This past Wednesday, November 28, Yeshiva University president Richard M. Joel spoke candidly to students and faculty in the Jewish Communal Service Certificate program of the Wurzweiler School of Social Work and Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration about leadership and organizational change.
Joel opened the discussion with a reflection on the lessons he learned as associate dean of Cardozo Law School, president and international director of Hillel, and his current position as president of Yeshiva University. Joel began bluntly enough:
I don’t believe in change, and I don’t believe in institutions. What I do believe in is G-d, civilization, and the destiny of the Jewish people. It is very easy to get caught up in helping to save or preserve an institution and forget that the institution itself is there to serve a higher purpose. I believe in change not for the sake of change, but rather for the sake of something else, something greater. Whenever you are involved in change, you must ask yourself where it is that you want to go.
Joel pointed out that many who are involved in organizational change are sometimes too quick to “act frantically,” without properly thinking through where it is that they want the organizational to go and what purposes they want it to serve. As an example, Joel referred back to his experiences when taking over the helm of Hillel, the college campus Jewish organization. He recounted some of the resistance he first encountered, both from Hillel rabbis who were satisfied with the small but strong core group of interested Jewish students and who didn’t care to extend their influence to the larger unaffiliated Jewish student body, as well as the mostly elderly board members of B’nai B’rith, Hillel’s funding organization, who initially distrusted Joel’s Orthodox Jewish affiliation.
In responding to these challenges, Joel began his tenure at Hillel by framing a clear and compelling mission, stating that their goal was to “maximize the number of Jews doing Jewish with other Jews.” With this mission in mind, Joel then forged an implementation strategy to introduce changes to “engage Jews where they are at,” such as forming Jewish a capella groups, refurbishing old 1950s-era Hillel buildings, and expanding the qualification requirements of campus Hillel directors to include not only rabbis but also those who were impassioned, though non-ordained, educators.
Under Joel’s tenure from 1988 to 2002, Hillel grew from a $13 million enterprise to one with a budget of $60 million, forming partnerships with other organizations and attracting philanthropists such as Edgar Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt. President Joel also emphasized
the importance of evaluation and clear metrics to measure progress of the change process, thereby providing feedback for mid-course corrections and for developing new initiatives. Joel also reflected on the challenges and potential pitfalls of leadership, noting that leadership is lonely at the end of the day, since it is the leader alone who “stays up at night worrying about the problems of the institution.” Such loneliness can lead to self-righteousness, he noted, as the leader begins to think of himself as a martyr for his work. To combat this potential snare, Joel emphasized the necessity of “having a life,” and centering one’s energies in one’s family.
Throughout his address, Joel continually referred to the love, guidance and support of his wife, Esther, who was present during part of his talk, and he spoke with pride of his six children (three of whom have followed his footsteps into Jewish educational and communal work). In fact, Joel stated that the hardest part of his work has been being away from his wife and family as he travels throughout the country. Joel concluded by emphasizing the importance of Jewish communal work today, pointing out that the old reasons for being Jewish—nostalgia, anti-Semitism, the Holocaust—have largely fallen away, leaving many Jews searching for new reasons to remain true to their heritage. Yet, he also encouraged those involved in such work to develop a sense of humility, which he clearly displayed himself throughout his talk.
I view the work I do much like my wife and I view the role of parents. To be successful as a parent, you need to do everything right—and then you still need mazel [luck]! Similarly, in your careers, you need to work hard, and even after that, there is still no assurance that things will work out.
Still, it was clear to those present that for Joel they did, with the myriad contributions he has made upon Jewish life in last few decades. And with his typical candor, honesty, humor, passion and enthusiasm, students left inspired that their future efforts and work might similarly bear fruit.
Thanks to Robert Liebowitz for this post
Drs. Susan Mason, David Strug and Joan Beder, faculty at Wurzweiler, have just returned from Cuba where they are working on a book on that country’s health care system.
