Inspired Jewish Leadership

Help sustain the Jewish tradition’s legacy of community leadership by building strong leaders today.

“Great Jewish leadership has helped us survive slavery, guided us to the Promised Land, given us hope through exile and oppression, helped us enjoy membership in a nation of overachievers, and given birth to the State of Israel. Great Jewish leadership generates vision and, as a result, followers. It inspires us and helps us to stretch higher, see farther, and reach deeper.”
–from the Introduction

Drawing on the past and looking to the future, this practical guide provides the tools you need to work through important contemporary leadership issues. It takes a broad look at positions of leadership in the modern Jewish community and the qualities and skills you need in order to succeed in these positions. Real-life anecdotes, interviews, and dialogue stimulate thinking about board development, ethical leadership, conflict resolution, change management, and effective succession planning.

Whether you are a professional or a volunteer, are looking to develop your own personal leadership skills or are part of a group, this inspiring book provides information, interactive exercises, and questions for reflection to help you define leadership styles and theories, expose common myths, and coach others on the importance of leading with meaning.
Topics include:

Leading and Meaning
Putting the Jewish in Jewish Leadership
Defining Leadership
Who Are We Leading? Age, Ethnicity, and Community
Vision and Mentoring
Authentic and Ethical Leadership
The Optimistic Leader
Leading for Transformation
Nurturing Women’s Leadership
Jewish Leadership and Conflict Resolution
A Crash Course on Change Management
Creating Meaningful Board Service
Effective Succession Planning

“Passionate and inspired … takes the choicest wisdom from Jewish and business texts, and applies it to the day-to-day challenges of Jewish organizational life. Everyone in Jewish leadership–professionals, students, and volunteers–should read and master this volume.”
–Jonathan D. Sarna, director, Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program, Brandeis University

“Lucid, appealing, brilliant … should be required reading for those concerned with Jewish communal life today and tomorrow…. Touches the heart as well as the mind.”
–Sylvia Barack Fishman, professor of contemporary Jewish life, Brandeis University; author, The Way Into the Varieties of Jewishness

“Deeply roo