Who I Hear When I Lead
A reflection for Jewish American Heritage Month
I’ve been thinking about some of the people who have shaped my understanding of leadership. Not in a formal, “here are my influences” kind of way. In a much simpler way.
Who I listen to.
Who I trust.
Who I return to when the world feels complicated or unclear.
May is Jewish American Heritage Month.
And while I’m still very much a “Jew in progress,” many of the people who have personally shaped how I lead are Jewish.
Not because I set out to curate that.
Because of proximity.
Because of relationship.
Because of love.
My friend Sarah Rapaport is the Coordinator of Jewish Life and Community Engagement where I work, and will be stepping into a new role this fall as Israel Education Department Chair at Pressman Academy. Conversations with her over the last two years—about being Jewish in America, about leadership, about what it means to stay grounded in an unsteady world—have felt so sane and so hopeful. She has a way of holding complexity without panic. Of staying rooted without becoming rigid. Of leading in a way that feels both steady and deeply human.
Liz Resnick, my dearly departed friend and mentor, taught me more about leadership than almost anyone I’ve worked with. She was empathetic. Generous. Kind. In a disciplined, consistent, everyday way. She led with heart before I had language for it. I find myself, often, asking what it would look like to meet a moment the way she would have.
There was a kind of gentle, loving chaos to everything Rabbi Emily Feigenson did. The kind that made space for people. The kind that reminded you that leadership doesn’t have to be polished to be powerful. I see her in my own chaos sometimes. And I’m grateful for that.
My friend and teaching coach Julia Grody leads in a way that makes people feel like they belong, and her coaching has made me a better teacher in ways that have changed how I lead. Her friendship makes space for me in Jewish conversations, in her synagogue, in her home. Even twenty years into figuring out whether I will convert, there’s no pressure in it. Just welcome.
I’m still figuring out what I believe and how to move through the world in a way that is deeply Jewish—asking questions, leading with heart, trying to make the world a better place. I’m much clearer on who has shaped me.
And that, I think, is part of leadership that doesn’t get talked about enough.
We become who we are by being in relationship with people who show us what’s possible.
So this month, I’m not thinking about Jewish heritage in the abstract. I’m thinking about the people I love. The people who have shaped me. The people whose leadership lives in me now, whether I fully understand it yet or not.
When you think about the way you lead, whom do you hear in your voice?
