Archive for March, 2012

 

Don’t Imprison Your Hope for Change

Posted on: March 29th, 2012 by Hayim Herring
Rusted Chain

from Peter van den Hamer on Fotopedia

What is the psychological process by which people who are free allow themselves to become subjugated by another? Sometimes the answer is clear: you wake up one morning and see a military patrol rolling down your street. But that’s not the case that interests me for the moment. What I would like to understand better is how people who are free gradually surrender some of their freedoms so that after a period of time, they can no longer recall what it means to be free.

That is one of the questions I’m thinking about as Passover approaches.

Classical rabbinic sources are replete with hypotheses on this question.  After all, the Israelites did not become slaves overnight.  Their enslavement was a process that took place over a long period of time until the erosion of freedom was complete.  There were clearly external forces that limited the Israelites’ freedom. But there were also inner forces that enabled their acceptance of these limitations.

Often, organizations and individuals confuse external restraints – those that are beyond their control – with inner restraints that they impose upon themselves.  They attribute their powerlessness, their inability to change their situation, to forces outside of themselves even though they still have more ability to act then they choose to admit.  They internalize these external restraints and over time may even make themselves prisoners of their own fears of using the power that they have to change their situation.

Whether you are a volunteer or professional leader, here’s a question to think about as you prepare for Passover: what situation in your organization do you actually have the ability to change, because you now recognize that what you thought were external constraints are actually self-imposed?

Chag Kasher v’Sameach,

Rabbi Hayim Herring

When Leaders Corrupt their Culture

Posted on: March 14th, 2012 by Hayim Herring
Mori Tower

From "Not Quite a Photographr" on Flickr

If Greg Smith, a Goldman Sachs executive who resigned today in an Op-Ed in the New York Times, is correct, his former employer is corrupt to the core. Its leaders have violated the trust of their clients and traded professional integrity for profits. Smith voiced commonly held beliefs about big bankers. What made his critique so devastating is that it came from an insider.

One of Smith’s roles was to recruit students for Goldman Sachs’s coveted summer internships. One of his more telling comments was: “I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work.” Clearly, he couldn’t look at himself in the mirror, either.

In this week’s Torah reading, Vayakhel-Pekudei (Exodus 35:1-40:38), Moses calls the Israelites to build the mishkan, the traveling tabernacle, and the people give generously to accomplish the goal. In last week’s reading, Ki Tissa (30:11-34:35), the people also contribute abundantly, but their donations go toward building the golden calf.

Why do they give for a noble cause in this week’s reading and a debased caused in last week’s reading? The answer can be reduced to one word: leadership. Aaron allowed himself to be corrupted by the people, but Moses had the strength to keep them focused on higher aspirations. That’s what genuine leaders do.

As Smith reminds us, the integrity of any organization or enterprise always depends upon those leading it. That is an inevitable truth.

Reminder to Leaders: Self-Deception is Dangerous

Posted on: March 9th, 2012 by Hayim Herring
Smashed Ten Commandments

Image courtesy of davidwesterfield.net

I recall the saying that truly righteous people are not those who don’t deceive others, but who don’t deceive themselves (and if anyone can help me with a citation, I would appreciate it!). If you’ve ever been in a position of leadership, you’ve probably encountered a situation where you haven’t been completely honest with yourself about a leadership decision. You had a tough choice to make and instead of making the hard choice, you rationalized an easier one. These are difficult situations, where we struggle with our integrity. But experience shows that despite the difficulty, it’s better to be honest with the people who have entrusted you with leadership than to rationalize making an easier decision and engage in self-deception in the process.

The classic example is in this week’s Torah reading, Ki Tissa (Exodus 30:11-34:35). Moses is up on Mount Sinai preparing to bring the Ten Commandments to the people. But the people believe that he will not return and worry that they will be bereft of a leader. In a state of panic, they turn to Aaron, the brother Moses temporarily placed in charge, and persuade him to fashion a god. (According to some Biblical scholars, a possible reason for a calf or young bull is that it was used as a pedestal on which a god stood.) Aaron capitulates with the justification that they will be used as part of a festival offering to God, while the people, who as slaves to Egyptians witnessed a cult of idolatry, worship them as gods.

You can almost reconstruct Aaron’s rationalization. “Moses is delayed, so I’m going to buy time. I’ll collect gold from the people and create these divine symbols.” But the people interpreted the symbols as actual gods, which Aaron should have anticipated. Aaron did have another option. He could have refused the people, despite the potential danger of facing an angry mob if he did so. And if he had, he would have saved himself and the people a heavy punishment.

If you are in a leadership position, you know that it’s simply not possible to make the right choice every single time. But whenever you feel that you’re risking your integrity by rationalizing a decision, it’s best to pause and think again.

Stop Meeting Malaise and Board Boredom

Posted on: March 1st, 2012 by Hayim Herring
Tapping a Pencil

From Rennett Stowe On flickr

If you’re a staff member of an organization or synagogue, three dreaded words are “weekly staff meeting.” If you’re a board member, you may not have the same feeling about attending scheduled board meetings, but being at one is probably not on your Top 10 favorite things to do. Why do we allow ourselves to suffer often from board boredom and meeting malaise?

Board and staff meetings are unfulfilling because they are unproductive. Updates that could happen electronically take up too much meeting time. Information that only a couple of people need monopolize staff discussions. Even when meetings are run efficiently, they are not necessarily productive. That’s because essential, strategic issues that require multiple perspectives are not discussed. Instead, meetings become focused on the here and now–here’s how we did it the last time, and now we’re going to do it this way (which is often only incrementally different). The result—people at meeting develop inventive surreptitious ways to check email on their smart phones.

So here’s a challenge for you: cut your meetings by 30% on a trial basis of 6 months. That decrease can take different forms. It can mean shortening existing meetings by 30% or decreasing the number of meetings on your calendar by that number.  I can’t guarantee it, but it’s highly probable that you will be much more happy and productive.

For more ideas on how to make the most of meetings, you can read my new book, Tomorrow’s Synagogue Today. Creating Vibrant Centers of Jewish Life.

B’shalom,

Rabbi Hayim Herring