Schools talk a lot about the importance of mission and vision, though understanding the ways in which this matters in practice is more subtle, and frankly, took me quite a while to appreciate. Many schools I’ve seen can function pretty well without a clear mission or vision. Sometimes it’s because they have a legacy culture…
Category: Leadership
John D’Auria – Ten Lessons in Leadership and Learning
I was at a planning meeting for the Day School Leadership Training Institute, a program for upcoming or new Heads of Jewish Day Schools, where I am a mentor. We were doing some ‘get to know you’ questions, and one of them was, “What book have you read more than once?”. The person who chose…
The main thing is to make sure the main thing is always the main thing
“The main thing is to make sure the main thing is always the main thing.” I heard this in an interview with Ravi Gupta, a partner at the VC firm Sequoia Capital, on the The Knowledge Project podcast. He was speaking about it both in terms of leadership, and in particular, family. They were talking…
Onward – Howard Schultz
I do love Starbucks coffee (just regular coffee with a bit of cream – nothing fancy), though that was only a very small reason why I read Onward, by Howard Schultz. Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, had stepped away as CEO in the early 2000s, only to return to that role in 2008 when the…
The Mirror of Leadership
The timing was fortuitous. We were driving into New York to see family, and listened to the 18Forty podcast interview with Rabbi Yissy Kaminetsky, the Rosh Yeshiva of DRS, an all-boys yeshiva high school in Long Island. Now, when I finish a podcast I just go straight to the next one, but my wife has…
The Six Types of Working Genius – Patrick Lencioni
Ever since I read The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni, I’ve been a big fan of his work. Lencioni is a consultant who focuses on improving workplaces and organizational culture. He’s lucid, easy to read, and always makes intuitive sense to me as a leadership practitioner. Almost all of his books are…
Sustainability and the Headship – A Prizmah Conference Reflection
I spent the first part of this week at the Prizmah conference, a gathering of over 1000 Jewish day school professionals that happens every two years. It was motivating and energizing to be with so many liked-minded idealistic fellow Jewish educators, who are so deeply engaged in this holy work. The conversation I had most…
Being Present: A Leadership Challenge
Midlife: A Philosophical Guide by Kieran Setiya is not a book I felt strongly enough to put on my Monday Morning reading list. However, there are a couple of ideas that I found very helpful and powerful, and want to think through here. They speak to aspects of leadership rarely discussed, having to do with…
The Unique Wexner/Davidson Community – Dvar Torah
When I was accepted as a Wexner/Davidson Fellow as part of my doctoral work in 2009, a friend of mine, who had just finished her time in the Fellowship said to me, “The Wexner experience is going to change your life!”. The truth is that I didn’t believe her – but she turned out to…