Over fifteen years ago, author Erica Brown wrote Inspired Jewish Leadership, which addresses the intersection of Jewish values and leadership. In the preface to her newest book, The Torah of Leadership, Erica Brown explains her motivations for returning to this topic in a second book. She suggests that much has changed since Inspired Jewish Leadership was published. Most notably, she laments declining support for Israel, an exponential rise in antisemitism, the radicalization of identity politics, and the prevalence of global volatility and uncertainty. Her newest book, which draws on examples of leadership in each Torah portion, offers us the opportunity to rethink our relationship with Jewish values and consider moments of leadership in our own lives. To spark this thinking, each chapter concludes with a Personal Leadership Reflection, a question that encourages understanding and growth.
The chapter on Torah portion Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:1 – 17:27) opens with the famous words of Warren Buffet: “It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” From there, Brown begins her analysis of Abraham’s leadership, in his interaction with the opposing kings of Canaan (Genesis, Chapter 14). Abraham doesn’t claim any spoils following victory; he recognizes that he “was making a positive character deposit in the minds of the leaders who surrounded him. Abram [Abraham] was forgoing short-term gains for the long-term investment that was his reputation.” Brown challenges us to be leaders who protect our reputations by working hard, apologizing, compensating for mistakes, and assuming the good intent of others. The chapter concludes with the prompt, “Describe something you have done to protect or rehabilitate your leadership reputation.”
The chapter on the Torah portion Matot (Numbers 30:2 – 32:42) explores the importance of a “growth mindset” in leadership. Moses is challenged by the Reubenites and the Gadites, who seek to remain on the opposite side of the Jordan, outside the Land of Israel, when the Israelites claim it. Our tradition (Numbers Rabba 22:9) sees this request as the tribes’ desire to prioritize protecting their wealth over ensuring the unity of the Jewish people. Moses permits this request but demands that the tribes maintain a commitment to the collective. While some might see Moses’s decision as a leadership failure, Brown suggests that Moses’s flexible thinking allows for creative solutions to thorny problems. This chapter concludes with the question, “What is your Moses’s moment: a radical mindset change you made that enabled you to grow and flourish through a challenge?”
The Torah of Leadership is a wonderful addition to the Jewish bookshelf. It will both challenge and inspire readers to exercise their leadership muscles and rethink how they might take a more disciplined, creative, and nuanced leadership approach in their Jewish community and beyond.
