why we chose to express our mission in the form of a question: will we have Jewish grandchildren?

Joseph had in double measure one of the necessary gifts of a leader: the ability to keep going despite opposition, envy, false accusation, and repeated setbacks. Every leader who stands for anything will face opposition. This may be a genuine conflict of interests. A leader elected to make society more equitable will almost certainly win the suppor

Leaders must sometimes silence their private emotions if they are not to demoralise those they lead.

It comes from doing the deed, day after day, year after year. Great companies use disciplines that are specific, methodical, and consistent. They encourage their people to be self-disciplined and responsible. They do not overreact to change, be it for good or bad. They keep their eye on the far horizon. Above all, they do not depend on heroic, char

Perhaps the most profound and unexpected lesson I learned in the course of those twenty-two years was that leadership is not only about what you achieve by it. It is what you become because of it. Leading forces you to develop muscles you did not know you had. It changes you. It gives you strength and courage and the willingness to take risks. It t

French literary theorist and anthropologist Rene Girard called mimetic desire, meaning, we want what someone else wants, because we want to be that someone else.

Great leaders, be they CEOs or simply parents, have the ability to connect a large vision with highly specific details. Without the vision, the details are merely tiresome.

A leader is one who takes responsibility. Leadership is born when we become active rather than passive, when we do not wait for someone else to act because perhaps there is no one else – at least not here, not now. When bad things happen, some avert their eyes. Some wait for others to act. Some blame others for failing to act. Some simply complain.