Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Leadership in the Organization

New President Interview  part 43

Leadership in the Organization


Question> The late Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote many articles[1] and a book on leadership in the Bible. Many of the concepts of leadership and human behavior directly apply to people today. How does leadership fit into the College both as an organization and as an educational institution trying to nurture leaders.


Answer>One of the most difficult types of questions to answer is one that has unclear expectations.  Recently I heard mathematician, Harold Gans, try to describe a proof. Before one can prove something, one needs to define both “proof” and “fact.”  He can give us the standard mathematical proofs for geometry or algebra, but there is one classification of math theorems that he knows is correct and can’t prove it. That is given any even number there is a set of two prime numbers that can be added together to give  that number. One can define prime and even numbers and the addition operation, but there is no proof possible. Kurt Gödel creates paradoxical statements that are correct but if you offer proof they can not be correct.[2] .

Another example of an impossible paradox is illustrated by this story.  There is a class consisting of students who are always trying to find a question the teacher can’t answer or look up.  One student comes up with a “perfect” plan.  He tells his fellow students that he will capture and hold a butterfly in his hands and ask the teacher, “Is the butterfly alive or dead?”  If the teacher says, “alive” the student will crush the life out.  If the teacher says, “dead” the student will open his hand and let the butterfly fly away.  The students thought this was a foolproof way to catch the teacher in a mistake.  The teacher, who had been teaching leadership qualities all semester was ready for this question.  The teacher praised the initiative and ingenuity of the student.  The teacher shared the vision of the class includes students learning how to act in new situations.  Finally, after praising and mentoring, the teacher said, “You have succeeded in creating a question that the answer is in your hands, not mine.”

I can tell you some of the qualities of leadership, but I can’t precisely define or prove it exists.  The search for leadership is a paradox; before you find it, .it will change. One person’s view of the description of righteous leadership may be another’s description of tyrannical leadership. Kindness, respect, and mentorship are the aspects of positive leadership.  Bullying, force, and disrespect are negatives and should not be examples of leadership.

The basic goal of leadership is to accomplish a long term goal.  However, “long term” may be relative to what we call “short term.”  Management is the application of rules and procedures to complete a job.  These jobs may last a few seconds or be indefinite (such as maintaining a building). A leader makes the rules; a managers enforces the rules.  Sometimes one person is both a leader and a manager. The president[3] of a college must be a visionary and understand the systems so that the rules can be created.  The president also needs to enforce the decisions to make sure they are accomplished.  Very few people have a job that is pure leadership. Leadership could be rotating such as a small committee where a leader must move the group toward the goal. Leadership could be part of the daily routine.  Leaders have to take chances, not be afraid to fail, learn constantly, listen, and access the routine or changing situations.

Here are two leadership situations 1) In Perke Avot 2:6 (Sayings of the Fathers) “In a place where there are no men... be a man!”[4] This applies to small groups and to large organizations. When the situation warrants, someone needs to take leadership and perform the mission.  The need for leadership also applies when people are acting improperly, someone needs to act maturely and change the situation. This is what I call situational leadership.  2) A second situation is when a responsible person is elected, selected, or appointed to be a leader. Leadership is a constant part of that person’s job. 

Leadership concerns the use and distribution of power and getting people to perform a task, job or mission.

Q> What!  I thought power was a negative. How does a leader use power?

 A> Every person, group and organization has power.  The power could be time, energy, finance, or physical resources.  The allocation of power is both a leadership and management activity. Leaders set the goals and mission. That is the big picture.  Managers must apply and enforce the policies and rules. At the end of the day, the faculty, students, and administration need the same goals. (Sometimes these goals are mirror images.  The faculty teach; the students learn; the goal is to educate.) There are several ways to motivate and all are needed.  

1) Reward and punishment – we give financial and psychological rewards for performance.  We correct mistakes and sometimes punish offenders. For example, the organization pays people a salary [5]and may give bonuses or prizes.  The organization may give awards such as “employee of the month.”  We evaluate actions and performance. Words of praise and recognition are powerful motivators.

 2) Setting examples – leaders do what they say.  A teacher will set an example of good behavior. A leader or manager will exhibit behaviors that the group should emulate.  The work ethic should be demonstrated.  A manager cannot expect people to come on time when they don’t. It is a way of teaching without words.

 3) Training and information sharing – organizations are complex.  Technology changes quickly, situations develop.  All are examples of what members need to know.  For instance, if a new piece of equipment is installed or software program purchased, make sure to train the people how to use it. People need to understand the power and features of the systems so that their time and company time is well spent.  Don’t let the complex system waste their time.[6]  People should be cross trained in many systems so that they can understand how others work and can step in when needed.

 Information should flow freely.  Keeping information in silos can lead to duplication of efforts and people working against each other.  The leader sets up communication channels so that operational and systems information is shared.  The information must also be archived for future generations to learn from.  In the college we have accreditation reports every few years.  Some of the information requested for the accreditation agencies is the same with minor variations.  The older reports are both part of the intuitional history and a guide for a new report.

