I’ve generally enjoyed Adam Grant’s book, and Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things, was no exception. Over the years he seems to have learned from Malcolm Gladwell’s writing style, and made the presentation of his ideas more engaging and less dense, relative to his earlier books. While some of the ideas in this…
Category: Leadership
Scott Fearon – Dead Companies Walking
Dead Companies Walking is a book by successful hedge fund manager, Scott Fearon, about how and why he shorts companies (i.e. bets on their failure, or at the very least, dramatic drop in share-price). But as someone who has never, and likely will never short a stock, I was not reading it for its practical…
Bonny Silver z’l
As with everyone who knew her, it was shocking to find out Motzei Shabbat about the passing of Bonny Silver z’l. The feeling that something is missing in my world still sits with me this morning. My heart is with the Silver family, praying for their comfort amongst the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. I…
Saving Our Kids – A Reflection on the Tikvah Foundation’s Jewish Schools and Technology Summit
I love being able to come home from a conference feeling full from having learned so much! Sunday and Monday I was joined by Daniella Greenspan (President of the Board) and Orly Rachamim (VP and Director of Educational Technology) at the Tikvah Foundation’s Jewish Schools and Technology Summit. Over 50 schools and 200 lay and…
Best Team Ever: The Surprising Science of High Performing Teams – David Burkus
I must admit that the title Best Team Ever, by David Burkus, sounds more like a book for middle school kids than professionals. Once you add the subtitle, The Surprising Science of High Performing Teams, it does work a bit better. That said, it’s quite a good guide for how teams can maximize their work…
Courage to Be Moral
It seems we are living at a moment where much of our society’s moral compass has been turned upside down, or at the very least, has ceased to operate. The moral equivalency between Hamas and Israel; the lack of response in the university world to the Hamas atrocities, when a micro-aggression in such institutions will…
Rally in Washington – A Reflection
There are times when one plus one plus one (etc.) adds up to much more than the total sum being counted. Today on the Washington Mall I stood with tens, and likely hundreds of thousands of people (mostly Jews), for Israel, for the hostages, and against anti-semitism. It was empowering to feel surrounded by a…
Metaphors at Work
I’ve often heard school leaders, and even teachers, talk about their school’s as ‘one big family’. For a long time I thought this was such a beautiful way for someone to feel about the places they worked, and maybe also felt like something was missing when this wasn’t the case in my places of work….
Praise for Educators
Last year a senior member of the UJA asked me, “If you had a magic wand, what would you change to help day schools?”. I said that it wouldn’t be money (though that would be a big plus, and the one that comes up most frequently). Rather, it would be that the community truly valued…
My Charge to the Netivot Graduates
Over the last few months I’ve been part of a working group that’s trying to address the shortage of Jewish Day School teachers across North America. During one of the sessions, a person in school leadership shared that he was inspired to go into professional Jewish education because at his graduation, his principal made a…