Finding the Best for the Jewish Communal World
by Jerry Silverman
We want to thank Rabbi Feldstein for his very thoughtful dialogue about the concept of Jewish talent and the development of Jewish community professionals. This issue is one that keeps me up at night. There are few topics of greater concern to our Jewish future.
The question Lou is asking is about internal versus external. We think the question should be about internal and external, what we as a community are doing to acquire, invest in, and prepare individuals to lead our communal organizations – to create succession. We have an opportunity to find the best men and women for both professional and volunteer leadership, no matter where they come from.
There is also a more fundamental question that organizations like the Jewish Communal Service Association and our JFNA Mandel Center for Leadership Excellence are asking: How can we build a culture across the Jewish communal sector that invests in talent, nurtures and rewards continuous growth and rewards and supports upward mobility across the entire spectrum. We want to ensure that the Jewish communal field is seen as truly desirable, on all fronts. We want to create a future where great Jewish Federations and Jewish organizations act as multipliers of candidates from all walks of life, because of their bold and inspiring culture and mission. We want to create a future where people who are seeking meaning and purpose clamor to be part of outstanding Jewish Federations and Jewish organizations.
Across Jewish Federations, we have been addressing the question of talent recruitment for some time. It is the same question being asked in the corporate world: are the best candidates those who have worked in a particular organization or career path throughout their careers, or candidates who come from the outside with different perspectives, approaches and ideas?
We find that the skills and results an individual demonstrates, not the place they developed those skills, sets the top candidates apart. In the Jewish Federation world, those skills are sometimes demonstrated within the context of a single Federation, or several Federations. Sometimes they are demonstrated in an agency, nonprofit or corporation. Some skills can also be developed – Federation processes, such as overseeing a budget or managing a Super Sunday. Other skills remain intrinsic, like personal warmth and sensitivity to others, the ability to be a good listener and an inspiring communicator.
JFNA’s Mandel Center for Leadership Excellent has developed the Success Factors, a competency model that identifies skills of excellent professionals. We know by experience that if our CEOs have proficiency in four key areas – business skills, people skills, personal qualities and style, and strategic and visionary leadership – if their style fits well with the Federation, and if they have a personal passion for and commitment to the Jewish people, they have a strong likelihood of succeeding. This emphasis focuses on the skills: has the candidate demonstrated the skills – in any context – that we need for our professional leaders to be successful? As we work with search committees, we prioritize these skills and then hire to those skills. We then use the success factors for performance feedback and evaluation, for coaching, for professional development and for evaluation.
It is important not to judge people by where they worked. What is important is what skills they demonstrated, what skills, attitudes, attributes and qualities they bring to their position in the Federation, and what each person can mean for the future of the Jewish Federation.
The other key factor is balance between knowledge and experience of the Federation world, and having someone who has been successful in complex, people-oriented environments. It is up to us to create the environment where we can maximize the contribution both of Federation staff, and those who wish to bring their skills and knowledge into the Federation world. We have a responsibility to our field to invest in and develop talent within, and recruit talent from the outside. One plus one can equal three.
The transition in Federations in the next decade will be dramatic. Time is not our friend. The question is not whether we choose from the inside or outside, but of challenging ourselves to think through how we enhance our Federations and raise the bar, to take advantage of people of a wide range of backgrounds, and to continue to challenge ourselves to deliver the results that history demands."
And, then, a brilliant Anonymous Comment analyzed Silverman's response perfectly:
"I was neither surprised by Jerry's well written response nor by the fact that upon careful examination he actually makes Feldstein's case.
The issue raised by Feldstein was simply that the complexity of the job of a federation executive in the larger cities requires not only skills that have been finely honed over a lifetime but also an expertise in the dynamics of building a Jewish community despite the diversity of the various stakeholders. To simply possess the skills outlined by Jerry would be necessary to land a job at a federation but not sufficient to lead one. The landscape is littered with failed executives who were chosen by communities whose communal leadership didn't respect the position of federation executive to the extent necessary. In fact, with few exceptions, once these communities have chosen this unfortunate path, they rarely recover.
