Bootcamp for JewPros:
Reading the Jewish Communal Landscape
Esther D. Kustanowitz
American Jewish University
September 9, 2013

What Does Leadership Look Like?
http://www.thelivingleader.com/
http://www.joelafferty.com/blog

Social Media Buzzwords?
Jewish Leadership Buzzwords?
• Showing up – being present
• Creating/deepening relationship
• Adding value
• Connecting passionately/authentically
• Honoring the contributions of others
• Living generously
• Making life more meaningful

Leadership, (Almost) In the Beginning

From “Top-Down” to “Up and Out!”
• Used to be just top-down:
– hierarchy
– undemocratic
– user impact: low
• Now also bottom-up:
– peer reviews
– consumer feedback
– invested “prosumer” class
• Next phase: Wonkavator
http://content9.flixster.com/question/46
/64/76/4664763_std.jpg

Leadership Styles, Part 1

Leadership Styles (& Ryan Stiles)
Part 2

It Takes a Village

Ideas: The Origin Story

Ideas That Come From the People
• Yitro suggests a judicial system
• Tzelophehad’s daughters
shifting inheritance laws
• 2.5 tribes stay on
the other side of the Jordan
• Aaron’s sons bringing a strange fire
• Korach’s rebellion

Exercise
“A vision for the future cannot be
crowdsourced.”
1. Do you agree or disagree?
2. How can crowdsourcing contribute to leadership?
3. To what extent should Jewish leaders crowdsource
their visions for the future?
Discuss amongst yourselves & then we’ll discuss as a
group.

“The Future Cannot Be Crowdsourced”:
Crowdsourcing a Response

That’s What They Said: Crowdsourcing
• ”Vision is a communal thing. The broader the net cast on ideas for a vision, the more buy-in and potential
for impact there is.” - Carin Goldberg Maher, Talent Acquisition Executive at JFNA
• “Having your own vision is GOOD … leaving room for others to come onboard and modify the vision to
make it stronger is GREAT.”- Adam Pollack, west coast director for Birthright Israel NEXT
• “Feedback from the crowd informs, but leaders create the actual vision, crafting the plan and
implementing. The crowd never really comes together for decision-making, action plan generating, etc. –
all of the things that require actual leadership.” Jodi Berman Kustanovich (different surname spelling, no
relation), Executive Director at Synagogue 3000
• “Vision comes from leaders…Good leaders have a pulse on who they are leading. Crowdsourcing can be
used to learn how vision can best be transmitted to the community.”
HalehRabizadehResnick, lawyer/author
• “Crowdsourcing opens everything up to unique thoughts and ideas.” Liz Polay-Wettengel, Director of
Marketing and Communications at Aviv Centers for Living in Boston and co-creator of JewishBoston.com
• “If the objective is to gather as much information in response to a specific question, and pick out which of
the data to assimilate that is one thing. But vision crowdsourcing is about listening and building
ownership, which makes online crowdsourcing an unlikely tool for effective visioning work – it needs
bounded time and space on a platform with a facilitator.” – Yechiel Hoffman, past executive director for
LimmudLA /Director of Youth Learning and Engagement at Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles

That’s What They Said: Leadership
• “You don’t give the people what they want. You give the people what they don’t
yet know they want. It’s not doing what the people want, it’s doing what’s right
and bringing the people with you.” – Jodi Berman Kustanovich, quoting Steve Jobs
• “[Leadership] is figuring out what the crowd wants already, not changing what
they want. There’s a difference between providing a product and making social
change. And that difference can easily slide into arrogance. There are a privileged
few who get a lot of press for their ‘fabulous ideas’ and ‘leadership’ -most of which
don’t ever really go anywhere in the long term – they get their fifteen minutes and
then it’s over. Real change comes from working with people from the bottom
up, not providing a product that they can consume. Real change and vision has to
treat its constituents as though their thoughts and ideas are important and
relevant; salesmanship, on the other hand, lasts as long as the next big thing, but
doesn’t really require deep empathy.” - Rabbi Alana Suskin
• “I find that two key components of leadership are a) to see things from a different
perspective (also in part what can be vs what is), and b) to tell a good story (ie
craft a compelling narrative).” Keith Krivitzky, Executive Director of the Jewish
Federation of Monmouth County

Exercise:“Once Upon a Time”: Creating
your leadership narrative
A 5-minute writing exercise…make sure to
include:
• Basic story structure – beginning, middle and
end
• Where you come from
• The day it all changed forever
• Where do you go from here

Challenges in
Contemporary Jewish Leadership
• Defining leadership – traditional and contemporary
(education, skills, attitude)
– JCPSC Brit Hamiktzoa
• Reinventing conventional places and approaches
– Storahtelling, Lab/Shul, G-dcast
• Navigating between “institutions” and “innovative initiatives”
– Federations, JCCs& synagogues; indie minyanim, online
communities, justice-based Jewish connections, Moishe Houses
• Balancing open and closed networks
– Are these networks exclusive, bearing prestige/focus, or inclusive but
broad? NEXTworks, ROI, Reboot, Joshua Venture, PresenTense
• Regarding social media as friend and foe

Exercise
• Brit Hamiktzoa
– What resonates and why?
– What would you change and why?
– How is this document helpful? How could it be more
helpful?
• Camp Tawonga Makes a Choice
– What do you think about the Camp’s choice?
– Are you able to see it from the other perspective, as
well?
– What would you have done?

Leadership Actions for Your
Program, School or Organization
• Determine your institutional voice/s& value
– How does your group serve the community?
– Create your own FAQ
• Define “compelling content” for your organization
– Identify newsy angles for programs, use as hook to
promote org in online conversations
– Consider starting a blog, so you can host conversations
• Asset Mapping
– Who/what are your strongest resources?
– Find “mavens”/hubs in your community, invite their
feedback & partnership

@EstherK
– esther.kustanowitz@gmail.com
– http://twitter.com/estherk
– http://facebook.com/estherkustanowitz
– http://youtube.com/EstherK (including YouTube
list of social media related videos)
– MyUrbanKvetch.com