Wexner Alumni are invited to participate in a new study of leaders in Jewish life today. The study asks: Who are today’s leaders – both lay and professional? How were they educated and how did Jewish education play a role in making them the leaders they are today? These are the central questions asked in this 2021 Jewish Leadership Study, sponsored by Keren Keshet, under the leadership of Mem Bernstein
As I write this, hospitals in Los Angeles are overwhelmed. A large hospital system will not admit individuals with Do Not Resuscitate orders. Another is not performing organ transplant surgeries. The moment is bleak and I worry for our older parents and all those who may not get the care they need. Throughout this period, I have been asking myself ,“Are we okay right now?” I ask this question in
Seizing the Opportunity to Close the Knowing-Doing Gap Hermann Ebbinghaus proposed the “Forgetting Curve” back in the 1880’s, declaring that “we quickly forget most of what we learn unless we consistently apply it.” A recent Forbes article on trends in leadership development echoed his words, saying “If leaders aren’t doing it, they’re going to lose anywhere from 40 to 80% of what they encountered in learning and development programs.” This
There are times when you have the luxury of planning. You have time to methodically process, strategize, set goals with reasonable expectations, outcomes and metrics. Most Jewish professionals have been trained and have aimed to follow best practices accordingly. All of that changed in 2020. We all entered a world of unknowns, uncertainties and certainly a severe gap in the ability to predict or plan. We are all familiar with
The popular phrase “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” often is attributed, incorrectly it turns out, to Aristotle, although the great Greek philosopher said something similar that subsequently was misconstrued. More recently, the phrase also was used to explain the foundations of Gestalt theory and to aptly define the modern concept of “synergy” (i.e., an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater
2020 was, undoubtedly, a very negative year. 2021 will be, we pray and predict, a much more positive year. Here’s the rationale: Write 2021 in words; that’s: TWENTY TWENTY-ONE. Assign numerical values to each letter, using A=1, B=2, … Z=26, and add them. TWENTY TWENTY-ONE gives a total of 248. According to Jewish tradition, there are 613 commandments. Some are positive – things we should do, and some are negative
Wexner Field Fellowship Class 1 One of our favorite tools in our evaluation and strategic planning toolkit is a Theory of Change (ToC). But sometimes when we suggest a ToC as part of an evaluation, I can see the eyeroll or groan just barely concealed on the faces of our clients. I imagine them thinking: Theories of Change can feel so cumbersome. All the boxes and rigid categories can’t possibly account for
As we enter December, I pray that you and yours are safe and healthy. It is difficult to capture the complexity, loss, and also the resilience and strength we have witnessed in 2020. The last 18 months at The Wexner Foundation have been particularly challenging. We encourage you to read our Year in Review. In it, we attempt to capture the remarkable efforts of our team and the steadfast commitment
What’s love got to do with it? When it comes to power – whether it’s held by a person, a group, or a country – the answer is: a lot. In fact, the secret to influence may come down to the power of love. As alum of the Wexner Heritage Program, we have all learned that there are many different ways to exercise leadership and different strategies work for different
I write these words in the aftermath of the U.S. elections, as we await the “transfer of power” from one administration to the next. The fact that the customary concession of the losing candidate has been absent from this year’s process has caused a sudden awakening to a startling reality: the transition of power – and the nature of that power to begin with – relies upon the collective imagination.
