A Culture of Leadership

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” - John C. Maxwell

As Jews, we always look to the Torah for guidance on all matters. If there is one particular area we learn extensively from, especially in the current Sefer Devorim, is the quality of leadership. Throughout the 40 years of Bnei Yisrael’s journey through the desert, Moshe Rabbeinu’s consistent and selfless demonstration of exemplary leadership serves as a model for all leaders to come. And although there are a myriad of words and actions one can learn to emulate, there is one distinct attribute that Moshe exhibited repeatedly that provides an especially valuable lesson for Middle School students, namely self-sacrifice for others.
In his incredibly accurate and perceptive book Shifting the Monkey, Todd Whitaker describes his impression of great leadership. “Instead of wondering, ‘How do I protect myself?’ a great leader asks, ‘How do I protect my good people? How do I make the world a better place?" Indeed, Moshe proposed personal loss multiple times in protection of the people he had been charged to lead. This trait requires humility more than anything else. It requires addressing the needs of others before our own, which can only occur when we think of others first.
In Middle School, a culture of caring must be cultivated from the top down. It must be stressed not only in our words, but also in our deed. Above all, selflessness must be modeled, not preached. As basketball legend and team leader Isiah Thomas once remarked, “It's hard to get people to overcome the thought that they have to take care of themselves first. It's hard to get players to give in to the group and become selfless as opposed to selfish.” Students must be viewed as a team. Students must view themselves as a team. And teams require leaders.
Our school’s tagline is “Inspiring tomorrow’s leaders.” It is our duty to promote this quality through humility, selflessness and sensitivity towards everyone. It is a team effort. The great 19th century industrialist Andrew Carnegie once said, “No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.” Moshe deliberately declared that he could not lead the people alone. He had the assistance of 70 wise supervisors, as well as other greats, such as Aharon and Pinchas.
The catalysts for “Inspiring tomorrow’s leaders” are the inspiring leaders of today. Great leaders do not evolve, they are groomed. By being humble and selfless leaders, we elevate our students with these identical virtues. We must hear their concerns, listen to their ideas and inculcate a sense of team pride that is produced by altruistic leadership; leadership that shares a spirited sensation of glory that develops due to a collective effort.

“The role of a creative leader is not to have all the ideas; it's to create a culture where everyone can have ideas and feel that they're valued.” - Ken Robinson