I am mystified why Jerry would not be able to see that successful chief executives in successful federations should serve as the leadership models into the future. These executives are innovative, inspiring, understand Jewish talent management within the federation system, motivate lay leadership, and work tirelessly to finely tune their vision of a vibrant Jewish community. Jerry must not respect the job or the successful executives currently leading their federations if he believes that on the job training is a viable alternative. What he describes is a person who ought to be a junior executive, not leading a large communal organization, and that is precisely Feldstein's point."
We want to thank Rabbi Feldstein for his very thoughtful dialogue about the concept of Jewish talent and the development of Jewish community professionals. This issue is one that keeps me up at night. There are few topics of greater concern to our Jewish future.
The question Lou is asking is about internal versus external. We think the question should be about internal and external, what we as a community are doing to acquire, invest in, and prepare individuals to lead our communal organizations – to create succession. We have an opportunity to find the best men and women for both professional and volunteer leadership, no matter where they come from.
There is also a more fundamental question that organizations like the Jewish Communal Service Association and our JFNA Mandel Center for Leadership Excellence are asking: How can we build a culture across the Jewish communal sector that invests in talent, nurtures and rewards continuous growth and rewards and supports upward mobility across the entire spectrum. We want to ensure that the Jewish communal field is seen as truly desirable, on all fronts. We want to create a future where great Jewish Federations and Jewish organizations act as multipliers of candidates from all walks of life, because of their bold and inspiring culture and mission. We want to create a future where people who are seeking meaning and purpose clamor to be part of outstanding Jewish Federations and Jewish organizations.
Across Jewish Federations, we have been addressing the question of talent recruitment for some time. It is the same question being asked in the corporate world: are the best candidates those who have worked in a particular organization or career path throughout their careers, or candidates who come from the outside with different perspectives, approaches and ideas?
We find that the skills and results an individual demonstrates, not the place they developed those skills, sets the top candidates apart. In the Jewish Federation world, those skills are sometimes demonstrated within the context of a single Federation, or several Federations. Sometimes they are demonstrated in an agency, nonprofit or corporation. Some skills can also be developed – Federation processes, such as overseeing a budget or managing a Super Sunday. Other skills remain intrinsic, like personal warmth and sensitivity to others, the ability to be a good listener and an inspiring communicator.
JFNA’s Mandel Center for Leadership Excellent has developed the Success Factors, a competency model that identifies skills of excellent professionals. We know by experience that if our CEOs have proficiency in four key areas – business skills, people skills, personal qualities and style, and strategic and visionary leadership – if their style fits well with the Federation, and if they have a personal passion for and commitment to the Jewish people, they have a strong likelihood of succeeding. This emphasis focuses on the skills: has the candidate demonstrated the skills – in any context – that we need for our professional leaders to be successful? As we work with search committees, we prioritize these skills and then hire to those skills. We then use the success factors for performance feedback and evaluation, for coaching, for professional development and for evaluation.
It is important not to judge people by where they worked. What is important is what skills they demonstrated, what skills, attitudes, attributes and qualities they bring to their position in the Federation, and what each person can mean for the future of the Jewish Federation.
The other key factor is balance between knowledge and experience of the Federation world, and having someone who has been successful in complex, people-oriented environments. It is up to us to create the environment where we can maximize the contribution both of Federation staff, and those who wish to bring their skills and knowledge into the Federation world. We have a responsibility to our field to invest in and develop talent within, and recruit talent from the outside. One plus one can equal three.
The transition in Federations in the next decade will be dramatic. Time is not our friend. The question is not whether we choose from the inside or outside, but of challenging ourselves to think through how we enhance our Federations and raise the bar, to take advantage of people of a wide range of backgrounds, and to continue to challenge ourselves to deliver the results that history demands."
And, then, a brilliant Anonymous Comment analyzed Silverman's response perfectly:
"I was neither surprised by Jerry's well written response nor by the fact that upon careful examination he actually makes Feldstein's case.
