The Latest From The Foundation

Last week’s Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumni (WGFA) Institute was focused on the theme “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Sharing the Teachings that Animate our Work and our Lives,” planned by WGF alumni Miriam Heller Stern (Class 13), Scott Meltzer (Class 4) and Devin Villarreal (Class 18). Alumni had opportunities to share what they have learned from the giants in their life. As part of the Institute, Miriam Heller Stern

Reposted with permission from The Ringel Group Blog, A Fresh Perspective  We don’t hold meetings on a football field, but great quarterbacks do. Five-time league MVP Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos can teach us a lot about facilitation. He dedicates extraordinary preparation to his sport, but will shift his team in the moment to make the play. Great facilitators are masterful planners. They work from a playbook, mapping stakeholder

After a transformative Wexner experience led me to question my work in the secular world, I “crossed the line” to become a Jewish communal professional in 2002. By 2008, when I became founder/CEO of UpStart, I had been a lay leader on eight boards of directors. During my lay experiences, I had often heard expressions of dissatisfaction with the board experience. Upon becoming a professional, I now heard executive directors

Reprinted with permission from Harry Nelson’s blog “Harry Nelson: Healthcare,Leadership,Strategy.” In every organization, there are moments of crisis when something goes extremely wrong. This December marks the second anniversary of such a time for me personally and for our firm. It was a nerve-racking period, when it looked like a bad turn of events might upend our firm. While it was a stressful time, looking back two years later, it

The ultimate identity crisis   After Jacob stole the blessings intended for Esau in Parshat Toldot, he was forced to run for his life. He flees to the home of his uncle Laban in Charan, which is a home of idol worship and deceit. Jacob, who was raised in a home of morality, ethics, monotheism has to leave his sheltered environment and goes into a home of dishonesty where they

Fourteen years ago, both my parents died in a car accident. How does one cope with such a tragedy? I was immediately transformed from child to orphan.  My siblings, each of whom made aliyah many years ago, and I decided immediately on burial in Israel. Thanks in part to help from the Jewish community network, we were able to handle the complicated arrangements. But my story is about what happened

Recently, I was sifting through photos of National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) volunteers meeting with young girls in the lines at Ellis Island to save them from becoming victims of sex trafficking, and had an “aha moment” — one of those moments where we become fully clear and grateful about how and why we are committing our lives to Jewish service. I had accepted the role of NCJW’s Associate Director

Collaboration begins with the assumption that everyone is a potential ally.  Valley Beit Midrash and PJ Library in Phoenix recently joined forces based on the principle that we deliver more to the Jewish community as ALLIES than we could do alone.  Our organizations are now partners in the Phoenix community for delivering educational content & programming to families, children and adults. Imagine our Jewish communities where we all view each

One of my proudest triumphs in Jewish leadership may sound insignificant to some, but I am acutely aware of its impact. Wearing my lay leader kippah, I became the president of the JCC of Greater Ann Arbor in May 2014. Upon my installation, the wealthiest donor in our community approached me with a promise. The donor is a good man, enormously successful in his professional pursuits. He believes that, no

Reprinted with thanks to the DRG Newsletter As CEO’s around the nation step down from leadership positions at nonprofits, their boards are faced with the challenging task of finding their successors, but few are prepared. According to a recent report by Third Sector New England, a Boston-based resource center for nonprofits, 64% of executives planned to leave their jobs within the next five years yet 60% of organizations did not