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March 21, 2003/Adar2 17 5763, Vol. 55, No. 30
Revamping our leadership
FLORENCE ECKSTEIN
Publisher
The well-being of our Jewish community depends on the strength of the volunteers and professionals we trust to steward our organizations. The quality of the men and women we select, and the relationships we build with them, have a significant impact on how well our community functions today and in the legacy we create for our children tomorrow.
Several search committees are now looking for professional leaders. Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix is interviewing candidates for executive vice president, and at least two congregations are seeking rabbis. It's a challenge to find people with skill, intelligence, vision, integrity, fortitude, an exemplary work ethic - and, God willing, a sense of humor. It's an equal or greater challenge to ready ourselves to partner with our professionals to determine, articulate and reach shared goals.
And while we search far and wide for the leaders of our dreams, in the end we pick the leaders of our reality - men and women with expertise, promise and limitations. People like us.
We greet our new professionals with cordial handshakes, the best of intentions and the highest of hopes. And when the relationship works and the organization thrives, we congratulate ourselves on our wise choice.
But when the going gets tough - poorly attended events, funding shortfalls, a leaky roof, a lousy economy - we well-meaning volunteers too often assault our professionals with the slings and arrows of our disappointment, frustration and outrage. Too often, instead of staying the course and working as a team to redress our problems, we part company. Then we appoint another search committee. And so it goes.
To do better, we can:
- get off the couch and volunteer to lead and share our expertise with others
- broaden our focus from single-issue and single-organizational concerns to coming to grips with the complex challenges that face our entire community
- adopt "inclusivity" as our byword, and work collaboratively with volunteers and professionals from across the wide spectrum of our Jewish community, religiously, culturally, economically and geographically - crossing boundaries to embrace those whose experience, expertise and need differ from ours
- mentor, bringing into our leadership circle the young people who are our community's future
- participate in shaping unique strategies for empowering our community in the short-term and reinforcing its foundation for the long-term.
The 20th century is behind us. This is not our fathers' Jewish community. Let's dismantle the remnants of the hierarchical leadership structure that served us for so many years.
It's time now, in our evolving Southwest Jewish community, to create a collaborative, collegial, consultative form of governance, free of the shackles that constrict entrenched communities, and to openly embrace the promise of our new century.
Contact the writer at flo_eckstein@jewishaz.com.
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