The issue raised by Feldstein was simply that the complexity of the job of a federation executive in the larger cities requires not only skills that have been finely honed over a lifetime but also an expertise in the dynamics of building a Jewish community despite the diversity of the various stakeholders. To simply possess the skills outlined by Jerry would be necessary to land a job at a federation but not sufficient to lead one. The landscape is littered with failed executives who were chosen by communities whose communal leadership didn't respect the position of federation executive to the extent necessary. In fact, with few exceptions, once these communities have chosen this unfortunate path, they rarely recover.
I am mystified why Jerry would not be able to see that successful chief executives in successful federations should serve as the leadership models into the future. These executives are innovative, inspiring, understand Jewish talent management within the federation system, motivate lay leadership, and work tirelessly to finely tune their vision of a vibrant Jewish community. Jerry must not respect the job or the successful executives currently leading their federations if he believes that on the job training is a viable alternative. What he describes is a person who ought to be a junior executive, not leading a large communal organization, and that is precisely Feldstein's point."
Precisely.
Rwexler
Posts
4 comments:
Only this CEO (or someone in his stead) can write a self-congratulatory response like this one, and confuse Feldstein's monologue with a "dialogue" while asserting that "one plus one can equal three..."
I was neither surprised by Jerry's well written response nor by the fact that upon careful examination he actually makes Feldstein's case.
The issue raised by Feldstein was simply that the complexity of the job of a federation executive in the larger cities requires not only skills that have been finely honed over a lifetime but also an expertise in the dynamics of building a Jewish community despite the diversity of the various stakeholders. To simply possess the skills outlined by Jerry would be necessary to land a job at a federation but not sufficient to lead one. The landscape is littered with failed executives who were chosen by communities whose communal leadership didn't respect the position of federation executive to the extent necessary. In fact, with few exceptions, once these communities have chosen this unfortunate path, they rarely recover.
I am mystified why Jerry would not be able to see that successful chief executives in successful federations should serve as the leadership models into the future. These executives are innovative, inspiring, understand Jewish talent management within the federation system, motivate lay leadership, and work tirelessly to finely tune their vision of a vibrant Jewish community. Jerry must not respect the job or the successful executives currently leading their federations if he believes that on the job training is a viable alternative. What he describes is a person who ought to be a junior executive, not leading a large communal organization, and that is precisely Feldstein's point.
It is probably self-evident that Lou Feldstein go back a long way; I have nothing but respect for Lou and admiration for his contributions to Jewish Communal life and to our People over his years of service. It might seem to some curious that I also have great affection and admiration for Michael Horowitz, the sitting CEO in Atlanta, with whom I traveled and debated for years at JFNA and the Jewish Agency on whose Board we served.
Lou's counsel on the pages of ejewishphilanthropy reprinted on these pages have inspired some brilliant commentary and some pedestrian and some just plain wrong.
Lou has written his own response to one the more negatively speculative and I share that with you below:
"I could not be happier with the debate and interchanges that have taken place in response to my column in EJewishPhilanthropy and Richard’s inclusion in his blog – that is until the personal “attack” by “anonymous” on July 4th. I have no issue with people challenging my views and ideas and I welcome it all. My motives however are another matter and thus I feel the need to respond.
I am not sure where “anonymous” sits but I do know that the role of COO is precarious on the best of days and that with the announcement that the CEO who hired me was leaving I had a pretty good feeling that my days would be numbered. To really understand this dynamic, read “In Command: the Misunderstood Role of the COO” by Nathan Bennett and Stephen Miles in HBR, May 2006).
I have nothing but positive feelings towards Atlanta’s current CEO and I am supportive of how our relationship ended (I even developed the “restructuring” plan). Every CEO has to create their team and put in place the systems they need. As a student of organizational management I understand and respect this. The CEO and I had and have a good relationship, and while he clearly is an example of which I speak, there is no tension in our relationship and I harbor no negative feelings toward what took place or how it occurred.
Thus, if “anonymous” wants to challenge my premise please go for. But, to imply that there is an underlying motive is way off target and should probably be left to a professional therapist and not a blog."
This isn't a meaningful response. It's an exercise in corporate platitudes. It fails to give a single concrete example of what's expected now (that hasn't been before) or of any actual successes under the new model.
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