 We also need to watch out for information overload.  The president does not need to know when a particular copier does not work but does need to know when there is a pattern to be addressed with the vendors. Each person needs to know or how to find the information they require to perform their jobs. Sometimes this information may be found in a directory, internal documents or within web pages. With this information the person can feel empowered. For the organization to act as a team, members learn what is important to other units and departments.  In the college we have academic departments (faculty), student support (counselors, tutors, financial aid, and others involved in helping students succeed), physical plant support (maintenance, cleaning, security, etc.), administrative (deans, directors, managers, human resources, marketing, accounting, etc.) and people working on long term concepts such as long term planning and building projects. Each department has people with special training and foci.  A professor is the one responsible for instruction, but they depend on the physical plant to have a classroom ready for use. (When we go back to classroom.) Leaders make sure the mission and task of each department is knowable.

When people understand the systems and the information is flowing, the highest level of leadership can exist, self-actualization.

 4)  Self-actualization -- The last one is the most desirable and most important of all. That is when the leadership is internalized as part of the corporate culture. When the people have the tools and when the situation requires, they will take up leadership.  The leadership could be control of the self or control of the group. The college president who has trained the organization well, has a team that express the leadership goals in ways that people work by habit. The “habits” are the behaviors the self-actualization. An effective leader habituates his organization to perform positively and kindly and fill the needs of the people in the organization and the organization itself.

Q> Your power statements are very similar to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He lists five areas—physiological, safety, love, esteem and self-actualization. Are your power statements connected?

 A> I can’t get away from my psychology background.  People need to feel good in order to be happy. Just like Maslow’s ideas concerning individual needs are part of the mature psyche, the organization has needs. The need for the building to work is like the physiological and safety needs.  If the building needs repair, is not cleaned and not a welcoming place, the work and learning will suffer. If the people are not friendly, caring, or able to work together, that is similar to Maslow’s lack of love on the personal level. If the systems don’t work and there is a lack of esteem, that is an indication the workers are missing key aspects of institutional information.

 The challenge of “power” is how to use to motivate and not corrupt. Rabbi Sacks talks of two examples of leaders, one shows leadership qualities from an early age as if his/her entire upbringing and education leads to leadership. The second is a frailer personality who makes mistakes, learns from the mistake, learns how to repent, and then assumes a leadership role. Rabbi Sacks brings up the example of a president who commits sexual misconduct.  Do we want or can we ever trust a president who mistreats people even when it has nothing to do with the organization? The answer is, “no,” because if he lied to some people about the misconduct, then how can we trust him with the organization.  Another person over 20 years ago made a poor business decision.  Now the organization is desperately trying to survive.  He is in a similar situation now. He learned from his mistake and now does not repeat his sin.  He steps up to a leadership role.  He exhibits a complete repentance that we believe. Is he forgiven?  “Yes,” because he learned from his mistake. His actions and words of repentance match.

 Q> How does one nurture leadership in the College?

A> The short answer is to share power, offer opportunities to take responsibility for one’s actions, give people to knowledge they require to succeed, learn constantly, and create a caring and respectful atmosphere.  The long answer would take a yearlong graduate seminar.

Just because you follow all my advice does not mean you will have a successful and prosperous company or organization.  First, the organization has to have the right people with the best talent. If they can be motivated to work toward success, then there is a great chance of prospering.  Second, some conditions are just beyond the leader’s control.  One can’t control the weather or the whims of the public.  If no one is buying the product or service, the organization will not prosper.  However, long-term planning and marketing can overcome some of the market fluctuations and natural phenomena. A year ago, no one could predict the disruption in our society due to the pandemic.  Some companies were able to change focus and succeed. To change the organization, people need to act as a team with a common mission.[7] 

 Q>As always you have given me much to think about. We are out of time. Thank you.

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Part forty-three of imaginary interviews with the president of the College. After more than 40 interviews the president is no longer “new,” but since we are all works in progress, I am continuing the series as if s/he were a “new president.” Please feel free to suggest new ideas for interviews and presidential comments. This article is for your information, amusement, and edification. Everything is true, but some details have not yet happened. Any connection to a real college or president is strictly coincidental.



[1]   See: “The Unexpected Leader” by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.  : https://tinyurl.com/y6vfxy9q “Women as Leaders” by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. https://outorah.org/p/770  Both retrieved from the OU Torah Website https://OUTorah.org    on Dec. 27, 2020.
His book Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible / by Jonathan Sacks. New York:  Maggid Press, 2015 was not consulted for this article.

 [2] See the article: “What is Gödel's proof?”  in Scientific American, Feb.. 16,2005.  Retrieved on Dec. 27, 2020 from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-goumldels-proof/

 [3] When the word “president” is used it also means the agents or the team the president has assembled. Clearly it take a team to master all the systems and create all the rule for a smooth flow of resources and information.

 [4]  Hebrew text: ובמקום שאין אנשים השתדל לחיות איש.

[6] Some examples of wasting time to avoid:  A financial control system put in place to make sure moneys are spent properly wastes staff time to input data.  The salary of the people involved costs more than the amounts of money spent.  Example two—smart rooms set up and then not training people how to use their power.

[7] The ideas of leadership in this article were discussed with many of my friends.  I thank Carol Amsterdam, Rabbi Michael Myers, and Dr. Stephen Karesh for their help.

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